Update -- Email sent to Wofford Administration

The following message was composed and sent to Wofford Administration on Monday, August 10th. We wanted to share this communication with our supporters so that you are updated on our progress.

Dr. Samhat, members of the President’s Cabinet, and the Board of Trustees,

We hope that this email finds you well.

As you know, there is a movement for Racial Justice occurring internationally with a focus on the United States. South Carolina has not been immune to these effects, nor have institutions of higher education. It is our belief that Wofford College has not met the demands or needs of this moment with the urgency that many of her peer institutions have. 

While we appreciate the initiation of the new Steering Committee as well as the 14 listed "Immediate Actions" that the college will be taking this Fall, we have concerns that waiting until February to hear a report from the Committee does not meet the urgency of the situation and the movement. You have said in A Vision for Wofford in the World that the new vision is “our commitment to the future”. To this, we answer, “what about the present?”. Additionally, the Grievances and Demands provided by this Coalition are a report of achievable, reasonable action items that Wofford can take almost immediately. A group of BIPOC students and allies have presented Wofford with their needs, and in response, Wofford has created a committee to essentially “re-do” the work. This is just another example of blatant disregard and marginalization of BIPOC students. Furthermore, it is our understanding that the Steering Committee may not have the power to implement their recommendations, thus we have concerns that current Wofford students will not be the beneficiaries of any substantive Anti-Racism work recommended by the Coalition or the Steering Committee.

In our meeting with you on July 15th, we attempted to express these concerns. Your responses from that meeting exhibited a failure to take responsibility for complicity with the racist environment described by BIPOC students at Wofford and exhibited further invalidation of the experiences that BIPOC students at Wofford endure. The lack of accountability from an entirely non-Black body of administrators can only be described as white fragility. It is exactly this response that necessitates the existence of the Anti-Racism Coalition.  In good faith, we hoped that you, as the President’s Cabinet, understood the seriousness and urgency of this moment in time. To our cries and pleads for change, you simply say: “trust the process”. BIPOC students at Wofford have been given no reason to trust that the future of Wofford will look any different.

To that end, in addition to the Immediate (Summer and Fall 2020) actions listed in A Vision for Wofford in the World, we call on Wofford commit to the following demands by August 25, 2020, which have been adapted from The Short-Term Demands in the Wofford Anti-Racism Coalition’s Grievances & Demands:

1. We demand that Wofford hire an independent external consultant to assess the racial climate at Wofford and provide recommendations for the college to become antiracist.

2. We demand that policies and procedures for reporting bias incidents be reviewed, especially as it relates to processes for tenured faculty. We demand that specific, transparent, and thoroughly communicated remedies for racist, discriminatory or exclusionist behavior by faculty be established. 

3. We demand that Teach.Equity.Now be made MANDATORY for ALL faculty during the 2020-2021 school year. Our understanding is that it is only being offered to 20 voluntary faculty members. This does not demonstrate a commitment to anti-racist classrooms.

4. We demand that all administrators, professional staff, and advisors, including Offices of Marketing and Communication, Admission/Financial Aid, the President’s Cabinet, and Board of Trustees be required to take at least annual anti-racist and anti-bias training. This must also be mandatory. 

5. We demand that the Office of Diversity and Inclusion's overall budget and staff be expanded to include four (4) professional, full-time staff members with discretionary funds to meet the new and emerging needs of students of color.

6. We demand that the AMS/NPHC House be renamed to better represent the Black students and provide them with a space that is their own, just as the IFC and Panhellenic chapters have. We demand that this house be reserved specifically for WWC, WMC, BSA, and NPHC organizations. 

7. We demand equitable treatment of all organizations that occupy houses at the Greek Village on behalf of the Office of Campus Life and Student Development and administration.

8. We demand that at least one-third of all future hires for professional staff and full-time faculty be of color. 

9. We demand that the names of offensively named buildings -- Carlisle, Shipp, and Wightman -- be changed. (Name suggestions: Gray Hall, Jones Hall, Means Hall).

 

Please note that demand #9 is in accordance with the petition started by the Anti-Racism Coalition: Rename Buildings Glorifying Slaveholders at Wofford College. The petition now has 1,774 signatures, about the same size as the Student Body of Wofford College. This is enough support to grant response from Wofford College on how you will proceed.

 

We were informed by Mr. Beacham on Wofford’s policy for renaming buildings: “the designation of named spaces and buildings on the campus is solely within the purview of the Board of Trustees, in consultation with the college administration.  It has been college policy for building names to be considered permanent unless a building is razed, destroyed, or its purpose is dramatically changed.” Is the purpose of these buildings not, after the knowledge that they were named for people who owned enslaved peoples, changed? The renaming of these dormitories is not only a symbolic, righteous gesture that Wofford can take to demonstrate their support for BIPOC students and their demands, but it is a matter of student health and safety. From this point on, no Wofford student should have to endure calling a dorm named for a person who owned enslaved people their home. To do anything less is unacceptable and undermines the very education that Wofford students pay tuition for. It is clear that renaming buildings is possible for our peer institutions, why should Wofford be the exception?  For these reasons, the 9th demand, as well as those listed above it, must be adhered to prior to the arrival of admitted first-year students this fall. 

 

As Wofford students, we wish to believe that the people in charge of our education and general wellbeing for our four years on campus would have our best interest at heart. Please hear us when we say this: we are not under any false impressions about the time or process that is required to make a significant change at an institution of higher education. However, we also understand that this is our generation’s civil rights movement and this is our opportunity to effect real, impactful, but reasonable change. We expect a response from the Board of Trustees and President’s Cabinet to the Anti-Racism Coalition with their commitment to the 9 demands listed above by August 25, 2020, prior to the arrival on campus of admitted students. Show good faith by taking these steps immediately. 

 

A failure to respond or to commit to all 9 demands or respond to the Anti-Racism Coalition by the deadline listed will result in escalation on behalf of the hundreds of students, faculty, and alumni who have demonstrated support for our mission. For transparency, an escalation will consist of:

• Aggressive outreach to admitted students who are about to matriculate to inform them of with full transparency what is happening at Wofford and that this Coalition exists because of your failure to meet the needs of BIPOC students.

• Protests and acts of civil disobedience on campus.

• Further communication with the press and reporters.

 

We look forward to hearing your response.

 

Sincerely,

The Wofford Anti-Racism Coalition