Beginning on Feb. 9, departments across the College began releasing statements regarding Dean King’s resignation. The Dance Department at 12:15pm was the first to release a statement, writing, “Please remember the power of the community you have formed through dancing. Lean on each other, and don’t forget the power of movement to help process strong feelings.” Following the Dance Department, The Center for Critical Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), released a statement that has since been supported by many departments and faculty across campus. In reference to the goals set out by President Bergeron of “full participation” faculty members wrote, “At this point we’d actually recommend that any official verbiage related to these goals be stricken, as very little over the past almost decade has suggested that this is true” (see the full statement on @ccsreconncoll on Instagram).
On Feb. 10 at 10am, the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies released a statement endorsing the CCSRE statement, following it with “we believe that now is the time to make change.” At 7pm the Anthropology Department emailed students with support of students’ efforts to create change and encouraged collaboration between students, faculty, and staff at the College.
On Feb. 11, Art History/Architectural Studies released a statement further supporting students by writing, “we want the student community to be assured that we stand with you during this difficult and challenging time.”
On Feb. 12 at 3:30pm, Slavic Studies professors wrote to their students showing their support for the CCSRE statement and expressing their own commitment to the work of DIEI: “We are committed to advancing this aim in our field by decentering its Russo-centric orientation, striving to be more inclusive of historically marginalized communities in the regions we study, and unmasking disinformation and a lack of transparency as tools for reinforcing the status quo in the world and in our community.” At 8:15pm, the English Department also sent their support for students and mentioned faculty efforts, noting, “We look forward to working with our faculty colleagues to ensure [Dean King’s] sacrifice will not have been in vain.”
On Feb. 13 The Departments of Film, Botany, Biology, Computer Science, Human Development, Education, and History all released statements. Both History (via the History SAB Instagram) and Computer Science at 3pm expressed their direct support for the statement made by CCSRE. The Film Department at 12pm and the Education Studies Department at 7pm wrote about their efforts within the faculty community to create change. A Film Studies professor noted, “We want to see something done, and we want to see it done now.” Additionally the Education Department the field’s direct connection to campus protests writing, “there is a long history of students protesting social injustice and also a long history of that protest leading to positive social change that wouldn’t have otherwise happened.” Continuing this trend Human Development at 6pm and Biology at 9:40pm reiterated their commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion within their respective departments. Responding directly to Dean King’s letter to the Board of Trustees (BoT), the Botany Department released a statement at 4:30pm writing, “We see this as part of a larger pattern of devaluing expert advice that needs to change.”
On Feb. 14, The Economics and Government/International Relations Departments emailed students to support action in response to Dean King’s resignation. The Economics Department faculty wrote, “We fully support every effort to make our campus a place in which everyone is treated equitably and where every individual is able to fully and meaningfully participate in all aspects of college life.” Similarly the Government faculty wrote, “We have heard the call to action by you, the students, as well as by many of our faculty colleagues, to use this moment to fight for the long overdue structural changes that will enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and full participation by all at this college. We join in that call and commit to continuing to do this work.”
Finally on Feb. 15, the Department of Psychology/Neuroscience released a statement acknowledging the larger institutional issues at hand writing, “We believe all attempts to address the crisis of [Dean King’s] resignation must attend not just to the personal and interpersonal dimensions of what has occurred, but also to the institutional and ideological dimensions of racism, antisemitism, and other forms of oppression it is connected to in our country and at our institution.” The Theater Department also released a statement late Wednesday stating, “As we navigate our department’s role in what must be a new direction for the college, let us find inspiration in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America and declare that, in fact, the college’s “history is about to crack wide open.”
It is clear across all of the department statements that faculty are standing behind students’ efforts to seek change. Further, many faculty members tailored their letters to their respective fields, demonstrating for students what critically interrogating the institution means in their field of study. Whether by providing spaces to speak and process information, additional time on assignments, or grace to those students supporting or participating in protest, the faculty is working to support students in every way possible and strive toward creating change alongside the student body. •
