The members of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program join to stand in solidarity with those in the campus community who are members of minority groups targeted by recent acts of bias, hateful speech and images on our campus. As a program whose central concern is to understand and combat systemic forces that support forms of social injustice, we understand the damage that these acts can cause both to the community we build and sustain together and to the individuals who call it home. We condemn language and images that dehumanize others and that suggest or celebrate racial, sexual, or homophobic violence. We believe that such violent, intimidating, or demeaning language and images are fundamentally incompatible with the values of the SMCM community, and we hope that those responsible will come to realize that their visual and literal rhetoric is hurtful.
We offer this statement with particular concern and support for students and college employees whose identities and affiliations place them as targets for such expressions and acts. We commit ourselves to taking responsibility for our community’s actions, creating safe and constructive environments for engagement, and we look forward to collaborating to address these issues and move the college forward.
Karen Anderson
Joanna Bartow
Betul Basaran
Diana Boros
Adriana Brodsky
Anne Marie Brady
Beth Charlebois
Claire Chen
Andrew Cognard-Black
Jennifer Cognard-Black
Renee Dennison
Angela Draheim
Samantha Elliot
David Ellsworth
Barrett Emerick
Ruth Feingold
Iris Ford
Katie Gantz
David Groupe
Amy Henderson
Rachel Honig
Lindsay Jamieson
Angela Johnson
Andy Koch
Joanne Klein
Emek Kose
Joe Lucchesi
Pamela Mann
Scott Mirabile
Charles Musgrove
Carrie Patterson
Mark Rhoda
Gail Savage
Sahar Shafqat
Amy Steiger
Jennifer Tickle
Katharina von Kellenbach
Libby Williams
Christine Wooley