Gsapp Conversations

In remembrance of the 50th anniversary of the student protests at Columbia University in May 1968, we are rebroadcasting our conversation from last March with architect and Columbia alumna Sharon Egretta Sutton ('73 M.Arch). Sutton spoke with Columbia GSAPP Associate Professor Mabel O. Wilson ('91 M.Arch) about the publication of her book, When Ivory Towers Were Black, which tells the story of how an unparalleled cohort of ethnic minority students earned degrees from Columbia University’s School of Architecture in the aftermath of '68, and during a time of fierce struggles to open the ivory tower to ethnic minority students. "Social justice in this case is occurring on two levels: the one is opening up the elite professions to historically marginalized students; the other is using institutional resources to improve historically marginalized populations. And that has been my life agenda." - Sharon Egretta Sutton