Northattan

“Hit by a fist or something hard, beaten, or slammed against something” was the language used to describe what nearly a quarter of American women experienced by the hand of an “intimate partner” last year.

That’s according to a new government report, released Dec. 14, based on a random sample of 9,000 female respondents. The 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also found that nearly one in five women had experienced rape or attempted rape.

In New York City, a network of organizations works to assist women in these troubling situations. One of them, the Violence Intervention Program (VIP), is based in East Harlem – and its employees understand that domestic violence is a problem afflicting all levels of society.

“I’ll tell you a story,” says Cecilia Gaston, the VIP’s executive director. “A 20-year marriage to a multinational businessman, college degree, very sophisticated, domestic violence – that’s me. I’m a survivor myself, although I’ve never been poor, I’m privileged, I speak five languages, I’m a U.S. citizen. Domestic violence happens across the board.”

The Violence Intervention Program is headquartered in East Harlem. Photo by Frederick Bernas/Northattan.

Gaston is sitting in a small kitchen at VIP headquarters in El Barrio, where the organization was founded in 1984. The building is deliberately inconspicuous, and its address is kept secret so “clients can stay safe” when they visit for counseling or information sessions.

One of several small rooms is decorated colorfully and scattered with toys. Supporting children whose parents are in abusive relationships is an important part of the VIP mission: “I work with them to try and express feelings, to verbalize the trauma,” explains youth counselor Lidia Flores. “We recently started mixed groups with mothers and children, which is very helpful. Sometimes the mother cannot see from the child’s view, or they have trouble expressing feelings at home and being able to spend time together. The mother might be dealing with many different things and feeling guilty she can’t provide.”

For the most needy victims, VIP offers a way out. Secret accommodation facilities in Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens provide emergency shelter for up to 135 days, or a transitional apartment for as long as two years. “When a woman chooses shelter, it’s usually a last resort,” says Gaston. “You have to give up your job, and you cannot not tell anyone where you are – not even your family.” This is to ensure that abusive partners have no way of tracking women down.

At a time when the demand for support services is rising, the fact that so much of the organization’s work is hidden means that reaching out is a very delicate task. Word of mouth is key. “A lot of people don’t know about us – especially recent immigrants who live in their enclave with friends and family,” says Valerie Leon, the community education and outreach coordinator. Gaston adds, “They come from countries where these services do not exist, so they don’t in any way assume that help is available.”

On a wider cultural level, Leon says her promotional efforts often hit a wall of social taboos about domestic violence in Latino communities. “There’s a lot of victim-blaming: People think she must like it, she deserved it, that kind of thing,” she explains. “A lot of folks make light of it like a joke – saying men get abused, and all that. Our presence might not change someone’s relationship, but at least we’re raising awareness, which is the first part of prevention.”

VIP representatives regularly visit local hotspots where women gather, such as Head Start Centers, to deliver presentations. “One of the best tools we have is other survivors,” says Leon, who is assisted by four “promotoras,” or promoters, who themselves came through the organization’s rehabilitation program. Gaston adds: “In Latin America, the community health educator is a model that works very well. It’s not me coming with my college degree and my suit to tell somebody what to do – it’s a neighbor, and they’re very successful.”

Guadalupe Perez is one of the volunteer “promotoras.” She endured an abusive relationship for 12 years before VIP helped her get out by providing therapy, legal support and shelter. Today, the memories live on: “For a long time I carried a lot of pain and anger,” Perez recalls.

“When I started talking to my therapist, I fell down. I felt without energy, and someone had to help me go outside because I wasn’t able to walk. I remember they gave me cold water, they put me on a couch to rest, because I felt terrible. I compare myself in the past to a zombie.”

Perez says her children implored her to end the relationship, and she now takes pride in using her personal experience to help others. “If I touch a lady with my history, I know this lady will change her life if she takes therapy and decides to leave an abusive relationship and start a new life,” she says. “It could save a family – the lady and her children too. And the children will not repeat the same cycle in the future.”

The “promotoras” distribute pamphlets and specially designed nail files that advertise the VIP’s 24/7 hotline, which receives some 14,000 calls every year. “It’s something a woman can keep in her purse that doesn’t raise a lot of attention – a card or brochure is obvious, you see,” says Gaston.

The VIP website provides another pathway to the organization's variety of help services. Photo by Frederick Bernas/Northattan.

The phone number acts as a vital point of first contact: Around 1,000 women per year are then provided with further services. VIP is staffed by 38 full-time employees, assisted by part-timers and volunteers. The organization supplements federal funding with grants from the New York Women’s Foundation and other partners, and recently made $31,000 with a private fundraising event.

Gaston has worked with authorities at state and national level on the issue of domestic violence, which she says is linked closely to immigration and deportation. She says the federal Secure Communities program, first piloted by the Bush administration in 2008, is a “deadly” threat to Hispanics in New York. Under the policy, police officers submit fingerprints of all arrestees to a national database that is shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). If a violation is suspected, ICE can issue its own detention orders that lead to federal custody – and potential deportation.

“Police are acting as immigration officers,” says Gaston. “That means no one is going to call the police if it brings them into a community where there are people at risk of being picked up by immigration.” In domestic violence cases, she says this could lead to a fear of reporting perpetrators for the sake of avoiding any contact with the law.

“It’s a major undermining of community policing and the relationship between the community and the people supposed to be protecting them,” Gaston continues. She’s met with NYPD officials to discuss the issue: “We concluded that officers require an enormous amount of training,” she says. “In theory there are policies and protocols, but they’re not being followed – like something as simple as conducting a proper investigation at the site where the incident occurs and arresting the right person.”

On the other hand, domestic violence advocates have had their own policy “czar” at the White House since June 2009, when Lynn Rosenthal was appointed as special adviser on violence against women. And vice president Joe Biden was one of the original proponents of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which Gaston cites as “a critical piece of legislation” because it provides a legal framework and a funding stream for non-governmental organizations. An updated version of VAWA was tabled for a third congressional reauthorization in November this year.

Hunter's state-of-the-art new building opened in East Harlem last summer. Photo by Ben Teitelbaum/Northattan.

Good fences make good neighbors, some say, but if a school of social work is moving into town, the set of expectations might be a little different.

Hunter College’s School of Social Work is nearly a full semester into its residency in East Harlem, and Dean Jacqueline Mondros hopes to establish a reputation as “great neighbors.”

“I would like it to be said that we came into this neighborhood in a respectful way as collaborative partners and that we helped them to make this neighborhood stronger,” said Mondros.

Although the school is not hiding in its mansion – a $135 million state-of-the-art building on Third Avenue between 118^th and 119^th streets –- it is still figuring out its public face.

Through a field placement program mandatory for all 1,100 students, the recently renamed Lois V. and Samuel J. Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College does have over 100 students interning at East Harlem-based organizations, twice the amount from last year, and the administration plans to increase the number.

Still, the true impact of those agencies, not to mention their interns, is tough to quantify, and the Hunter-East Harlem relationship engenders mixed feelings.

The school has “done a lot to make it seem like it’s reaching out to the community, but I don’t know,” said Master of Social Work student Will Engelhardt. “Most people feel like Hunter hasn’t done much.”

Student Cynthia Rodriguez, whose field placement concerns Hunter’s community outreach, said that while the administration is clearly committed to East Harlem, the school’s plan of action is “vague” and “ambiguous.”

Nevertheless, Hunter is not merely standing idly by, and three other MSW students are now playing a somewhat unofficial role in examining the Hunter-East Harlem relationship and offering suggestions to shape that plan.

“What feedback we’re trying to give them is really what’s going on in relation to how they think they’re doing and how they’re really doing in the community,” said Meredith Marin, who is working with Gabby Macklin and Breiny Scheinert.

The trio is currently researching an assignment on “exploring community needs.” As the only group covering East Harlem, their project “has a particular relevance that extends beyond just an assignment,” Marin said.

Their exercise in community assessment, which has video and print components, has been turning heads. According to Marin, both State Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez and Mondros have personally asked for copies.

When the school announced several years ago that it was moving uptown from East 79^th Street – a decision triggered by financial implications and the desire to improve its physical space – Hunter realized that it was thrusting itself into an already roiling discussion of gentrification and social responsibility.

Unsurprisingly, public officials have said all the right things.

Former New York Gov. David Paterson said that the move would give the school “the opportunity to engage with a vibrant, diverse and growing population in need of the vast array of services Hunter offers.”

State Sen. Jose M. Serrano echoed those sentiments: “Having their main facility in East Harlem will be a great addition to the neighborhood. The services they offer will undoubtedly bring much-needed resources into our community.”

Hunter, at least rhetorically, has also taken on the challenge of becoming an agent for “positive social change,” in the words of longtime professor Terry Mizrahi.

On the school’s website, Hunter touts the “unparalleled opportunity for the School to ‘live its mission’” to “seek and encourage social work talent for and from the least advantaged.” In East Harlem, where almost half the residents don’t graduate from high school and the unemployment rate is around 17 percent, the school has found a neighborhood with real need.

Although the facility itself inspires passers-by to slow down and peer curiously into the large glass windows, Hunter’s presence is not widely recognized. “I had noticed it one day, but I didn’t really know it was there,” said Laura Dara, who lives just a few blocks away.

Yet Marin has discovered that “Hunter’s done a lot more so far for the community than people really know about.”

For one, the school has opened its doors for public events. Hunter hosted a youth summit last summer, and Mondros, who was recently honored by an East Harlem consortium of human service agencies, said that in January the school plans to hold a “community meeting so we have community people telling us what they would like to see us do.”

Marin and Mondros stress that the school is not charting a course without input from East Harlem. “They’re focusing on partnerships a lot. That’s been a really primary theme,” said Marin. “They’re very vigilant about working with what’s already here in the community.”

Even so, there are questions whether Hunter can make a significant difference in East Harlem without its students truly embedding into the neighborhood. “There are almost no students that live in East Harlem,” said Marin, and Queens-based Cynthia Rodriguez admitted that they were “in and out of the 116^th Street subway stop.”

Local business owners also said they haven’t seen much benefit from the addition of Hunter. “Same for my business,” said Peter Dei, the owner of a 99-cent store across the street. “No change. No different. All the same.” And Faris Ali, who works at nearby Super Delicious Deli Food Inc. said that his rent increased when construction of the school began, but business was only starting to improve.

Another point of contention is the response of East Harlemites to Hunter’s aspirations. Until Hunter proves itself, residents may view the school with a wary eye. “The residents are kind of jaded. They’re kind of like, ‘Oh yeah? What’re you going to do for us?’” said Marin.

Next week Hunter will at least answer that question for 100 East Harlem children, as the school is donating 100 books in support of primary education. That’s just one way Hunter is trying to become a great neighbor.

When the New York City Department of Education last week released its updated list of 19 schools that are at risk of being shut down or phased out because of poor performance, one group of Northattan parents were relieved, because their school was no longer on it.

But for another group, the fight to keep their school open continues.

What next for Wadleigh Secondary School? Photograph: Xian Bu / northattan.com

The original list of 47 at-risk schools, released in October, included Harlem’s Frederick Douglass Academy II and the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While the two schools share the same building on 114th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, FDA II was not on the latest list, while Wadleigh’s middle school is among five other middle schools that may be truncated. If this happens, no additional students will be enrolled in the school, and each year a grade will be eliminated until the middle school is completely phased out.

Wadleigh was established over 100 years ago and is currently Harlem’s only Performing Arts school, with 84 students in its middle school and 446 in high school. Frederick Douglass was established in 2000 as a middle school and expanded to include a high school in 2003, when it moved into Wadleigh’s building. It currently has 132 middle schoolers and 280 high schoolers.

Since the original announcement about low performance schools, parents, educators and community leaders waged different strategies to keep their respective schools from closing. Last Monday, Wadleigh’s speakers series featured professor and community activist Cornel West. When he learned about the school’s woes, he vowed to help keep the school running. According to DNAinfo.com, West said, “I want each and every one of you to know that any service I can render to keep this school where it is, just let me know. Dialogue, negotiation or protest.”

Parents are also being vocal about their support for the school. “I have had a long-term relationship with Wadleigh,” said Annette Nanton, who has a son in the 11th grade. Two of her older children graduated from Wadleigh in 2008 and 2009 and are now in college. Although the DOE’s decision will affect only Wadleigh’s 84 middle schoolers, Nanton is also worried about the high school. “If you take middle school away from us now,” she said, “what is the future for our high school?”

Nanton finds the school “like a community” for her family. “Don’t just shut the school down,” she said. “Give more resources to support the school to get a better grade.”

Wadleigh received a “C” on the education department’s progress report card for the 2009-2010 school year and a “D” for the 2010-2011 term.

A DOE source, who was not authorized to speak publicly and so asked not to be identified, said there’s a possibility for a poorly performing school to remain open if it can show that there has been some improvement and if the community galvanizes to show its support.

Harriet Fortson, chairwoman of the education committee of the NAACP Mid-Manhattan branch, said the overall grade fails to reflect Wadleigh’s extracurricular programs and their positive impact on the children. The school “does excellent work for the kids,” said Fortson. She said that 20 to 30 Wadleigh graduates visit the school regularly to assist students with schoolwork. Its medical program offers opportunities for students to learn about health care from professionals, and the school’s cooking program provided the reception during West’s visit.

Valentina Santos, 17, a student at Wadleigh, is saddened by the possibility of the middle school’s being truncated. “We’re still trying to do some stuff so they won’t close the school,” she said.

For Frederick Douglass, the outcome was better. After the school was listed as a closing target in October and education department hearings were held in November, the Parents Association from Frederick Douglass drafted a letter “In Support Against FDA II and Wadleigh School Closures.” This letter was disseminated throughout the neighborhoods to churches, local businesses and elected officials. Before they knew their school was no longer endangered, parents from the school also met with parents from other low-performing schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx to express their dismay about the DOE’s potential plans.

Also before the announcement, Frederick Douglass principal, Osei Owusu-Afriyie, who took the job in 2010, said he hoped that the DOE would realize that his school had fallen on hard times a few years ago, but was making progress.

“We have changed our curriculum,” said Owsui-Afriyie. “We’ve increased our academic support for middle school students who come in with any significant needs in math and English Language Arts.” The principal also said the school is trying to engage more parents and students to make sure teachers are well prepared. “We’ve just connected back into the roots of the school, which is a college preparatory institution,” said Owsui-Afriyie.

It’s not clear yet why Frederick Douglass was spared, considering it received a “C” in 2009-2010 and an “F” in 2010-2011, but it’s to the relief of many parents like Carleen Jones, the PTA co-president. “We are grateful” that the school is now off the list, said Jones. She attributes the school’s failing grades to the former principal’s less-than effective management. “Everything is going in a positive way,” said Jones, who has faith in the new principal and the school’s future. “The school can have a great turnaround.”

Jones has a daughter on Frederick Douglass’ honor roll and another daughter who is a graduate and now a third-year college student on the dean’s honor list. “The school has had an impact on both of their lives,” said Jones.

Akeylah Brown, a 17-year-old senior at Frederick Douglass, said the school was doing poorly until its new principal came on board. “Our old principal did not enforce the school uniforms or the school rules,” said Brown. Its former principal, Latasha Greer, has since moved to Florida.

Elizabeth-Ann Hendrickson, whose son is in the seventh grade at Frederick Douglass and is spending his second year here, said: “My son does well. I haven’t invested the time to see exactly how the school is performing years ago as opposed to right now. But as far as right now, everything they’ve put into place works for me.”

Another hearing with the education department was held at Wadleigh on Wednesday, where parents questioned why some F-grade schools in the city are not pinpointed for closure, but the D-grade Wadleigh is. Parents also argued that some of Wadleigh’s programs, such as the tutoring program, help middle schoolers start to prepare for college.

The education department said at the hearing that it will conduct at least two more public hearings in the following two months before it makes the final decision about the future of the middle school.

Look closely at the background in TV shows and films shot in New York City and sooner or later you may learn to spot a familiar setting: the Union Theological Seminary in Morningside Heights, at 121^st Street and Broadway.

In “Gossip Girl,” the seminary’s hallways and inner garden have played a stand-in for Columbia University, where Serena Van Der Woodsen and best friend Blair Waldorf study.

That same Inner Quadrangle Garden, this time playing a private school, was where detectives in a “Law and Order” episode interviewed a piano teacher after a rape case. More recently, ABC’s new series “Pan Am” has filmed across the street from the seminary.

“It has a lot to offer in one place,” said film location scout Nick Carr of the seminary and its medieval architecture. “It has areas from church meeting halls, board rooms, cafeteria, and stage space. It also serves for, like, a British school, like Oxford, or Cambridge. We even scouted this for the medieval look for ‘The Smurfs,’” said Carr, a 2004 graduate of Columbia who studied film and has worked on movies such as “Spider-Man 3” and “War of the Worlds.”

The film industry contributes roughly $5 billion to New York City’s economy every year, according to Marybeth Ihle, press manager of the Office of Media and Entertainment in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office. Hundreds of directors use the city and its landmarks as backdrops for dramas, comedies, TV series and documentaries every year – making New York second only to Los Angeles as a film backdrop.

“There are approximately 100,000 New Yorkers who earn their living behind the scenes in film and television production,” said Ihle.

Most film producers who want to shoot in the city check in first with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Television and Broadcast. Starting with a $300 application fee, the office can help filmmakers get permits and services to shoot on city streets, sidewalks, and city-owned properties.

“We make it pretty easy for productions to enjoy the city,” said Habibah Love, who works in the film office permits department. “Only for parking privileges, or a light generator or light stands do you need a permit. Even a lot of students film without permits. We cater to everyone,” she said.

In the case of “Gossip Girl,” early episodes were shot at a Russian Orthodox Church in east Manhattan, a setting meant to represent Serena’s high school. When Serena moved from high school to Columbia University, the show initially tried to film on Columbia’s campus. But that idea was squashed when the school decided that having film crews around for weeks at a time was too disruptive.

So “Gossip Girl” began using other nearby sites as “Columbia” backdrops, including the Union Theological Seminary’s quad, library and social halls.

Old downtown buildings and other film locations provide plenty of quintessentially New York settings for film location scouts. But the Union Theological Seminary is often high on the scouts’ list precisely because it does not look like urban New York City.

“When you go into the grounds, you have this really non-New Yorky looking campus, like you’re in a private school upstate,” said Sam Rohn, another film location scout, who has worked on “Law and Order” and other TV shows that have used the seminary as a backdrop.

The seminary is an independent graduate school of theology founded in 1836. The original building was established in downtown Manhattan. During the late 1890s, the seminary needed to expand its roots by moving to a different location. They decided to rebuild and redesign it entirely, and move to upper Manhattan. In 1908, the cornerstone for the campus was laid down on Broadway and 120^th St. Nearly 300 students currently study there for master’s or doctorate degrees in divinity, social work, arts, sacred theology and philosophy. The seminary is closely affiliated with Columbia.

The seminary’s exterior and interior architecture still preserve some of the school’s original early 20^th century structures. Film scouts look for the particular appearance of a gothic revival style found in doorways, long narrow hallways, gigantic windows, or cloisters (the rectangular open space with walkway borders, forming a quadrangle garden). Scouts have promoted use of its dorm rooms and the courtyards, which resemble those of an upper-crust private school.

Film scout Carr said the seminary has something else going for it, too. “They are film friendly and always willing to work with the directors,” he said. “We don’t like to be anywhere we’re not welcomed.”

The process of choosing a film location can take months, and according to Carr, the general cost to use a location for filming runs $5,000 to $10,000 per day in New York, though some places -– like well-known restaurants -– charge more.

Wade Bennett, director of communications and marketing at the seminary, said directors who want to film at the school negotiate contracts with Michael Orzechowski, the director of housing and campus services. Bennett referred all further questions to Orzechowski, who said he would not be available to talk about the seminary and its use by filmmakers until January.

Carr is currently working with creator David Chase, of the HBO series “The Sopranos,” and his new film “Twylight Zones,” about a group of friends in a rock band growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s. A dorm room at the seminary was used in a scene in the movie.

Carr also used the seminary backdrop for the new detective drama “Unforgettable,” about a former police detective diagnosed with hyperthymesia, a condition that allows her to remember almost everything that has ever happened to her; she uses this rarity to help solve crimes.

Another plus for the seminary is that the building, wrapped around a courtyard, is relatively isolated from neighbors who might complain about noise or other disruption.

And unlike venues that get overfilmed -– and thus are so familiar directors don’t want to shoot there any more — Union Theological Seminary’s visual diversity means it should remain popular, said film scouts Carr and Rohn.

“Sometimes directors will say ‘I want to shoot at a location no one has ever seen.’” Carr said. Though Union Theological is popular, it hides its identity well, making it seem fresh with every appearance in another film or TV series.

This article was updated Dec. 19 to correct several errors. The seminary building was built in 1908, not 1836, making it the 20th century. The last name of the director of housing and campus services was corrected to Orzechowski, and the director of communications and marketing at the seminary is Wade Bennett, not James Kempster. And the spelling of “Spider-Man 3″ was corrected.

Is Columbia University still in the running, in the hot, higher-education competition to build a $100 million engineering school in New York City?

Columbia University's Manhattanville development. Photo by Richard Drew/AP Photo.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn’t saying, though he did indicate on Wednesday that the city has eliminated a few of the seven proposals it’s been considering since late October.  Which ones? The mayor and his aides wouldn’t list them.

Columbia’s bid, which goes up against rival proposals from Stanford, Cornell and other prestigious institutions from around the country  (and India), is the only one that would build the city’s new high-tech graduate school in Northattan — on the university’s Manhattanville property where an expanded campus is already under construction.

The mayor’s plan for a high-tech “applied sciences” school  aims to attract more engineering talent to a city whose academic community has conspicuously lacked it, and Columbia hopes to gain a hometown advantage. In a recent interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, the university’s president, Lee Bollinger, referred to bids from institutions outside of the city as “branch campuses.”

“It would be a pity if there were an undue fascination with the new and the novel,” he told the magazine.

But this latest proposal for Columbia’s Manhattanville property comes at a time of increasing neighborhood outcry over the school’s Harlem expansions.

Local residents have been asking more and more if Columbia has been as good a New York neighbor as Bollinger claims. Of particular concern is the West Harlem Local Development Corporation, the nonprofit organization tasked with distributing about half of the $150 million that Columbia pledged to give West Harlem for community needs as part of its negotiations for the Manhattanville expansion.

Formed in 2006, with its Community Benefits Agreement with Columbia finalized in 2009, the WHLDC was intended to help ensure that $20 million of the Columbia money is allotted for an affordable housing fund, another $20 million for in-kind benefits, and $30 million for construction of an elementary and middle school in West Harlem.

But five years later, the West Harlem Local Development Corporation has no mission statement or website. It holds no public meetings, has no headquarters, and does not even have a public phone number.

While the WHLDC has received $3.55 million of Columbia’s money, the organization has not revealed how any of this money has been spent. Others have reported on some of the spending: the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development says it got  $300,000 to hire Harlem children for summer jobs, while DNAInfo reported the WHLDC has spent $400,000 in consultants and $300,000 in programming.

The lack of transparency has prompted criticism and calls for reform from an array of politicians. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued  a subpoena in November for the organization’s records, and Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of Harlem has publicly supported calls for an audit.

“The organization is weak,” said Vincent Morgan, a Harlem-based Democrat who has announced his candidacy for Rangel’s congressional seat. Morgan has made headlines recently for his outspoken criticism of the WHLDC. “The area is over 40 percent Hispanic, Dominican Americans, and there aren’t any Dominicans on the board! From a community standpoint, there are no lawyers, no bankers, nobody to know what to ask out of a contract,” Morgan said. (While the WHLDC has not officially made public any information on its board members, their names have leaked on the Internet, and consist of mostly local politicians and community representatives.)

Steps at the front of the Low Memorial Library, at Columbia University. Photo by AP Photo.

The many complaints about the development corporation’s lack of action has sent a question resonating throughout the community: has Columbia turned a blind eye to Harlem?

Thomas G. Lunke, director of planning at the Harlem Community Development Corp., said it’s not the first time Columbia has appeared to ignore community needs. Some years ago, said Lunke, Columbia agreed with community leaders that it would do a survey of northern Manhattan businesses and notify them of contracting jobs needed at the university. “Columbia has millions of dollars in contracts that they let every year, so businesses in northern Manhattan can fulfill those contracts,” said Lunke. “They said they would get back to us, but they never did.”

Still, with Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion in its early stages, and the results of the mayor’s engineering school contest still under deliberation, Curtis L. Archer, president of the Harlem Community Development Corp., said he wants to remain optimistic.

“You have to realize this is a process. Hopefully there will be somebody with strength and vision to chart a vision that will be inclusive of the community,” he said.

It’s unclear whether the current controversy over the West Harlem Local Development Corporation will have any impact on Mayor Bloomberg’s choice of which school gets to build the new engineering facility. Although a special advisory panel, the City Council and others will help vet the proposals, the mayor’s office has made clear that the final choice -– expected by January -– will be Bloomberg’s. Richard Hornsby, Columbia’s communications and public affairs director, declined to comment on the competition because the judging process is still under way.

Columbia’s proposed Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering was a last-minute entry, and it is up against strong bids from New York University, Cornell and Stanford. Unlike those schools, which hope to build on city-owned property on Roosevelt Island, Columbia’s proposal utilizes only university-owned land in Manhattanville.

Despite its roots in the city, Columbia’s proposal is considered a long shot.

“I think it’s safe to say that the city wouldn’t be doing this in the first place if there was a perception that Columbia and NYU were doing a fantastic job in applied sciences,” said Goldie Blumenstyk, writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education.  “If they can organize themselves to get greater activity out of Columbia, and get some of these other places to contribute to the New York economy — Stanford, Cornell — why not?”

UPDATE (Dec. 7, 2011): Mayor Bloomberg’s shortlist of candidates has been narrowed down to four applicants, The New York Daily News reports. Amity University and a group including New York Genome Center and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have reportedly been eliminated from the shortlist, leaving Columbia in competition with Cornell, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and New York University. The Columbia Spectator notes that the final result should be announced in January.

“Parkour is just training your body to overcome obstacles,” says “Vert,” who teaches the acrobatic discipline four times a week in Fort Tryon Park.

Youthbuild Program Director Wendell Moore speaks to a group of students. Photo by Ben Teitelbaum/Northattan.

Youthbuild is a nonprofit organization that helps low-income high school dropouts succeed. It gives 16- to 24-year-olds construction training, and a second-chance at an education. Three-quarters of its funding comes from the federal government, and recent cuts mean three New York-area Youthbuilds have closed. East Harlem is where the organization started more than 30 years ago, and now that chapter’s future isn’t clear either.

Ben Teitelbaum reports.

On a gray Monday morning during final exam week, Caroline Gagné, a sophomore at Columbia College, casually sat on a bench against the wall outside of Butler Library, smoking a Camel Light cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee. Just a normal smoke break – except that this time, by lighting up right beside the library, Gagné was in violation of a new policy on campus.

Caroline Gagné, a sophomore at Columbia, smokes her morning cigarette outside of Butler Library. Photo by Katrina Kaufman/Northattan.

The University Senate passed a resolution on Dec. 3 that prohibits smoking within 20 feet of all campus buildings on Columbia’s Morningside campus. Technically, the smoking ban is now in effect, but students are not being held accountable for transgressing it yet, according to Michael McNeil, Director of Columbia’s health services program Alice!, which promotes health initiatives to students.

“We feel it is our responsibility to allow some time to disseminate information to the institution, move receptacles, and put up proper signage before action will be taken to enforce this policy,” said McNeil, who also chaired the campus Tobacco Work Group that spent the past two years reviewing Columbia’s tobacco policies.

The university’s goal is to have all of that in place by Jan. 18, the first day of spring semester, said McNeil.

So Gagné, who was smoking about a foot away from Butler Library, was safe for the moment – and not too worried about the future..

“Twenty feet away is not that big a deal,’ she said. “I don’t think it would be that much of a sacrifice.”

A map showing the effect of a 20 foot ban on Columbia

If Gagné does violate the smoking ban once it’s formally in effect, she could be subject to a warning. But McNeil said that enforcement of the ban is a community issue and hoped that faculty and students will help enforce the policy on campus.

“We see no need for a heavy handed approach to this at all,” said McNeil. “We’re not expecting an issue. When people are aware or they are reminded, they generally comply.”

The Senate debate early this month initially considered banning smoking 50 feet from all Morningside campus buildings. The limit was reduced to 20 feet due to concerns about compliance and enforceability, according to Alex Frouman, a student senator for Columbia College. Frouman said that a 20-foot ban seemed more feasible, in part because banning smoking 50 feet from any building would de facto create a total smoking ban in the northeast part of the Morningside campus.

Some in the Senate favored a flat ban on smoking anywhere on campus. But after a contentious debate, the 20-foot ban was passed by a 31-13 vote in the University Senate,

Despite the lopsided vote, some senators say the debate is not over.

Mark A. Cohen, a Columbia Business School professor, is calling for a full smoking ban on campus.

“It’s a dangerous issue, and on top of that it’s unsanitary, unsightly and it ought to be something that the university rids itself of categorically,” said Cohen, a former smoker.

A student smokes near Avery, ignoring the building's current 50 foot smoking ban. Photo by Katrina Kaufman/Northattan.

The 20-foot ban complies with New York State law, which requires that colleges and universities forbid smoking within 20 feet of college residence halls. The state ban does not cover other academic buildings, but the university wanted to implement a consistent rule throughout campus, according to McNeil.

The university’s former smoking policy only prohibited smoking near residences halls. Certain buildings had imposed their own rules, such as the architecture school’s Avery Hall, which has maintained a ban on smoking within 50 feet of the building. The new 20-foot ban creates a uniform campus policy, negating specific building restrictions like the one at Avery.

With this policy, Columbia joins over 500 U.S. colleges and universities – about a fifth of all higher education campuses in the country – in implementing a smoking ban. At least 446 of these campuses are 100 percent smoke free, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.

Campus-wide bans have been controversial at some institutions, such as the University of Kentucky, where pro-nicotine students staged a “smoke-out” in protest, according to the Time magazine article “Campus Smoking Bans? Some Saying ‘Lighten Up.’”

“A full ban would be unfair,” said Gagné “People would be late for class and on Broadway smoking thousands of cigarettes. People would still smoke on campus and get into trouble. Smoking is an addiction that some people aren’t ready to give up.”

But Cohen pointed out that Columbia’s Medical School campus on 168th Street and Broadway already instituted a full smoking ban and said the main campus also should act consistently with that decision.

A law student extinguishes her cigarette in a receptacle outside the Law School

“I understand the trauma of a smoker who is being deprived,” said Cohen, “But so what? It’s not something the university should support. It’s a poisonous habit.”

“I think the 20 or 50 foot rule is silly because are you going to have public safety officers walking around with tape measures?” he continued. “Are you going to delineate lines on the sidewalk to figure out where you can smoke?”

Brian Rice, a smoker and Columbia Law student, thinks that a 20-foot ban is reasonable, but he also opposes a full ban. “I think it would have the effect of just externalizing the problem, forcing the university’s smokers, along with their smoke and litter onto Columbia’s neighbors. I question the feasibility and desirability of enforcing such a ban.”

Rice admitted that smoking is a lonesome habit on this campus. Only about 16 percent of Columbia students are smokers, according to McNeil.

Smoking is legal as long as smokers meet New York state age regulations, said McNeil, but private organizations and public venues have the authority to establish guidelines limiting or banning smoking on their premises.

Ron Mazor, a student senator for Columbia Law School, is against a full smoking ban but feels that the new 20-foot ban is a fair compromise. He expressed concern that a full ban would infringe upon the rights of smokers at Columbia. Mazor does not smoke.

“I think smokers are a significant and valued group of people on campus who should be treated with consideration for their personal choice regarding a legal habit,” said Mazor.

He added, “Smoking restrictions that go significantly beyond state law, such as a full ban, only serve to alienate them and create severe hardship for them while on campus. Such a ban is antithetical to creating a tolerant space of free, open exchange and interaction.”

Cohen plans to propose a full ban resolution at the Senate’s next meeting on Feb. 4.

Finding quality daycare is a problem throughout all of New York City, but it’s especially acute in Washington Heights. This neighborhood has the largest concentration of children in all of Manhattan. But in 2010, a flock of new daycares opened in the area. Robin Respaut and Brett Teal brought this report.