The below email was sent to students, faculty, and staff on Dec. 8, 2023
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,
Earlier today, College leadership was presented with a set of grievances and action items that was circulated by the ÀÏÍõÂÛ̳ Palestine Coalition. Over the past few weeks, we have engaged in several good-faith efforts of dialogue with student leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), in which they have shared their concerns. These conversations have prompted actions on our part and a commitment to further conversation. A few examples include providing financial support for educational programs and workshops and co-hosting an informational session with Brooke Jones, the College’s Chief Investment Officer, in the Spring. Therefore, we were somewhat surprised to see this new and expanded list of requests and concerns.
We are deeply committed to supporting our students and to ensuring that they can pursue their studies in the classroom and beyond. These two commitments guide our actions. With these things in mind, our goal as a campus community in working together is to move toward dialogue that advances actions for the good of our entire student body in all of its diversity.
We are also committed to engaging students within a spirit of dialogue and action. However, progress as a community toward meaningful levels of understanding cannot be accomplished if there remains an approach to change that involves unilateral insistence and a set of actions that neither realizes the work, compassion, and commitment of so many staff, faculty, and students since October 7th, nor the institutional constraints we face as a College. Dialogue, compromise, and understanding are all extremely necessary during challenging times.
The dehumanization of both Palestinian and Israeli people in the conflict in Gaza has created indescribable harm and pain. We are asking us as a campus community to move forward with our activism and to remember that all of us are people – those with whom we agree, disagree, fellow students, faculty, staff, and members of administrative leadership.
As an educational institution, we must be ever-focused on supporting student learning, creating environments where all students can have the space to learn and grow. We are eager to continue to listen and learn more about the ways student experiences have been impacted by the current crisis. And we look forward to discovering solutions together.
It is through collaboration across divides that we will move forward and find common ground, and we urge everyone to hear differing perspectives so that we can move ahead together as a community, centering ourselves in openness, compassion, and empathy for one another.
Sincerely,
Kim Cassidy
President
Karlene Burrell-McRae
Dean of the Undergraduate College
Tomiko Jenkins
Dean of Student Life