Updated Demands
Statement of Purpose:
On June 30, 2020, the Wofford Anti-Racism Coalition (WARC) released a non-exhaustive list of 18 grievances and 34 demands addressed to Wofford College President, Nayef Samhat, the President’s Cabinet, and the Board of Trustees. Since then, Wofford announced a “Vision for Wofford and the World” on July 9, 2020, and a subsequent update to the strategic vision on September 28, 2020 emails to the Wofford Community by Wofford News. As such, this statement serves as an update to WARC’s demands, based on demands that have been accomplished or committed to by Wofford, in addition to changes based on feedback from the Wofford community. We address this update to the parties listed on our original grievances and demands in addition to the newly formed JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) committee that was established from the new strategic vision. We have reorganized our demands to be conducive to the working groups established by the JEDI committee and to indicate what our efforts will be focused on going forward.
We make these demands in order to elevate Wofford College to the institution that she already claims to be. We implore Wofford College to consider that their response to us is not just about Wofford, it is within the context of the unique historical moment of the world at large. These reasonable requests improve not only the lives of Wofford students, but the future of the College. We ask Wofford to consider: Who is your next generation of alumni? Who will be your future donors?
We reiterate the purpose of our first list of demands, by calling on President Samhat, the Board of Trustees, The President’s Cabinet, and the JEDI committee to implement the demands listed below. We request a public acknowledgment or response to our demands at the end of the October Board of Trustees Meetings on October 15th and 16th.
Demands:
*Indicates new or edited demand
History, Memory, and Place
We demand that the names of offensively named buildings -- Carlisle, Shipp, and Wightman -- be changed. (Name suggestions: Gray Hall, Jones Hall, Means Hall).
We demand that Albert Gray ‘71 and Douglas Jones ‘69, the first African-American students to enroll and graduate from Wofford, respectively, be properly honored by each becoming namesakes of their own building or memorial on campus. Buildings or memorials in their honor should be located central to active student life.
We demand that Janice B. Means '73, the first African-American female to graduate from Wofford, be properly honored by becoming a namesake of her own building or memorial on campus, central and active to student life.
We demand that the memorial to the enslaved builders of Old Main be moved to a more prominent location in Old Main.
*We demand a memorial or physical marker that acknowledges Ben Wofford’s history of owning enslaved people.
We demand the College publicly acknowledge its shameful history regarding racism and its relationship to the African American community in Spartanburg, as well as the Indigenous peoples whose land this once was. We suggest that a land and labor history of Wofford be stated at every formal college occasion, including acknowledging:
former presidents Carlisle, Shipp, and Wightman owned enslaved people;
the Black neighborhood’s demolition to make way for new construction, including the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium and the Greek Village;
the Cherokee / Tsalaguwetiyi and Catawba people who once lived where Wofford is now located;
use of enslaved people’s labor to build the college.
*We demand the implementation of transparent policies and procedural justice for naming buildings on Wofford’s campus that includes student input.
Curriculum, Teaching, & Advising
*We demand the addition of at least one General Education requirement that addresses race relations, racial inequities, racial history, etc. Examples may include any of the courses under the African/African American Studies (AAAS) program.
We demand that all existing academic departments develop their course curriculum by inserting issues of diversity and racial justice into existing courses.
We demand at least one anti-racism course be added to all academic departments (e.g. a course on the Racial Wealth Equity Gap could be offered in the finance department and a course on healthcare inequities could be taught in the biology department) and be consistently taught by professors who are qualified to do so.
Student life
We demand that a Chief Diversity Officer or a Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion be created as a cabinet-level position.
*We demand that there be at least one (1) position in every division/department on campus designated to train in, promote, and implement justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in conjunction with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
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.
*We demand that the Wellness Center’s overall budget be expanded to include gender and racial diversity in their staff.
We demand that the AMS 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.
*We demand that a new space be created for non-Black students of color and multicultural groups to gather, in order to allow the AMS house to be a space for Black students.
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.
We demand that a new policy or procedure be implemented outside of a bias incident report that would fine Greek and other organizations for excluding non-white students at their social functions.
*We demand that IFC organizations not be allowed to reopen their houses or host parties until they have committed to abolishing the exclusionary entrance system wherein they have demonstrated a pattern of turning away BIPOC students.
We demand mandatory anti-racism and anti-bias training at least annually for all members of IFC & Panhellenic organizations.
We demand that positions be added to the IFC and Panhellenic Council to specifically address diversity, equity, and inclusion.
We demand that every individual Greek organization appoint a similar position or committee within their chapter to work towards anti-racism.
We demand that there is a coordinating position created for someone who is qualified to cater to the sustainability of NPHC organizations.
We demand all organizations within The Divine Nine be rechartered or chartered by 2025. The Divine Nine consist of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi (already chartered), Omega Psi Phi Fraternity (already chartered), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (previously chartered, needs to be rechartered), Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity.
Enrollment, Recruitment, Marketing
We demand that the Wofford Ambassador program hires BIPOC students at a rate that represents regional racial trends, provides all Ambassadors anti-bias and anti-racist training, and instructs all Ambassadors in Wofford’s exclusionist/racist and Back of the College history to be incorporated into all campus tours.
We demand that at least one-third of all future hires for professional staff and full-time faculty be of color.
We demand the implementation of a two-year post-doc fellowship program that has 10 open positions every academic year to attract young scholars to gain professional experience at Wofford and expand the faculty’s understanding of what a scholar looks like.
We demand that the college work towards the percentage of Black students and faculty reflecting national population trends, which stand at 13.4%, or 230 Black students and 19 Black faculty as of Fall 2019 data.
We demand that the percentage of all students of color reflect national population trends, which stand at 41.8%, or 719 students of color 61 faculty of color as of Fall 2019 data.
We demand that the college leadership follow suit with the previous demands in increasing BIPOC members on the Board of Trustees and the President’s Cabinet.
Policies, Procedures
We demand that policies and procedures for reporting bias incidents be reviewed, especially as it relates to processes for tenured faculty.
We demand that a student Bias-Response Council, similar to the judicial or honor council, be added to the bias-incident response team process. We demand that this council should be involved in the adjudication of any bias incident report, whether it be student, faculty, or staff.
We demand that specific, transparent, and thoroughly communicated remedies for racist, discriminatory or exclusionist behavior by faculty be established. Any faculty who violates their responsibility to their students or Wofford’s code of conduct should be subject to a disciplinary process that results in measurable improvement in their behavior. This disciplinary process could be staggered based on the number and/or severity of offenses so that those who demonstrate a pattern of behavior or create an unsafe learning environment can be adequately reprimanded.
We demand that all administrators, faculty, staff, and advisors be required to take at least annual anti-racist and anti-bias training.
Wofford Anti-Racism Coalition
https://linktr.ee/woffordantiracism
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