Photos courtesy of Catja Christensen ’23 and Hannah Foley ’23
Ahead of the Board of Trustees (BoT) campus visit this Friday, Feb. 24, The Student Voices for Equity (SVE) released an official list of demands. Published on Instagram (@sve.conncoll), sent via email, and published on large posters around campus, the eight demands have been compiled by students since the first student protest gathering at Unity House on Feb. 8.
After receiving legal advice, the finalized demands read:
- The resignation of Connecticut College President, Katherine Bergeron.
- Conduct a transparent Presidential search immediately, along with the restructuring of the review and appointment process for Presidents.
- Strengthen DIEI by guaranteeing salaried pay for all full-time professional staffers and increasing its staffing/programming budget to competitively hire and compensate additional qualified personnel, prioritizing transparency and the implementation of effective institutional spending reviews.
- Immediate prioritization of hiring more BIPOC faculty and staff throughout all offices with the inclusion of mandatory DIEI sensitivity, mediation, and equity training.
- Establish greater and distinct resources for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, undocumented, international, first-gen, Disabled, and low-income students.
- DIEI offices and affiliated identity-based spaces should be ADA-accessible and fully equipped to support the populations they serve.
- The maintenance of a consistent curriculum and retention of the courses necessary to complete an education within Africana Studies, East Asian Studies, Hispanic Studies, Global Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, and Arabic Studies.
- The implementation of SVE as a lasting body comprised of student representatives in communication with administration and the Board of Trustees to ensure the implementation of current and future institutional equity and inclusion needs.
In their own words, “Student Voices for Equity (SVE) is a student alliance that advocates for institutional, structural, and social change within Connecticut College. SVE is working to ensure marginalized-group representation, advocacy, and to structure the Occupy Conn Coll Movement. SVE aims to have its demands heard and met by the Connecticut College Board of Trustees (BOT) at the SGA-BOT meeting on February 24th. Should the BOT fail to meet our demands, SVE is devoted to advocating until they are met. This alliance is not temporary and will remain persistent for the improvement of Connecticut College.”
SVE is the primary leadership facilitating student-led protests of the administration. Ever since Dean Rodmon King’s resignation in protest of President Katherine Bergeron, SVE has kept up momentum ahead of the BoT meeting by continuously releasing new information, such as copies of Dean King’s letter to the BoT slid under students’ dorm room doors and posted around academic buildings.
A second poster, also distributed on the evening of Feb. 22, named five SVE-affiliated student-run organizations out of the 18: Asian and Asian American Students in Action (ASIA), Black Student Union (BSU), Connecticut College Hillel, Las Voces Unidas (LVU), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChÁcd), The People of Color Alliance (POCA), and Disability Affinity Club. Other groups chose to remain anonymous to protect their student leaders from any potential backlash following protests.
The Connecticut College Hillel released a statement via Instagram and email on Feb. 19: “As members of Connecticut College’s only student organization dedicated to Jewish life, we were devastated and disheartened to learn that President Bergeron completely disregarded Dean King’s expertise and Conn’s Black and Jewish populations by going forward with her plan to host an event at a notoriously racist and antisemitic social club. This decision blatantly exposed the priorities and values of the Conn administration; it is part of a larger pattern of disregard toward marginalized communities on campus. Beneath the surface, there is a campus culture of exclusivity, fear, and lack of support for marginalized students, staff, and faculty. The College prides itself in its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, yet simultaneously neglects the urgent needs of the Division of Institutional Equity and Inclusion and underfunds its initiatives.”
The People of Color Alliance [POCA] also released a statement on the evening of Feb. 22, reading: “The executive board of the People of Color Alliance (POCA) is deeply disheartened by Connecticut College’s detrimental effect on its marginalized and under-represented communities. In affiliation with the coalition of organizations, Student Voices of Equity (SVE), POCA supports and stands with the action taken by SVE against the current College leadership. As the only standing affinity organization representing all students of color and identities, we recognize the magnitude of issues prevalent throughout the term of President Bergeron.”
In a message to the campus community sent on Feb. 22, the Office of Communications announced that the Board would offer concurrent meetings for students, faculty, and staff respectively. Taking place on Friday, Feb. 24 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., students will meet in Palmer Auditorium, faculty will be in the 1962 Room in Cro, while staff meets in Olin 014. In the Faculty’s Open Letter to the Board, their third demand was to “hold an open forum with the campus community during the Board of Trustees’ February visit.” These meetings are likely in response to this faculty demand. However, the simultaneous nature of these meetings will mean students, faculty, and staff will not be able to engage in discussions as one body, while the members of the Board will similarly be split up.
Link to SVE petition: https://www.change.org/p/connecticut-college-student-voices-for-equity-demands-list?redirect=false
Correction as of Feb. 23: After publishing, The College Voice was made aware that the Disability Affinity Club was added to the list of affiliated student organizations. The group has now been added to this article.
