RECORD
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2019 VOL. CXXXIII, NO. 24
THE WILLIAMS
Editorial: Calling for restorative work with CSS
Yearbooks give insight on College's past
Page 2
Page 9
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE SINCE 1887
Professor Kent berates Professor Wang, sparking broader concerns over racism in English department Students who witnessed the altercation described it as “alarming,” called for Kent's resignation as English department chair By JEONGYOON HAN and SAMUEL WOLF EXECUTIVE EDITORS On April 17, two students saw Chair and Professor of English Katie Kent behave aggressively toward Professor of American Studies Dorothy Wang, a woman of color, in an approximately 15-minute verbal confrontation in Hollander Hall. Wang, a former faculty affiliate in English, had approached Kent on her way to a departmental meeting to ask Kent if the meeting would discuss the recent leave of Assistant Professor of English Kimberly Love. Love had cited the College’s “violent practices” as a reason for her departure at the beginning of the spring semester. Wang had previously expressed concerns about the cancellation of recent English department meetings. For her, they were reflective of the department’s unwillingness to discuss what she sees as its longstanding history of hostility toward faculty of color (FoC) – a concern that had compelled Wang to disaffiliate from the department several weeks ago. The two students who witnessed the event – Jamie Kasulis ’20 and Emily L. Zheng ’20 – have met with Dean of the Faculty Denise Buell and President of the College Maud Mandel about Kent’s behavior. The two have called for Kent's resignation, citing her role in what they perceive to be issues of structural racism in the department. Kent wrote notes of apology to Wang, Kasulis and Zheng, but all three found the apologies insufficient and disingenuous. Students have organized a protest, “Love and Accountability: Occupy Hollander for FoC,” for Friday from 12:30– 1:30 p.m., calling for recognition of what the organizers call “violent racism” in
PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE FLICKR.
The incident in Hollander Hall highlighted concerns of structural racism in the department. the College’s treatment of FoC. Students have also invited the community to express gratitude and support for FoC, and have called for Mandel and administrators to address issues of racism at the College against people of color (PoC). The incident The incident began slightly before 4 p.m., when Wang and Kasulis were walking through Hollander Hall and saw Kent. Kent was on her way to the department’s first meeting of the semester, and Wang asked Kent whether that meeting would include discussion of Love. According to Wang, Kasulis and Zheng, Kent reacted immediately and negatively, saying that sufficient conversations around Love had already been held.
“Professor Kent got immediately irritated,” Kasulis said. “She took a defensive posture. She raised her voice.” When Wang mentioned the particular relevance of Love’s departure for the English department, given Love’s critiques of feeling unsafe and unwelcome, Wang said that Kent responded, saying, “‘She was talking about the College, Dorothy. She wasn’t talking about the department; she was talking about the College.’” For Wang, that statement was emblematic of what she sees as the English department’s continual inability to reconcile with its historical and present-day manifestations of racism. continued on Page 5
A closer look at departures of College faculty of color By REBECCA TAUBER and SAMUEL WOLF EXECUTIVE EDITORS An increased number of faculty of color are going on temporary leave or departing from the College this year compared to recent years. These faculty cite multiple reasons for leaving, ranging from professional to personal to cultural concerns. These departures come at a moment in which the struggles of students, faculty and staff of color have occupied a key role in recent campus protests, events and discussions. In light of the resurfacing of the 2009 Faculty Staff Initiative (FSI) Report, which detailed challenges facing faculty and staff of color, the Record reached out to these faculty members about their decisions to leave. While some faculty cited problems similar to those expressed in the FSI report, others disconnected their decisions from these conversations. According to Dean of the Faculty Denise Buell, in the 11 years before the 2018–2019 academic year, the number of faculty of color leaving the College ranged from none to four, with an average of two faculty members of color departing during these years. In contrast, at the end of this year, six faculty of color will be leaving the College. Of these faculty, one is retiring, while the other five are departing to continue their careers elsewhere. These numbers do not take into account visiting professors or faculty who will be taking a scheduled sabbatical from the College, which professors take after every three years of instruction. Buell explained that, corresponding with hiring trends of recent years, when an increased number of faculty of color were hired, next year will see a greater number of faculty of color scheduled to take sabbatical.
Professors departing from the College cite reasons both disconnected to and closely linked to issues of bias against faculty of color. Many refer to more desirable opportunities outside Williamstown rather than issues with the College. “It is true that I am leaving Williams, but it does not intersect at all with being a faculty member of color and/or the problems laid out in the 2009 Faculty-Staff Initiative report,” said Visiting Lecturer in Japanese Jinhwa Chang, who added that she received a strong offer from another institution. Visiting Assistant Professor of Japanese Mamoru Hatakeyama expressed similar sentiments. “My reason for leaving has nothing to do with the issues currently on everyone’s mind,” she said. “It is just that a better opportunity with much more job security presented itself and I chose to take it.” Professor of History Kenda Mutongi described needing a “change of pace” from the College after 23 years of teaching, and said, “I was very happy at Williams, and the College was very supportive of me and my teaching and research. I have no complaints!” These examples, however, do not represent the entirety of the experiences faced by faculty of color at the College, as members of the College community have in recent months been increasingly describing an unwelcoming environment. Assistant Professor of English Anjuli Raza Kolb, who will be teaching next year at the University of Toronto, cited bias during the tenure process as one of the reasons for her decision. Although Raza Kolb received tenure this year, she began applying for other jobs when she became worried about a possible negative outcome of her tenure decision. “The process is not designed to adequately assess the work of scholars in what are still considered marginal fields,” said continued on Page 7
Mandel writes on inclusion WIFI continues to operate after CC setback By KEVIN ZHANG YANG OPINIONS EDITOR On May 3, President Maud Mandel sent an all-campus email, “Our past, current and future work for an inclusive Williams,” detailing ongoing and future initiatives for inclusion at the College. This email came two weeks after the Coalition Against Racist Education Now (CARE Now) sent an open letter to Mandel with 12 demands regarding equity and inclusion on campus. Mandel’s email was widely perceived as her response to CARE Now, as Mandel had previously confirmed she would respond to its demands by May 3. Describing “what has been a challenging year on campus,” Mandel’s email shared “thoughts about how we’ll devote next year to building a healthier campus culture,” focusing on two areas: the College’s “work on inclusion and on ways of respectfully engaging across difference.” Regarding inclusion, Mandel noted that “many of the issues involved were compiled by a group calling itself CARE Now.” Linked in the all-campus email, a summary of inclusion efforts addresses issues in the same sequence as CARE Now’s letter and uses the same headers as the letter to categorize the different concerns raised. The summary explicitly references CARE Now twice – once in relation to its request to waive the statute of limitations for grievance reporting and then in reference to concerns about staff and faculty grievance and tenure processes – but does not detail the extent of CARE Now’s input in the formulation of the College’s plans for increased inclusion. “CARE Now called attention to a number of issues that numerous student groups, faculty and staff have been raising with me ever since I arrived to campus,” Mandel said. “Many of these issues will be at the heart of strategic planning as we continue to craft a vision for Williams’ future.” She did not say, however, which initiatives had been established as a result of discussions with CARE Now and which had been instituted prior to the CARE Now letter. The summary includes several measures the College plans to take that were also listed as demands in CARE Now’s letter to Mandel such as the group’s request that the administration approve two increases in OIDE funding for $34,000 and $15,000. The summary also states that the administration plans “to commission an outside agency to perform a complete external review of CSS’ structure, regula-
tory responsibilities and protocols.” CARE Now’s letter had demanded such an investigation, “focusing on officer interactions with minoritized students.” Mandel’s summary also notes the possibility of an “oversight/review committee,” which was also a demand listed in CARE Now’s letter. The summary also details ongoing initiatives at the College such as the Bolin Fellowship program that seeks to promote diversity within College faculty, as well as several committees and working groups that are a part of the strategic planning process. In the summary, Mandel mentions the strategic planning process multiple times in the context of changes to the residential system, noting that the “Learning beyond the Classroom” strategic planning working group is considering a pilot program for affinity housing. CARE Now’s letter to Mandel asked her to “formulate and implement a pilot affinity housing program for the Spring 2020 lottery.” Not all of the demands listed in CARE Now’s letter were addressed by Mandel’s summary. One such demand focused on concerns with staff self-advocacy, in light of what CARE Now characterizes in its letter as a “current lack [of] a formal collective mechanism to raise concerns and to hold managers accountable.” Commenting on this issue in an email to the Record, Mandel listed various reporting options that are currently available to staff. “The college offers staff many reporting options that guarantee them protection from retribution,” she wrote. “Some explicitly allow anonymous reporting, as well. They include our Whistleblower process, our Bias Incident Reporting protocol, the staff grievance procedure, our Title IX procedures, etc.” Mandel did not elaborate on any future plans toward addressing these concerns. In the all-campus email, Mandel also discussed a need to “teach and uphold principles” for engagement across difference, “so that people can debate issues vigorously without devolving into personal attacks.” She told the Record that the ad hoc committee on Inquiry and Inclusion has been working on these issues. Mandel further commented, “We’ll need to consider how we're going to discuss such topics in a very hostile national and global climate,” citing incidents where “we’re increasingly seeing our students, faculty and staff harassed and effectively ‘punished’ via attacks from outside social media, press and other sources for trying to raise difficult topics like racism, freedom of speech or Israeli-Palestinian relations.”
By JEONGYOON HAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR In the aftermath of College Council’s (CC) April 23 vote to reject Williams Initiative for Israel (WIFI) as a registered student organization (RSO), a decision that came under scrutiny from both President Maud Mandel and national media, members of the club are committed to continuing to operate as a student group. Molly Berenbaum ’21, founder and interim president of WIFI, said the club has worked with faculty advisor Rabbi Seth Wax, Mandel and other faculty and administrators to discuss how WIFI could exist, operate and gain funding on campus without being an RSO. WIFI’s mission and purpose, according to its constitution, “is to support Israel and the pro-Israel campus community, as well as to educate the College on issues concerning Israel and the Middle East.” “We’re really looking to the future and seeing how we can make the most of this opportunity,” Berenbaum said. “We hope to advocate for ourselves, to try to see if we could get some sort of recognition, either from students or from the administration – the right to gather, the right to be at the Purple Key Fair, things of that nature,” said Gavin Small ’22, a WIFI co-founder. WIFI is planning programming for Jewish and Israeli events and holidays, including a celebration of Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Memorial Day and Independence Day, respectively, tonight from 6:30–9 p.m. in Griffin 6. The club also hung an Israeli flag in Baxter. While it had previously been removed, the Israeli flag, as of press time, hangs between a pride flag and a Palestinian flag. The flag was hung early Thursday morning, “between the two existing flags as an act of solidarity,” Berenbaum said. The flag was flipped multiple times, and ultimately left on the floor with a note. “This is unacceptable behavior from students or community members, and is a clear act of discrimination when other
flags have justly been permitted to hang, as is their right,” Berenbaum said. On Friday, Mandel voiced support for WIFI and disappointment with CC’s decision in a statement posted on the office of the president’s website. She wrote that WIFI, like any other non-recognized organization, “can still access most services available to student groups, including use of college spaces for meetings and events,” adding that “the communication of this fact to WIFI as a basic matter of fairness and people’s right to express diverse views” and that “differences over such views are legitimate grounds for debate, but not for exercising the power to approve or reject a student group. “The transcript of the debate and vote indicate that the decision was made on political grounds,” Mandel wrote. “In doing so, Council departed from its own process for reviewing student groups, which at no point identifies a proposed group’s politics as a criterion for review. The decision also seems to be in tension with CC bylaws, especially Article V, Section 3: ‘Prohibition Against Discrimination in Student Organizations.’” CC Co-Presidents Olivia Tse ’19.5 and Ellie Sherman ’20 did not respond to an inquiry as to why CC voted to reject WIFI. The decision and Mandel’s response have garnered media attention from outlets such as Breitbart, The College Fix, The Forward, The Jewish Journal, COMMENTARY and Algemeiner. Mandel’s statement, while published online, was not emailed to the student body. “We posted it on my website because college leaders had received numerous questions about the CC vote form alumni and the media, and we thought it might be helpful if I made our response generally available,” she told the Record. “But I try to keep allcampus emails to a minimum since if we chose to send a campuswide email every time there was a new development on an issue people care about, we’d be sending multiple messages a day.” Each of the previous six letters from the presi-
dent listed on the website had been sent as campuswide emails. Vice President for Campus Life Steve Klass elaborated on Mandel’s concerns. “My primary concern in this situation is with the decision-making process, not the mission of any particular student group,” Klass told the Record. “... I believe that WIFI followed the basic rules and were denied RSO status regardless; CC did not follow its own written by-laws.” Steven J. Miller, professor of mathematics, has been a “sounding board” for WIFI, describing himself an interested party due to his Jewish background and commitment to freedom of speech. “This is a larger problem of shutting down discourse that you disagree with,” Miller said. “...We are limiting speech and when you limit speech, you limit the ability to grow and to learn.” Still, some students have expressed disappointment with Mandel’s response and articulated support for the students who advocated against WIFI. The Coalition Against Racist Education Now (CARE Now) posted on the group’s Instagram page that “CARE Now stands in solidarity with Palestinian students in opposition to the Williams Initiative for Israel.” Additionally, in an op-ed published in this week’s Record, Joseph Moore ’20, Mohazzab Abdullah ’21 and Kai Soto-Dessen ’22 criticized Mandel for not having consulted opponents of WIFI prior to publishing the statement, arguing that the president’s words were “used to slander us in the national media and jeopardize our physical safety.” Berenbaum said, in clarification, that WIFI hopes to positively contribute to campus discussions through its events. “I think it’s easy for people to fall into this framework where they view it as Palestinians against Israelis or WIFI against SJP, etc.,” Berenbaum said. “And that’s very much not the framework that I’d like to be coming into this from. I think that we’re really hoping to widen the conversation, rather than for example, make it more divisive.”
WHAT’S INSIDE 3 OPINIONS
4 OPINIONS
8 FEATURES
Addressing violence against faculty of color
Various perspectives on WIFI, CC
Profile on Grand Master of Mass. Freemasons
USPS 684-6801 1st CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID WILLIAMSTOWN, MA PERMIT NO. 25