Columbia University. Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action
Title
Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action records, 1972-2023
Physical Description
4 linear feet (4 record cartons); 46.2 Megabytes (44 PDFs)
Language(s)
English
.
Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Digital files can only be viewed in the reading room at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library on a specially configured laptop. Please reserve a laptop by selecting the checkbox in the container list.
Arrangement
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in two series: Series I: Affirmative Actions Plans and Series II: Rosalind Fink files.
This collection consists of the Columbia University Affirmative Action Plans and annual updates from 1972 to 2020. It also includes the Employee Policies and Procedures on Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking and other publications issued by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. There is a also records from from former Office Director Rosalind Fink.
This series includes two kinds of publications issued by the EOAA Office. The first are the Affirmative Action Plans from 1972 to the present. Please note that the Office stopped printing the AA Plans after 2013 and instead posted digital copies on their website. Those web pages have been captured in the Web Archives. The other set of publications are brochures or handouts from around 2000.
This series contains the records of Rosalind Fink, the first Director of the EOAA Office.
Using the Collection
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Digital files can only be viewed in the reading room at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library on a specially configured laptop. Please reserve a laptop by selecting the checkbox in the container list.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action records; Box and Folder numbers; University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Collection-level record describing unprocessed material made public in November 2018 as part of the Hidden Collections initiative. Collection was processed and finding aid was written by Joanna Rios, October 2021.
Revision Description
2021-10-15 Added box inventory (JR)
2023-02-13 Added digital records from the Policy Archives (JR)
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the
Archival Collections Portal and through
CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries,
as well as ArchiveGRID,
a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
In 1967 an executive order was issued banning all discrimination by contractors on federal projects. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) oversaw compliance with this policy. Federal contractors had to annually submit an analysis of the distribution of women and minority workers. HEW oversaw Columbia's affirmative action plans designed to safeguard against discrimination. Beverly C. Clark served as the Equal Opportunity officer in the late 1970s.
Rosalind Fink was appointed in 1980 as the first director of the University's Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. She served in that position for 14 years. During her term as director, she took a leading role in formulating the sexual assault policy, making the campus wheelchair accessible, conducting grievance investigations, developing University policies which combatted discrimination, supporting the organizing efforts of gay members of the community, and encouraging search committees to include women and minority candidates when looking for faculty members and administrators. Fink also served as adjunct associate professor of political science at Barnard College from 1991 to 1994.
