Dear fellow members of the Columbia Business School community:
Since President Trump’s Executive Order imposing a 90-day ban on immigrant and non-immigrant entry from seven nations with Muslim-majority populations and barring Syrian refugees from admission to the United States, the Business School leadership team and counterparts throughout the University and President Bollinger’s office have worked to understand the order and its implications for our community.
President Bollinger offered a thoughtful summary of those discussions in his note to the entire Columbia community, in which he also importantly reaffirmed the University’s values of pluralism and respect. These values lie at the core of what it means to be a great university.
The President’s Executive Order addresses concerns that must be resolved in political and legal processes. The nation has grappled with related tensions many times in its history, but one should note that efforts to advance diversity, inclusion, and respect have strengthened the nation’s fiber, and immigrants have contributed toil, capital, and ideas to help build the strongest economy in the world.
Warren Buffett’s comment at Columbia that all of us have immigrant roots underscores this point. But I would go further for the Business School community. Global diversity in leadership of organizations has strengthened American business. Our community is one we've worked hard to cultivate, and every member, with the unique background they bring, is an integral part of our collective mission to foster inclusive leadership. We stand by each of our community members and will offer any support and assistance we can to preserve our community's integrity.
With regards,
Glenn Hubbard Dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics
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