Sikh Studies at Columbia University

The Sikh Studies at Columbia University was started in the spring of 1989 with the purpose for promoting Sikh religion, history, Punjabi and other related fields. Based in the Department of Religion, the Program offers courses in Sikhism and Punjabi. In addition, annual conferences are held and Sikhism is also presented at outside academic and public forums. It was started with funding from Sikh community of New York and is now being supported by Sikh organizations and individual donors from all over the world.

In the past seven years, the program has become the most important hub of the academic efforts in the USA to promote knowledge of Sikhism and Punjabi culture. For the program to continue and flourish we must create a permanent chair in Sikh Studies at Columbia.

A chair in Sikh Studies is an endowment at Columbia University which would support a professor of Sikhism forever. With this chair, Sikhism, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, and Punjabi would become permanent features in the curriculum of one of America's great universities.The Chair is thus a seat at a banquet of learning--and the feast continues for as long as the university continues to exist. Sikhism should be present at this table!

In the last decades, Sikhs have moved rapidly into the mainstream of American life. Yet knowledge of the priceless Sikh heritage remains negligible. The best way for Sikhs to make sure that they are understood and appreciated in America is to endow chairs and programs that represent Sikhism at America's leading universities like at Columbia University. Here Sikhs and non-Sikhs interact in the midst of America's largest and most influential metropolitan community, and the effects spread rapidly outward.

Columbia University is the premier institution of higher education in the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1754, before the United States itself, Columbia is the most urban and international of America's Ivy League universities.

A unique cooperation has developed between Columbia's Southern Asian Institute and various Sikh Organizations The Southern Asian Institute is recognized and funded by the US Government as a National resource for South Asia. It has an international reputation.

We are fortunate in having at Columbia a highly qualified teacher and scholar of Sikhism in Gurinder Singh Mann who holds a PhD. from Columbia and a masters in theology from Harvard, and has been educated in England and lndia. He taught at Baring College, Batala, for many years. In association with Prof. J.S. Hawley, he has Studied extensively the Sikhs and The Goindval Pothis: The Earliest Extant Source of the Sikh Canon has been warmly received. He has also lectured at various academic and community forums throughout North America.

Columbia's Sikh Study program has achieved a great deal in its short history. Here are some examples:

• Six Conferences on Sikhs, Sikhism and Punjabi
  "Post-partition Punjabi Literature" was the first ever conference on Punjabi in North American University and was conducted primarily in Punjabi.
  
• Teaching Material for universities, colleges and schools across America
  "Studying the Sikhs: Issues for North America" (Prof Hawley and Mann, 1993).
  
• A Sikh Students' Association that is among the most vibrant in the U.S.A.
  
• America's most extensive Curriculum in Punjabi
  
• Columbia has emerged as a leading center for public information about Sikhism. Dr. Mann was recently invited by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada to speak on the current situation in the Punjab, and he is serving as an expert witness in law suits centered on the turban and sword as Sikh religious symbols.
• Representing entire Sikh Community in professional organizations
  (e.g. American Academy of Religion) and inter religious groups (e.g. The Temple of Understanding) and television appearances.
• Publishing Sikhism
  by making it a key element in courses about world religion. At Columbia when students learn religion they also learn Sikhism

The Sikh Studies program is a community funded program and Sikh organizations and individual donors have generously helped to continue this program. We are committed to raise an endowment of over 2 million dollars to establish the Sikh chair. In the words of Professor Hawley "If established, such a program would be unparalleled in its ability to affect a wide range of constituencies - both religious and secular, both within the Sikh community and beyond, both nationally and internationally". We are certain that with your continued support and involvement our dream will become a reality.

Columbia University
and mail it to the address below. All contributions are tax exempt. Many companies have matching gift programs that can double an employee's donation. Donors are urged to check with their employers about it.

Sikh Studies at Columbia University
2023 Salisbury Park Drive
Westbury, NY 11590

• Rabinder S. Bhamra (516) 334-6696 rabinderb@aol.com

• Prof. Gurinder S. Mann (212) 864-4996

• Sant S. Chatwal (212) 410-0837

• Tejinder S. Bindra (516} 626-5568

• Sonny Chabra (212) 620-0700

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