April 10, 2014
The campus-wide conversation about race reemerged into the forefront this week with a series of events that triggered discussion about where the campus community stands on this important discussion that began last fall.
On April 3, Dean of Students Nancy Thompson sent out an all-campus email on behalf of the Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT). The email detailed an act of vandalism: a Physical Plant worker discovered the phrase “white power” scratched into the back of a stall door in the men’s public restroom in the lower level of the Field House.
“While we cannot determine when the vandalism occurred or who is responsible, we nevertheless want to make members of the community aware of this offensive act. In an educational environment, it is important that we bring these matters to light when they occur, as a means of prompting discussion of our values and standards,” Thompson explained.
This event set the backdrop for Professor Elizabeth Aries’s lecture sponsored by Student Assembly’s Cultural Affairs Committee on Tuesday, April 8 about race and diversity on a college campus. Aries, a psychology professor at Amherst College, published a book in 2008 titled Race and Class Matters at an Elite College.
“This was a good first step to take in continuing our discussion on race and we definitely want to continue this conversation and not just forget about it in a week. Hopefully, we will be able to plan some more discussions for the remainder of the semester,” said Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Catie Cooper ’15. “The first step we need to take in this discussion is to understand where all sides of the topic are coming from and this was a good way to start that discussion, but that discussion cannot stop here.”
The anonymous student group “The Movement” also resurfaced on Tuesday, launching a Tumblr account called “Hamilton Unscrolled” and releasing a document serving as “The Movement Constitution.” The group originally formed amidst last semester’s period of heightened racial tensions following the announcement of the Real Talk Series on internalized racism. At that time, the group seemed to be broadly contributing to a conversation about race, difference, privilege and safe zones that had come to dominate those weeks. Now, the group returned with their constitution that exists as a list of seven “goals” and two “demands.”
The goals encourage the campus community to develop a deeper sense of understanding and tolerance through an increase in discourse. Then, the group lists two demands: The first, a seminar, required for graduation, where “Students will learn about hierarchies long established throughout history covering, but not limited to, assimilation, privilege, intersectionality, systemic oppression, internalized racism, and cultural appropriation.”
“Our goal is to highlight the way structural and institutional oppressions influence daily microaggressions, acts of discrimination, and prejudice that unfairly divides the Hamilton campus along various lines of difference,” The Movement told The Spectator via email.
“The faculty’s continued lack of action on issues of difference and identity has been a constant frustration expressed by students through the years. During the initial ‘Conversations about Race’ Townhall meeting held in the Fall, it was noted that the only constant on the Hamilton campus is the faculty. Thus, as listed in our sixth goal, we would like to encourage the faculty to work towards building a campus community where students truly feel included,” the group told The Spectator.
In addition, the group demands the formation of an institutional board of students and faculty, elected by the Student Diversity Council that would meet once a month with the President of the College, the Dean of Students and the Multicultural Alumni Relations Committee (MARC) to “fight for the rights and requests of those belonging to historically marginalized groups on campus.”
The Movement published its constitution on its Tumblr page, hamiltonunscrolled.tumblr.com. “Unscrolled” part is a reference to The Scroll, Hamilton’s popular social media aggregator that features what the group feels are “carefully selected images which represent a Utopian version of The Hill.” The account also allows people to share their stories about feelings of discrimination and exclusion at Hamilton. These stories, many of which have appeared on the official Scroll, feature accounts of discrimination and prejudice coming from specific students as well as larger groups, offices and the Hamilton community as a whole.
Perhaps the most discussed feature of The Movement is their anonymity. This strategy has led to questions from commenters on the page asking how to have a conversation with an anonymous group and from those interested in joining The Movement.
The group defends its decision to remain anonymous and rejects comparisons to other anonymous forums like Hamilton Secrets.
“If members of The Movement were to reveal themselves, the conversation would likely become more focused on debating their lived experiences and we feel as if this is detrimental and severely detracts from our efforts. Considering this, we would like to emphasize that our choice to remain anonymous does not yield from a place of cowardice and it should be noted that various individuals in The Movement have spoken out publicly before about these issues and continue to do so in various ways.”
The important conversation will continue, in all different forms, over the next few weeks and months.
No comments yet.
Comment Guidelines
Please log in to post a comment