CGT was first convened in 2006 to interrogate how Columbia was thinking about and engaging with a newly interconnected world. In the two decades since its founding, CGT has grown to comprise undergraduate course offerings, an Undergraduate Committee on Global Thought, a robust MA program, and public events, in addition to a larger-than-ever faculty committee of more than 35 scholars from across Columbia.
The context in which CGT was founded (on the cusp of “globalization”) is markedly different in 2026, and Columbia itself is also changed. To mark CGT’s 20th year, we are convening a discussion with President Emeritus Bollinger, CGT’s founding chair Joseph Stiglitz, and Adam Tooze, moderated by Ravi Agrawal, Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy. The panel will reflect on how conceptions of “the global” have evolved since CGT’s founding, and imagines what is ahead.
The Global University? Looking Back, Looking Forward
April 28, 2026 at 5:30 PM
The Lee C. Bollinger Forum, 605 W 125th Street
Register here
Rising geopolitical tension and the nationalist turn of American policy have called into question the premise of “the global.” In an era of conflict, mutual suspicion, and rising borders, what is the future that we now imagine? Are models of global convergence and integration that were once so compelling still relevant? What does it mean to be a global university in 2026? Can we still aspire even to the free circulation of people and ideas that we imagined 20 years ago? With the recent chilling effect on free speech, what is at stake for universities and global knowledge?
