Voices of Protest: Faculty and Staff Version

Photos courtesy of Annika Brown ’23, Zoe Dubelier ’23, Robbie Lynch ’24, Hannah Foley ’23, Sophie Mulvihill ’25

“As an alum and a long-term staff member, I really feel that the staff are together in needing to have their voice heard. And this is a long-term history thing, the College has been around for over 100 years, and this, too, will move forward the history of the College. But it’s really important that people understand that this is the staff’s livelihood, that we’re invested in the College, and there’s a lot of really passionate people who work here. So there’s equal parts. I would never put the staff, faculty, or students above each other. But staff, faculty, and students are equally committed to this college. I personally have an office in Fanning, and I am personally committing to coming to campus during this protest and not remote/staying at home. It’s not business as usual for me. And I want to be here, present on campus, to be part of it.” -Dean Libby Friedman ‘80

“I’m personally here because I think it’s time for change. The recent incident with the fundraising event, for me, is personally offensive as a Jewish faculty member. I think that kind of decision making shows that we have a fundamental problem at the College and our leadership, and I’m hoping that we’re going to see a change in leadership and an actual long-term commitment to our values. Definitely, as an interim DIEI [Dean] last year, I got to see the failure for us to institutionally take seriously the needs of that division and for that responsibility to be shared across the college, right? DIEI work should be everyone’s work here.” -Professor Ariella Rotramel

“I can’t be at this institution any longer if we don’t have substantive change. So this is it for me. Like we change, or I’m done. That’s why I’m here.” -Professor Suzuko Knott

“The faculty met yesterday, and we want to do more than rhetoric, so we wanted to put our bodies on the line the way you all are doing and show support, but in a different way. Support is easy to put on paper or to put in words. It’s important, but it’s easier than actually coming together. Community only exists in the moment with deeds, not with speech that doesn’t happen. So we’re wanting to make things happen, so the least we can do is be here with our bodies” -Professor David Dorfman

“My main motivation is that we deserve better as a college community. We deserve better than this. We deserve better than to have people constantly feel like they don’t belong, constantly feel like they don’t have any power, constantly feel like their expertise is devalued or not important, whether that’s on the faculty or on the staff side. If we’re going to have a functional community, all voices need to be heard. What Dean King’s statement showed was that all voices are not being heard, and that’s going to be key to us moving forward as an institution. So that’s what I hope to see and I also want the students to know that we as faculty really deeply care about them and we care about this place and we certainly care about the students who are in that building right now.” -Anonymous

“The excitement to participate in radical change.”  -Professor Petko Ivanov

“CCSRE stands behind the students, faculty, and staff and we want to see a better day very soon.” – CCSRE

“I am just tired of s****. As faculty we had a meeting yesterday and Sheetal started talking about things and I just felt so tired of all of this talk and empty emails and it was about action more than anything. We need change. We need action now. I think generating mass is important. We have people locked in buildings and we have people who have toilets that don’t flush in buildings.” -Anonymous

“I’ve reached a breaking point I think. Reached a breaking point a few years ago. I think this could’ve happened years ago and I would have been right here just as angry, just as pissed off. We gotta get change. We gotta get it now. This is just the beginning of faculty really taking action. We’ve got other levers to pull.” – Anonymous

“I am extremely proud of my students and I wanted to show them that we support them in the decisions that they are making and putting the liberal arts in action so they have our support no matter what they means.” -Professor Maria Rosa

“I want to express my opinion of what has been happening on campus and about where we are right now and I want to make sure the community on campus now is that this is an issue that affects us across the board. The issues that were dealing with that are spelled out here in part are something that impacts the experience of students, but the faculty are not just here to support students we are here as part of this community that has been impacted by issues certainly with DIEI and across the board with the issues of the way our facility are addressed, the way our staff is leaving this place and not being replaced and faculty as well.” -Professor Nadav Assor

“9 years is enough, and so is, in my case, 33 years is enough. And I’ve seen very very slow progress, just enough to placate people, and we are not going to be placated any more. I actually want to know what other places have Advancement gone to do fundraisers? This is not the first time this has happened. There’s not a chance. So is there going to be some kind of review over there? No one’s asking questions about holding them accountable. And I know it seems a little peripheral right now, but it really isn’t actually. If nothing changes over there, we’re back in the same soup. I just am really proud of all my students, and I feel like for a lot of people, but especially American Studies students, what could you possibly learn better than being here? 

And I also want to say my hat is José Mané’s hat. He was one of the American Studies majors in the class of 2003. He was Dominican, and he protested the treatment of baseball players by one of the Major League Baseball teams by turning down almost a million dollars to play for them, and he came to Connecticut College instead. So José is one of the reasons we have a prize named for the class of 2003 because you know what? He knew when you have to sacrifice, so he did.” -Professor Catherine Stock

“I am blown away by what students have put together and just impressed and really really proud. This is one of the proudest moments you can have as a professor, is to see your students take your lessons and put them into action, its inspiring” -Professor Julia Flagg

“It is so wonderful that students, faculty, and staff are all coming together. While there are real issues, real challenges. It is really hard and really hopeful in a sense, so I’m glad to see that” -Professor Chad Jones 

“I actually have been involved with Connecticut College for twenty years in many ways. I left — one of the reasons was because of the issues of diversity and fairness among staff. I left and came back and I am really appalled and saddened by the situation that has happened currently. I am in support of not just the students, faculty, and staff, but institutional change. That means that DIEI and diversity and equity have to be involved in structural changes and that needs to have the support of the Board of Trustees as well. Otherwise we are going to be [back] here in many years, so this is the moment to have action and include those voices that are not normally included, like the staff.” – Luis Rodriguez 

“I am here today because I believe that we need to A. honor former Dean King’s sacrifice in resigning to get this movement started. I don’t know if he knew this would happen, but this really did put in motion the movement that we have now. We also need to not lose sight of the fact that so much more than Dean King’s resignation is at stake here, and unless we keep pushing, especially to your point about President Bergeron’s email today, unless we keep pushing and pushing and telling the Trustees and the senior administration that we’ve had enough, we won’t get the change that we need. So I’m here to help continue to hopefully propel that forward and make it happen. And support students!” – unknown

“When my students get passionate about something, I can’t help but get passionate about it as well. I want my students to take the education they are getting in the classroom and apply it to the real world. I think this is an educational experience for you guys. You live here. This is your home and you guys need to feel welcome here and you need to have the kind of support from the administration that can make you feel welcome here. I want to support that in whatever way I can…I feel like this is the least that I could do, to come out and support you guys and to create a better learning and living environment. I saw your Board of Trustees meeting the other day, the kind of dorms you guys live in. I knew about the DIEI issues, I knew about professors, faculty, and staff, but I had no idea the kind of conditions you all were living in here on this campus… What does success look like for me? Well it looks like fully funding this DIEI program, it looks like doing whatever we can to promote retention of faculty and staff of color, and frankly after hearing that meeting the other day, it looks like giving you guys some renovated dorms, for gods sakes. So you’re not four people squished into a double. It looks like creating a more equitable learning community for all of you. I am proud of you guys and will support you in whatever way possible. The best part about being at Conn has been watching you guys grow over the past few years and seeing you year and year becoming better and more educated students. I am just so proud of you guys.” – Professor Taylor Desloge