Solidarity Statement by Evergreen Faculty
[For distribution to the All Staff & Faculty DL, Greener Commons, and the Cooper Point Journal, with the expectation that it is a public document.]
June 2, 2017
As Evergreen faculty members:
We acknowledge that all of us who have power within the institution share responsibility for the racist actions of others. Furthermore, those of us who are white bear a particularly large share of that responsibility.
We acknowledge that we have a great deal of work to do in order to honor and live up to the demands made by student leaders during last week’s protests. (http://cooperpointjournal.com/2017/05/27/complete-list-of-student-demands).
We acknowledge that students of color and others who are underrepresented and underserved have been voicing their demands to us for some time (through the Students of Color Focus Groups of 2014, through their participation in authoring the Strategic Equity Plan from November, in Cooper Point Journal coverage, for example) and we have not yet truly listened and acted.
We acknowledge students’ right to protest, and affirm President Bridges’ recent decision not to use the misguided language of the current Student Conduct Code to punish the protestors.
We vehemently reject the claim that students have been violent simply because they have been loud and emphatic. There is a difference between exercising the right to freely voice an opinion and inciting violence—and that difference has nothing to do with volume or forcefulness. We support the demands made by students and honor the positive institutional change they have already achieved through their protests.
Our most urgent demands (below) center on the safety of those individuals who are currently most at risk. At the same time, we acknowledge that in the weeks and months to come our attention will need to turn to the larger structural issues students have identified.
In solidarity with students, we commit ourselves to:
* Participating actively and self-critically in the annual mandatory trainings specified in the Memorandum of Understanding recently signed by the UFE and management bargaining teams.
* Holding each other accountable when we act in racist ways against our colleagues or our students, according to shared language and understanding developed in the trainings.
* Holding President Bridges accountable to the promises he made at the all-campus forum on May 26, 2017, and to the process of ongoing dialogue with student leaders.
* Actively supporting the Strategic Plan put forward by the Equity and Inclusion Council, including providing substantive support to the Vice President & Vice Provost of Equity and Inclusion tasked with implementing and extending their work.
In solidarity with students, we call for the Evergreen administration to:
* Center student perspectives in a persistent media approach to counter the alt-right narratives that are demonizing Evergreen and Day of Absence specifically.
* Take seriously the threats made to individual community members and use all available institutional resources to protect them.
* Demonstrate accountability by pursuing a disciplinary investigation against Bret Weinstein according to guidelines in the Social Contract and Faculty Handbook. Weinstein has endangered faculty, staff, and students, making them targets of white supremacist backlash by promulgating misinformation in public emails, on national television, in news outlets, and on social media.
We are angry and frustrated and concerned. We also believe, however, that if the College can muster a meaningful collective response to recent events, this can be a powerful lever for growth in student numbers, success, and equity–and for future institutional change. We urge the administration not to lead with fear, or a desire to suppress students’ voices. We urge them to let the energy and clarity of those voices carry us forward.
In solidarity, the undersigned faculty,
Alice Nelson
Allen Olson
Anne de Marcken
Anne Fischel
Anthony Zaragoza
Ben Kamen
Carolyn Prouty
Catalina Ocampo
Cheri Lucas-Jennings
Chuck Pailthorp
Cory Mounts
Cynthia Kennedy
Eirik Steinhoff
Elizabeth Williamson
Emily Lardner
Erin Genia
Gilda Sheppard
Jay W. Stansell
Jean Mandeberg
Jeanne Hahn
Jeff Glassman
Judith Gabriele
Julia Zay
Julie Levin Russo
Karen Gaul
Kathleen Eamon
Larry Mosqueda
Laurie Meeker
Leslie Flemmer
Lin Nelson
Lisa Sweet
Liza Rognas
Lucia Harrison
Lynarra Featherly
Marja Eloheimo
Michi Thacker
Miranda Mellis
Naima Lowe
Paul McCreary
Paul Przybylowicz
Pauline Yu
Peter Bohmer
Ron J. Smith
Ruth Hayes
Sandra Yannone
Sarah Pedersen
Savvina Chowdhury
Seyta Selter
Shaw Osha
Sonja Wiedenhaupt
Steven Flusty
Sunshine Campbell
Ted Whitesell
Tom Womeldorff
Vauhn Foster-Grahler
Zoltan Grossman
Staff in solidarity,
Alexis Cariello
Andrea Martin
Angela Spoja
Bridget Irish
Dorothea Collins
Emily Pieper
Emmie Forman
Grace Fisher
J.S.P.
Jadon Berry
Jean Eberhardt
Kaile Adney
Kelly Schrader
Marianne Hoepli
Melissa Ponder
Michelle Pope
Riley Rex
Rip Heminway
Stefanie Brennan
Steve Bakker
Troy Kochel
Tyrone Somerville