Haverford College Students End Two-Week Strike After Administrators' "Insensitive" Email

11/13/2020

Haverford College students end two-week strike - WHYY

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Haverford College students end two-week strike a er
administrators’ ‘insensitive’ email
By Robby Brod · November 11, 2020

k

Founders Hall at Haverford College (Wikimedia Common s)

Updated 1:40 p.m.

ursday

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11/13/2020

Haverford College students end two-week strike - WHYY

For the past two weeks, students and faculty at Haverford College were on strike against the
actions of their president and dean, who co-wrote a letter telling students not to protest in
Philadelphia in the wake of the Oct. 26 police killing of Walter Wallace Jr.
In the last week, their peers at Bryn Mawr College joined them.
Many students boycotted their classes. Some professors canceled classes, and other sta
members expressed solidarity.
On Wednesday, Haverford organizers said their demands have been met by the college
administration and the protests will end. At Bryn Mawr, meanwhile, they continue.
Haverford College o cials agreed to pledge $75,000 toward renovations for the Black Cultural
Center and committed to a full overhaul of the academic warning system, among dozens of other
concessions.
Sparking outrage on the Haverford campus was an emailed letter to students after Wallace’s
death, in which Haverford president Wendy Raymond and interim dean Joyce Bylander wrote,
“Now is not the time to go to Philadelphia. Our fear is that for every righteous protester in the
street, there are other actors afoot.” Joining a protest o campus “not only would not bring Walter
Wallace back,” they wrote, “it could play into the hands of those who might seek to sow division
and con ict especially in vulnerable communities.”

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Instead, the letter urged students to vote as an alternative to protesting: “Don’t put yourselves in
harm’s way this weekend … Let’s ght for democracy at the ballot box and then let’s hold elected
o cials accountable for putting in the programs, resources, and reforms that make tragedies like
this a real thing of the past.”

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11/13/2020

Haverford College students end two-week strike - WHYY

Student organizers like junior Raveen Green were appalled and said the school’s response to
Wallace’s death was inappropriate.
“It was very insensitive and didn’t take into account the emotional and mental feelings of BIPOC
students,” Green said. “

at statement was very disgusting. For them to say that was like saying,

‘You shouldn’t ght back against the system.’ Telling us to be calm is telling us to suppress our
anger and our feelings.”
Many underlying racial issues at the college inspired the strike, Green said: “
President Raymond and Dean Bylander was only the icing on the cake.

e email sent by

ere were many events

of microaggressions and anti-Blackness, still are, that led to this moment. Haverford’s past and
present is intertwined with acts of systemic racism and anti-Blackness.

is injustice is what we

will continue to ght against.”

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Haverford student groups immediately began to organize, including Women of Color House,
Black Students Refusing Further Inaction, and the Black Student League.

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Haverford College students end two-week strike - WHYY

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Haverford students protest their administration over a le er telling them not to protest the death of
Walter Wallace Jr. (Courtesy of Maxwell Cox at The Clerk)

Organizer Lourdes Taylor, a Haverford senior, said the college fails to be anti-racist while it
showcases its suburban charm without properly respecting the city.
“Haverford advertises its proximity to West Philly, where Wallace Jr. was killed, to draw
prospective students. Professors exploit West Philly neighborhoods for ‘learning trips’ and ‘civic
engagement’ that often fuel a white savior complex. [Haverford’s] reliance and exploitation of
West Philly could not be more clear.”
e list of demands met by Haverford College o cials includes canceled classes and closed
college buildings on Election Day, guaranteeing all students full funding to visit therapists of
their choosing o campus, and committing the college to articulating admission preferences for
Indigenous students.
“Working toward racial justice in a predominantly and historically white setting is always
challenging to the status quo,” said Haverford president Raymond. “I have heard nothing but
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Haverford College students end two-week strike - WHYY

support for the anti-racism agenda ahead of us. I also recognize that support takes many forms.”
Raymond said her goal now is to “make space for all of us to engage in this important work no
matter where we are coming from or what spaces we inhabit.”
In nearby Lower Merion, students at Haverford’s sister school, Bryn Mawr College, also feel Black
students are consistently mistreated compared to their white counterparts.

ey said their

administration takes advantage of its Philly adjacence without properly respecting the area, thus
students there continue to strike.
Student Alma Sterling continues to protest in solidarity, in hopes that Bryn Mawr will implement
more anti-racist policies on campus to protect its Black students.
“Similarly to Haverford, we’re looking to have our demands met to a satisfactory degree,” Sterling
said. “We think a strike is, at this point, the only way we will see the change we want
implemented.”
Bryn Mawr’s student protesters demand more recognition for the labor of Black women on their
campus, nancial support for international students, more accessibility for disabled students,
and more funding and support for a multitude of marginalized students.
Sterling said the protesters want campus o cials to hear their demands for campus culture
reform.
“We plan to continue striking until demands are met,” Sterling said. “We want change beyond
structures that currently exist.”
Bryn Mawr College o cials did not immediately comment on the strike.
Protesters said they’ve communicated with Bryn Mawr College president Kimberly Wright
Cassidy and plan to meet with her in the coming days.
—
e article was updated to clarify the nature of Haverford College sta participation.

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