Forum discusses racial tensions on campus, comes up short

Julianne Herts Assistant News Editor

A community meeting convened last Wednesday, Jan. 30 in the Villard Room to discuss the climate of the community after hate symbols, such as nooses and KKK insignia, were found around campus last term.

Vassar President Catharine Bond Hill began the meeting with an explanation of recent events and a statement of the College’s commitment to respect diversity. This particular community meeting was organized by the Campus Life Response Team, which aids students in the wake of threatening events. The Response Team developed an official protocol in 2006, creating a mission statement that revolves around a pledge to “respond, protect, communicate and demonstrate,” and Wednesday's meeting was part of an attempt to fulfill that commitment, explained Coordinator for the Campus Life Response Team and Associate Dean of the College Edward Pittman ’82.

“We meet in the midst of a crisis and responded,” said Pittman. “We were in discussion with the history department and we decided we needed to have a community meeting.” Hill’s introductory remarks illustrated her belief that the campus is indeed in the midst of a crisis. “There have been several events in the past few months and the past few years that suggest that we still have work to do,” she said. “We are still falling short of our Mission Statement ‘to see into the lives of others,’ which is a very hard goal to achieve.”

Hill pointed specifically to incidents in which nooses were found fashioned out of curtain cord—one found in Jewett House on Oct. 25, and two subsequent nooses found in December—and well as an image resembling the letters “KKK” drawn on the wall in the basement of Strong House. In another incident this fall, three African American students were stopped on or near Vassar’s campus by Town of Poughkeepsie police and asked “what they were doing here.”

To give context to the symbols that caused the strong emotions, Professor of History Rebecca Edwards discussed the historical significance of the noose (for her remarks, turn to page 16 of this issue). Edwards, whose work focuses on 19th-century America, explained the use of the noose as a symbol of terror throughout American history, emphasizing the role of spectacle in these public murders. Edwards reminded the audience that 'lynching' was not just a southern phenomenon, as this type of killing has been reported in 44 different states, including New York.

In light of this part of our nation’s history, Edwards declared that “Our most important goal is not [to] pick apart what has happened or not happened on campus, but to come together as a community and say these are not our values.” The talk of values continued throughout the meeting as microphones were passed to students and faculty around the room and each statement was summarized on several giant note pads around the room. About 25 students attended the meeting, most of whom were either student representatives or students of color.

Several students expressed their frustration at the fact that so few of their peers were present. “I think it's shameful that we're failing in this way,” said Main House President Luis Trujillo ’09. “Look around this room. Where are the upper-class white men? They’re the ones who need to be here. We need to find a way to get in touch with the majority. ”

Vassar Student Association President Sam Charner ’08 agreed. “Issues like these are ones that affect our entire community, and that means our entire community needs to be engaged in finding solutions,” he explained. “I think it would be really interesting to include [tolerance] in a freshman class as an introduction to Vassar. I wish more students had come.”

Accountability and action were other major themes of the evening. Asher Leventhal ’08 suggested that a class addressing issues of race and class differences become part of the Vassar, while a few others asked that the faculty members offer concrete solutions to the problems on campus. These requests were met, for the most part, with awkward silence.

“Administrators did not give their views on the class, racial and sexuality-based tensions on campus discussed at the meeting, even when students directly asked them to do so,” noted Tendai Musakwa ’10. “This left out an important voice in the discussions and made it seem as if the administrators are not part of the community but are, instead, higher-ups who just sit high on their bureaucratic horses and mete out decisions.”

Other student speakers repeatedly expressed their need for a place to discuss, or a way to prevent, these sorts of events from ever happening, instead of forums to react to incidents as they occur.
“I'm just so past discussion. I'm more about action,” said Tori Williams ’08 at the forum. “This always happens. Reactionary forums aren’t bad, but they just don't solve the problem.”

Many of those who attended the meeting expressed feelings of futility and frustration. “I doubt that the discussion will lead to any substantial changes on campus,” said Musakwa. “The comments raised at the meeting were mostly complaints about discrimination, disrespect and straight white male privilege on campus and didn't really give any solutions to any of these problems. One of the tangible suggestions proposed, to hold a tolerance session during freshman orientation, already happens and I don't see how this would change anything.”

Hill, however, was cautiously optimistic about the results of the meeting. “I thought it was a start to a conversation,” she said. “I was struck by the description of how we do a better job talking about what goes on inside the classroom than we do outside the classroom.” In light of this discrepancy, Hill noted the need for more forums, faculty led discussions and house meetings.