Photo courtesy of Hannah Foley ’23
As of Wednesday night – the third day of protesting – neither the Board of Trustees nor President Bergeron has responded adequately to the demands laid out by SVE; the Fanning occupation continues
Night of Feb. 28: Cast of Into the Woods releases another statement to TCV after President Bergeron’s response to their open letter from Feb. 27.
10:23 a.m.: Students, faculty, and staff receive an email from Bergeron addressing the continuing protests. This is the first correspondence from the president to directly mention the demands laid out by SVE. The email aimed to address both the demands, as well as the allegations of bullying by Bergeron herself (the latter was merely discussed in one sentence). It does not contain any mention of the first demand, which is Bergeron’s resignation. She does mention the restructuring of student emergency funds in the office of the Dean of the College to better fit student needs, provide new resources for student affinity groups, and begin to build a web presence of resources for minority students. She notably approved the repairs to Unity House to make it ADA compliant – though that’s not necessarily making it accessible.
10:30 a.m.: Faculty members hold a poster-making session in Cummings to prepare for the afternoon’s protest. Members of the faculty who do not feel comfortable publicly attending the rally are invited to attend the private poster session to show their support for the students without jeopardizing their positions.
1:00 p.m.: Students gather on the Blackstone side of New London Hall to prepare for the protest with the faculty, queuing up the edge of Tempel Green. Faculty and staff members begin to arrive on the Fanning side of New London Hall. Fanning occupiers hang banners with the eight SVE demands from their windows. The demands are also posted on a tarp adorning the greenhouse and the outside of New London Hall is plastered with “Fund DIEI” sentiments.
1:15 p.m.: Students, faculty, and staff gather outside Fanning. Multiple members of the faculty and staff give speeches in support of the students who are occupying.
1:45 p.m.: Two MOBROC bands, The Reapers and MK Ultra, perform in front of students, staff, and faculty to boost the morale of the Fanning occupiers and protestors.
2:20 p.m.: SVE leads a walking protest around campus starting at Fanning. Students, faculty, and staff follow waving signs and chanting as they march around Temple Green.
2:28 p.m.: The walking protest stops in front of Horizon House, which is home to Admissions. Students from SVE address the crowd and speak on their experiences with the College’s lack of support for undocumented students. One professor documents the scene from a tree.
2:40 p.m.: Protest stops on Williams Street in front of the President’s house. While the use of the house is a privilege given to college presidents, it is not Bergeron’s primary residence and it is unknown whether or not she was present at the time of the protest. Students speak out against the lack of financial support they have on campus. A student ties a “Happy Retirement” balloon to the President’s gate.
3:00 p.m.: Protest continues inside Blaustein, taking up three floors and hanging banners around the railings. Students are invited to speak on their experiences with CISLA. One student voiced her concerns about the program’s eurocentric curriculum exclaiming “CISLA is an inherently racist institution” and does not serve POC students. Another spoke about the College’s lack of support of international students and the inherent tokenism in international admissions.
3:22 p.m.: Protest continues inside Cro. Students speak about support systems which are mostly housed in Cro. An SVE member voiced how frustrating it is that the staff are underpaid, citing how a full-time staff member working in the Holleran Center qualifies for low-income benefits and receives subsidized housing. Students then speak about programs themselves that are underfunded, specifically SVPA, where students affected by Title IX cases are not adequately supported because of a lack of staff. Students join in a chant: “community, diversity, and equity but all we see is disparities”.
3:30 p.m.: Protest continues outside Becker House, which is home to the Advancement offices. Students voice their frustrations on the school’s willingness to accept donations from racist organizations and express support for the new BIPOC members of Advancement. Students also voiced their stories and experiences with Campus Safety when trying to occupy Fanning.
3:45 p.m.: Protest concludes outside Fanning with performances from three MOBROC bands.
6:36 p.m.: 7 pm student protest originally planned to take place in front of Fanning is moved to the 1941 room in Cro due to rain.
7:13 p.m.: SVE members hold an event in the 1941 room. They note that, despite what her email implies, President Bergeron is not in conversation with SVE at this time. SVE organizes a letter-writing campaign in response to President Bergeron’s email. The idea is to have these letters scanned and posted across campus as well as online.
8:00 p.m.: On the inside of Fanning, occupiers enjoy dinner donated by Shaking Crab, a local establishment and campus favorite. Evening plans on the docket consist of another watch party, board games, and video gaming.
8:10 p.m.: Shelter-in-place order issued for the Plex, West lot, and Cro due to a suspicious object near the Barn
8:55 p.m: Given the all clear after the Connecticut State Police bomb squad inspected a suspicious item on campus. It was in fact a light pole ballast left by someone doing lighting earlier.
You can’t make this crap up. These students are complaining about departments being underfunded, and people being underpaid, while at the same time turning down money because it’s “racist.”
MEMO: If a person or place with a racist past is trying to give you their money, maybe the moral thing to do is to TAKE IT FROM THEM!
Take it and fund DIEI. Take it and pay staff members more. Take it and provide more financial aid. Take it an fix your old dorms.
The amount of privilege these college kids possess is mind boggling to me. Turning down money because of things that happened 50 years ago? I’ve seen schools in Mexico where they couldn’t even afford enough paper for small children to draw on. Those schools would take “racist money” in a heartbeat.
Literally every institution in America has a racist past if you look back far enough. Bergeron should have stood her ground and gone to fundraiser. By backing down, she tried to appease these spoiled woksters. But they’ll never be appeased. Cancel culture is what they’re all about.
Is that you Sean Spicer?
Just read a brilliant reply by CC Mom who explained in very clear terms the difference between accepting donations from people who want to whitewash their past and “restorative justice payments” from institutions who acknowledge the past harm they have caused, before they pay reparations to the people who were hurt by their actions.
There is a difference.
You are totally right. Literally everything has a “racist history”. They seriously want to fire KB because she was going to accept money from a club that has racist history? Might as well fire and cancel everyone in the United States. It’s absolutely ridiculous, laughable, childish. It is just hilarious to watch at this point, because the school will devolve into everyone getting cancelled.
Wait. KB doesn’t even LIVE there at the presidents house? We maintain and (heat that building) for the occasional let’s look good on paper and for the trustees dinner?! We have incredibly limited event space on campus, yet maintain an entire home (2x bigger than mine) to host our upper echelon when they want to make each other feel good about themselves? Put Unity House in KB’s and move her to unity.
Perhaps US News and World Report needs to add other categories when evaluating schools – Faculty and staff workplace satisfaction? Funding for DIEI? an ADA accessibility score?
My camel is a freshman and I am now concerned that the past nine years has created a compromised environment at Conn. How many quality faculty and staff left quietly?
Please set this straight and move quickly to remedy. Four years goes fast. Don’t let the repair overshadow the next three years.