The first time a Connecticut College first-year student met my mention of “last semester’s events” with wide-eyed confusion, I was shocked. The most recent time, I was exhausted.
“There was this thing,” I rambled crudely, “that a professor wrote on Facebook—and there was this vandalism…”
Having now explained the situation several times over the past semester, I felt disappointed that I still could not succinctly outline what occurred last spring while emphasizing that the issues remain unresolved. More so, however, I was frustrated that the first-years had not learned about the situation already. Their lack of information impedes our ability to move the conversation forward.
In an interview with the Voice, Interim Dean of Equity and Inclusion David Canton noted that he and a few collaborators created a website complete with synopses, links to individual conversations, and updates regarding last spring’s events.
“The degree of interest ranges,” Dean Canton commented, explaining that for students interested in the subject, the information is out there.
While this notion makes sense, excusing students from essential campus conversations creates a disconnect within the student body, especially in areas as crucial and currently relevant as racial justice. As students become acclimated with the campus, they should be made aware of issues of importance to large portions of the student body.
Dean of First-Year Students Andrea Rossi-Reder spoke to the role of orientation in the same interview. She noted that in recent years, orientation has become increasingly “decentralized,” with orientation groups now designed around first-year seminars rather than residential spaces.
“The student advisors go through a training before classes start,” Dean Rossi-Reder explained, noting that their training focused mainly on “the nuts and bolts of registration.”
“[Last spring’s conversation was] something that I figured would come up naturally,” she added. For students of color, this might be “something they would take up with their ALANA big sibs.”
Dean Rossi-Reder elaborated that this discussion was “not really the job of the student advisors.”
“A lot of the jobs that the SAs had to do got taken over by floor governors,” she said, “They’re the ones dealing with [first-years] in their social and residential lives.”
Aidan Cort ’18, a floor governor in KB, commented that the REAL office advised floor governors about “how [they] could be proactive in helping talk to [their] residents about racism and pointing them towards their resources.”
Cort clarified that if he remembered correctly, the floor governors were not, however, explicitly instructed to address their residents about the spring’s events.
Dean Canton noted that to a certain degree, this is an issue of student agency. While students never received an in-depth explanation detailing the incendiary Facebook post and vandalism and the conversations that followed, both deans seemed to be under the impression that first-year students had at least heard of what happened.
“It was in the convocation address,” mentioned Dean Rossi-Reder.
“If you don’t know, you can ask,” Dean Canton pointed out. He suggested that students who felt dissatisfied with the way the situation was handled write a letter or request an open forum to voice their concerns.
“Let them come talk to me,” he stated plainly.
Dean Rossi-Reder added that administrators experienced a setback this fall when Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington, President and Founder of the Washington Consulting Group and the Social Justice Training Institute, cancelled his visit to Conn due to scheduling issues.
“That’s really where the conversation was going to take place,” noted Dean Rossi-Reder, describing Rev. Dr. Washington’s cancellation as “a loss for us.”
Dean Canton said that the event had been designed as “a whole forum for the first-year class” and was scheduled for Oct. 23.
Trevor Bates ’18, a student adviser, noted that first-years did receive some racism awareness information in the format of a panel discussing Whistling Vivaldi¸ the Class of 2019’s summer reading. Some students have criticized the social psychology book as problematic for lacking a diverse representation of cases.
It appears, then, that Conn tried to address the ongoing tensions from last semester. Notably, the information exists for those who seek it, but the problem stems primarily from those who would prefer not to acknowledge it. While nearly everyone has, at some point, contributed to our racist culture—whether intentionally or accidentally—the students who typically make the independent effort to educate themselves about racial justice are not the main perpetrators of aggression and exclusion. Likely, the most problematic group will not visit the webpage.
Additionally, this is an issue of institutional memory. Forgetting last spring’s conflict is in the best interest of Conn’s public image—that is, at least, if we’re pursuing the image of a NESCAC utopia. As a student body, however, we have the power to decide whether we will erase our points of contention or consider them as we move forward. It is up to us to decide whether our institution is immaculate or evolving. •
