February 4th, 2014 John H. Coatsworth Provost Professor of International and Public Affairs and of History Columbia University 205 Low Library Mail Code 4313 New York, NY 10027

Dear Provost Coatsworth,

We, the undersigned students and graduates of Columbia University, write to request that the letter of “non-renewal” submitted to Professor Kim Hopper be rescinded immediately. Our petition reflects the direct outpouring of student mobilization upon learning that Professor Hopper, our beloved teacher and mentor in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences, would effectively have his relationship with the Mailman School of Public Health terminated as of June 30, 2014. As doctoral students in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Mailman School of Public Health, we are alarmed not only by the immediate harm this would cause to our education and training, but also by the detrimental effect this decision will certainly have on the University’s academic and educational mission.

The Department of Sociomedical Sciences is internationally known as an innovative leader in the multidisciplinary study of health. The mission of the Department continues to stand apart in its commitment to understanding public health as embedded within social, cultural, historical, economic, and political contexts. With attention to these theoretical and historical frameworks, SMS creates a unique intellectual space for the systematic study and critical analysis of local and global health challenges. While we are a diverse student body, we share a commitment to the SMS mission to apply contextually rich and rigorous research in the service of public health practice. Professor Hopper himself received his PhD in Sociomedical Sciences from the department in 1987. For the past 26 years, he has served as a core faculty member within the Department and has trained generations of public health leaders committed to SMS’s unique interdisciplinary vision.

Dr. Hopper’s example as a leader, scholar, and advocate spans decades and borders, from New York City’s homeless population to cross-cultural public and global mental health policy and practice. A simple search for Kim Hopper in the New York Times and New Yorker databases produces no fewer than 50 citations detailing over 30 years of his publicly committed work, which includes co-founding the National Coalition for the Homeless and overseeing the annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (whose 10th anniversary took place this past week). The February 2013 issue of American Anthropologist featured an editorial by Brett Williams called “Kim Hopper’s Regrets,” which used Dr. Hopper’s work in the area of public anthropology as an exemplar of the ways that scholarly pursuits could meaningfully work toward a more equitable and just society. When the broader scholarly community so clearly recognizes Dr. Hopper as a world-renowned anthropologist, respected public intellectual, and champion for society’s most vulnerable, we are astounded that his home institution would not share this view. This

department will lose a great deal of prestige and credibility should the administration refuse to rescind the letter of non-renewal.

It is both myopic and unsustainable to attempt to meet budgetary constraints by terminating a proven faculty member who is such an extraordinary scholar, teacher, and mentor. Professor Hopper’s academic value and productivity extend far beyond his own achievements. The success and honors conferred to Dr. Hopper’s doctoral students, perhaps overlooked in the university’s routine administrative financial accounting, are direct outcomes of his rigorous interdisciplinary instruction, professional support, and ethical guidance. Dr. Hopper’s students have achieved consistent recognition in national and international competitions for training grants, external funding for dissertation research, and writing fellowships. In the past two years alone, over one third of all peer-reviewed articles published by current SMS students were authored by his mentees. In the 2012-2013 academic year, his students comprised one third of all conference papers and one third of all fellowships and awards conferred to SMS doctoral students. In a department with nearly 70 faculty members, it is indeed significant that Dr. Hopper’s students account for such an unusually large proportion of all student publications, fellowships, awards, and presentations.

In the past eight years, his students have been awarded no fewer than three multi-year NIH pre-doctoral training grants (one each from the National Institute for Drug Abuse, the National Institute for Child and Human Development, and the National Institute for Mental Health); no fewer than five multi-year NSF graduate research fellowships in anthropology (each worth over $120,000); at least four NSF doctoral dissertation improvement grants; multiple Fulbright grants for dissertation research; at least four Social Science Research Council international dissertation research fellowships; no fewer than five dissertation research fellowships from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research; three fellowships from the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy; dissertation completion fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the American Association of University Women; and many internal Columbia fellowships (FLAS, IGERT, IRCPL, Mellon/INCITE, Columbia-Paris Alliance, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, and many others).

As an integral part of Columbia’s intellectual community, at least eight of Professor Hopper’s recent students have taught undergraduate courses on the Columbia College and Barnard campuses. Four have acted as instructors in the University Writing Program, and four have successfully designed and taught their own summer session undergraduate courses, including “The Global Biomedical Enterprise,” “The Invention of Tropical Disease,” “Culture and Mental Health,” and “The Politics of Population.”

Dr. Hopper’s recent students have also published in top-tier journals, such as Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Sociology of Health & Illness, Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Social Science & Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, BioSocieties and Ethos; his advisees have gone on to write books published by presses including Stanford, University of California, Vanderbilt, and Polity. His students’ productivity is testament to his unique and intensive engagement with their ideas, projects, and writings. During SMS’s yearlong seminar on social theory, all SMS doctoral students are exposed to Dr. Hopper’s close readings of their work and his generous, sometimes hour-long, individualized meetings. Indeed, he is famous among students for his razor-fine critical comments and acute attention to everything from the broadest

outlines of big ideas to the slightest nuances in turns of phrase.

In addition to their successes in funding, teaching, and publishing, Dr. Hopper’s students are consistently recognized as promising new scholars. His recent students have been honored with SMS Dissertation Awards with Distinction in 2001, 2004, 2009, and 2010; Eugene Litwak Prizes in 2003, 2006, and 2010 (for best dissertation proposal); Jack Elinson Awards in 2012 and 2010 (for best published article); and Awards for Excellence in Global Health in 2010, 2012, and 2013. Their work has been recognized externally with the Society for Medical Anthropology’s Rudolf Virchow Graduate Student Award in 2012, the American Sociological Association's Robert Merton Book Award in 2012, the Culture in Global Affairs’ 64 Best Cultural Anthropology Dissertations Award in 2012, the Society for Psychological Anthropology’s Condon Prize in 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health’s Leadership Award in 2009, and the New York Academy of Medicine’s Student Essay Prize in 2007. His graduated students hold postdoctoral fellowships at Wellesley and Harvard, as well as tenured or tenure-track appointments at University of Massachusetts, the University of Washington, the University of Maryland, Barnard College, New York University, UCSF, University of New England, Temple, Purdue, Pomona, Amherst, the University of British Columbia, and George Washington University, in departments of anthropology, sociology, history, public health, women’s studies, medicine, and nursing.

Many of us first entered Professor Hopper’s classroom as Masters of Public Health students and chose to pursue doctoral training as a result (and in pursuit) of his mentorship. Students matriculating from outside of Columbia were drawn to his national and international reputation as a respected scholar and colleague in anthropology, mental health, and public health. While in awe of his striking and incisive intellect, which effortlessly transcends regional and disciplinary boundaries, we were also drawn to Professor Hopper’s genuinely humane, attentive, and generous spirit. These shared qualities are rarely so interwoven in a single individual, making him a highly sought-after advisor. In addition to adding our names to this document, many of us were compelled to provide our own testaments to Dr. Hopper’s unique abilities as a mentor, which are appended. Moreover, Professor Hopper has maintained a full teaching schedule of two to three and a half graduate courses per term, including the doctoral program’s core theory courses, qualitative and ethnographic methods, and social determinants of health. Losing Dr. Hopper would leave a gaping hole at the heart of the department’s educational mission.

Professor Hopper’s work is absolutely fundamental to the long-term health of the Department and to the maintenance of Columbia’s reputation as a leader in education and scientific research. We therefore urge you to use all possible means to reinstitute Professor Hopper’s salary line for July 1, 2014 in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences and to secure funds dedicated to supporting his irreplaceable work in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Gina Jae, MD, MPH PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Robert Benjamin Frey PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Brendan Hart PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Sara Lewis, MA, LMSW PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Nancy Worthington, MPH PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Sara Shoener, MPH DrPH Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Siri Suh, MPH PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Ronna Popkin, MSc PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Radhika Gore PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Political Science Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Anne M. Montgomery, MSc PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Amy Dao PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Akua Gyamerah, MPH DrPH Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Heather Wurtz PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Elisa González PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and History Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Matthew Kelly, MPH PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and History Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Stephanie Cook DrPH, MPH (Sociomedical Sciences) University of Michigan, Postdoctoral Fellow Emily Vasquez, MPH PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Brooke West, MA PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Laura Murray, MHS PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Ijeoma Eboh PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and History Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Abby DiCarlo, MPH PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Yoav Vardy PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Claire Edington, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) Harvard University, Postdoctoral Fellow

Sahar Sadjadi, MD, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) Amherst College, Assistant Professor Kathleen Bachynski, MPH PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and History Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Shruti Chhabra, MBBS, MHA PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Political Science Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Maria Dulce F Natividad, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) Wellesley College, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow Carmen Yon, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Researcher S. Christopher Alley PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Svati P. Shah, PhD, MPH (Sociomedical Sciences) University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Assistant Professor M. Somjen Frazer, MLitt PhD student, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Alicia Peters, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) University of New England, Assistant Professor Raziel D. Valiño PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Rebecca Jordan-Young, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) Barnard College, Columbia University, Tow Associate Professor Althea D. Anderson, MPH PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Brennan Rhodes-Bratton, MPH DrPH Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Mariana Martins PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Psychology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University David Johns, MPH PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and History Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Kirk Fiereck, MPH PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Sarah S. Joestl, DrPH, MPH (Sociomedical Sciences) Health Statistician, National Center for Health Statistics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Yusuf Ransome, MPH DrPH Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Nadav Antebi PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Psychology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Nityanjali Thummalachett, MPH DrPH Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Alexander Martos, MPH DrPH Student, Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Amaya Perez-Brumer, MSc PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Jose Diaz PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Psychology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Nora Kenworthy, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) University of Washington, Assistant Professor Caroline Parker PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Ashley Fox, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) SUNY at Albany, Assistant Professor Marian Moser Jones, PhD, MPH (Sociomedical Sciences) University of Maryland, Assistant Professor Jessica Jaiswal, MPH PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Will Mellman, MSW PhD Student, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Kate Ramsey, MPH DrPH Candidate, Population & Family Health Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Kostas Gounis, PhD (Anthropology, Columbia University) University of Crete, Greece, Sociology Department Assistant Professor of Urban and Medical Anthropology, Chau Trinh, DrPH (Sociomedical Sciences) NYU Medical Center, Associate Professor of Population Health, Nadia Islam, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) NYU Medical Center, Assistant Professor of Population Health Simona C. Kwon, DrPH, MPH (Sociomedical Sciences) NYU School of Medicine, Assistant Professor Elanah Uretsky, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) George Washington University Assistant Professor of Global Health, Anthropology, and International Affairs Pardis Mahdavi, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) Pomona College, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology Emily A. Arnold, PhD (Sociomedical Sciences) University of California San Francisco, Associate Professor of Medicine Brian B. Johnson, PhD, MPH Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Sonia Rab Alam, MPH (Sociomedical Sciences) PhD Candidate, Sociology Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Rebecca A. Kruger, MSc PhD Candidate, Sociomedical Sciences and Sociology Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University cc: Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University Lee Goldman, Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine Linda Fried, Dean, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Lisa Metsch, Chair, Department of Sociomedical Sciences