Following today’s Collection during which many students spoke out, The President of the College sent out this email. In her email Chopp calls for mandatory teach-ins to take place tomorrow. Here is the email in full:

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

As we struggle to turn anger into action, pain into hope, and
frustration into commitment, we invite you to:

1. Participate in dinner conversations tonight at Sharples between 5:00
and 7:00 p.m. Conversations will be facilitated by faculty, and notes
will be gathered and shared with the whole community.

2. Sign up for teach-ins tomorrow (there will be signup sheets at
Sharples). This will be an important step in making this a community
safe for everyone, and a place all community members can express their
whole selves.

3. Attend a teach-in session tomorrow so you may truly hear and
contribute to improving Swarthmore. Note we are requiring this event,
understanding that it is the obligation and individual responsibility of
all of us to listen, speak, and act.

For each of the time slots below, there will be two concurrent sessions
at the locations indicated.

11:00-12:00, Intercultural Center and LPAC Stage
12:00-1:00, Intercultural Center and LPAC Stage
1:00-2:00, Intercultural Center and LPAC Stage
2:00-3:00, Intercultural Center and LPAC Stage
3:00-4:00, Science Center 105 and LPAC Stage
4:00-5:00, Intercultural Center and LPAC Stage

This is one moment, one step forward, one set of actions we are taking
together now.

Rebecca Chopp
President

Here is the latest on the plan for today’s “Day of Reflection & Organization”:

Hello Friends,

I apologize for the late notice but based on additional feedback we have received from students we have made some alterations to today’s schedule of events–please read the below carefully. Also I want to announce that tomorrow we will have a required community teach in with conversations led by faculty and staff. Please watch email closely for more information and details later today. I want to thank everyone in advance for all of your support in working together to confront the serious issues facing our community.

Today in place of the Community Discussions scheduled from 10 am-2 pm there will be an Action Planning meeting beginning at 10:30 am-1:30 pm in Parrish Hall. This will be an educational and interactive space in which students, faculty, and staff can share experiences and ideas for action.

We will still have the Collection at 2-3 pm today in the Amphitheater and would like to see as many people there as possible. Please reach out to others and encourage them to join you. This is a critical moment and we need everyone’s participation and commitment to help us face the pressing issues and challenges before us. We all have an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Swarthmore and each other by turning out both today and tomorrow. We encourage all faculty, staff, and students to join us in these efforts.

We will also still have the Community Meal from 5:00pm-7:00pm today in Sharples Dining Hall. This will be an opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to talk and eat together. The President’s Office will cover the cost for faculty and staff members and students who are not on the meal plan who would like to take part in this meal. We hope you can join us.

We are hopeful that out of today’s discussions and tomorrow’s teach-in we can, as a collective, develop tangible next steps that will restore our community to one that feels and is safe and welcoming to all who live, learn, and work here.

Thank you for your patience and commitment to these important issues,

Liz Braun, Dean of Students

A previous email, send out late last night, had proposed the following occur:

Good evening,

We hope this letter finds you in the best of health and spirit, though we understand that in the current campus climate that may be difficult. We are all deeply disturbed by the recent developments on campus, and the feeling of fractured community that has resulted from them. As we walk around, we cannot help but feel as though the entire campus is holding its breath. The pain and frustration is palpable. We wanted to find a way to bring people together to consider what steps we need to take to move forward together and support each other. The thoughts and ideas shared here are a culmination of many talks that we have had with a number of colleagues and students in the past weeks in addition to our own personal reflections.

Tomorrow, Monday, May 6, 2013, we would like to have a “Day of Reflection & Organization.”

We know this is a busy time but we want to strongly encourage everyone to attend one or more of the events listed below. Please reach out to others and encourage them to join you. This is a critical moment and we need everyone’s participation and commitment to help us face the pressing issues and challenges before us. We all have an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Swarthmore and each other by turning out tomorrow. We welcome all faculty, staff, and students to join us in these efforts.

The framework for the day will be as follows:

Community Discussions
10:00am-11:00am
11:00am-12:00pm
1:00pm-2:00pm
The venues for these discussions are Bond Memorial Hall, the Friends Meeting House & Kohlberg 116. There will be discussions during all three venues during all three times listed.

Collection
2:00pm-3:00pm Amphitheater

Community Meal
5:00pm-7:00pm Sharples Dining Hall

At first we thought it might be helpful to have specific topics for the community discussions, but given the wide range of issues before us, we feel that leaving the discussions open, so as not to exclude or marginalize any particular issues would be the best way to go. Each community discussion will have at least one faculty/staff moderator and one student moderator. At the close of each discussion, the 2 moderator/notetakers could relay the major points discussed, and could then either elect a speaker from their group, or elect to have one or both of the moderator/note-takers bring those points forth at collection.

During collection, each community discussion group will have the opportunity to share and of course any community members that feels moved to speak will be free to do so in the spirit of the guidelines we will establish at the beginning of the Collection.

Finally, we feel there is something about sharing a meal that can have a healing power, and it will also foster further communication. The President’s Office will cover the cost for faculty and staff members who would like to take part in this meal. We hope you can join us.

We are hopeful that out of tomorrow’s discussions we can, as a collective, develop tangible next steps that will restore our community to one that feels and is safe and welcoming to all who live, learn, and work here.

Be well,

Satya Nelms, Wellness Coordinator
Joyce Tompkins, Interfaith Coordinator

Rebecca Chopp, President
Tom Stephenson, Provost
Liz Braun, Dean of Students
Pamela Prescod-Caesar, Vice-President for Human Resources

In light of events that took place on campus Friday and Saturday, including a demonstration at the open Board of Managers meeting, President Rebecca Chopp has revised her previous email. Her latest message to the Swarthmore community is included here in full:

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

On Friday and Saturday events involving students, faculty, staff, members of the Board of Managers, and some alumni brought many people together to express deep concerns, frustration, pain, and anger; to share urgent messages from student groups; and to generate ideas for improving community life. In light of the multiple events and to free students to engage in reading week, the rally planned for Monday at 11:30 will be replaced with alternative events.

We will soon announce these alternative events for this week to bring people together to generate concrete action and to provide opportunities for deep discussion and reflection. We urge all community members to participate and will make every effort to create multiple opportunities for you to do so and still meet your other responsibilities.

We take the call to action seriously and are committed to continuing to work together on both immediate steps and long-term systemic change.

Sincerely,

President Rebecca Chopp
Dean Liz Braun

Following emails from both Liz Braun, Dean of Students, and Alina wong, Director of the Intercultural Center, the President of the College has sent out an email of her own. The email calls for two immediate actions in response to the recent urinations on the door of the Intercultural Center. Here is her email in full:

Dear Students,

We write to let you know of two immediate steps we are taking to respond
to the disturbing and offensive behavior of members of our community in
disrespect of the Intercultural Center and therefore of us all.

- Starting tonight and through the weekend there will be a public safety
officer stationed in the Clothier Courtyard outside the Intercultural
Center as we continue to explore additional options to make that space
safer.

- We are inviting the full community to a Rally for Action at 11:30 a.m.
Monday, May 6. Details of this event will follow.

There are deeper, more troubling issues that will require a thoughtful,
holistic approach as we continue to be a community that strives to be
fully inclusive and engaged with one another. We are heartened to find
that–amidst the understandable and appropriate outcry against this
disturbing incident–many of you have already provided thoughtful
suggestions for how we combat both this specific problem and also the
underlying cultural and systemic problems. Let us continue to use this
opportunity to find ways to make our campus safer and more welcoming.

We commend members of our community who have already come forward with
information that will help us investigate the incident of urination
against the IC door, the fifth such occurrence this year. We thank them
for coming forward and urge any of you who have information to be
directly in touch with Public Safety so that we can address this
behavior with appropriate consequences.

Working together, we will make our home safe. Please know that there
will be more to come.

Sincerely,
President Chopp and Dean Braun

In response to the incidents that occurred last night outside the Intercultural Center, the Dean of Students sent out the following email to the student body and faculty.

Dear Friends,

There are no words to describe my sadness and anger. Last night around 12:05 am a student was studying in the Intercultural Center. She heard a lot of noise outside the door and someone bang up against it. Then a man’s voice shouted “Where? Here? Which way? Further there?” This was followed by cheering and at least 2 other men screaming “Yeah man….yeah….right on the door! right on the door!” One of the men proceeded to urinate on the door. The student inside called public safety and they immediately responded to the scene, but unfortunately the men had already left the area.

This is a malicious and disgusting attack against the Intercultural Center and by extension the students and staff that are a part of it. If anyone has any information about who is responsible for this or any of the other urination incidents, please come forward immediately. Public Safety will be thoroughly investigating this incident. There are serious judicial consequences for anyone involved in these types of actions and attacks on this campus.

We will not tolerate these types of actions and I am committed to working with the entire President’s Staff, Public Safety, and the Director of the Intercultural Center to try to identify who is responsible for this heinous act. We must also work to address the deeper cultural issues that would lead any student to think that this action would ever be okay. We must move to a culture of prevention immediately.

The Intercultural Center is not separate from Swarthmore College–it is Swarthmore College. I stand with you and I know so many others do too. Let’s work together to address this situation, to hold accountable those that are responsible, and to demonstrate loudly and visibly our support for the Intercultural Center and by extension our support for Swarthmore. Let’s join together and do everything we can to prevent these types of acts in the future.

I can assure you there will be more follow up, but I wanted to make the community aware as soon as possible.

Liz Braun
Dean of Students

Following the incidents last night when, yet another individual peed on the door of the Intercultural Center, the Director of the IC sent the following email to the IC community members. Dean Wong will be hosting a community gathering in the IC at 10pm tonight for the community members, friends, and allies of the IC.

Dear IC —

It is with incredible pain, anger, and sadness that I must report yet another incident of urination on the doors of the Intercultural Center tonight. Witnesses overheard several men saying “oh, yeah. Right on the door. Yeah men” and hear a crowd of people cheering them on. We don’t have have further identifying information at this time. If you have any information or knowledge of who committed such heinous acts, please report them to me, Dean Braun, Sharmaine LaMar, and Public Safety immediately. While holding individuals responsible will not address the larger institutional and systemic problems of racism, homophobia, oppression, and discrimination — it is also a necessary step.

So you know, many students and I have reported this incident necessary staff. I will follow up with them as needed, and I am also asking President Chopp, senior leadership, and the Board of Managers for direct community action.

In addition, I would like to invite you, friends, and allies to the IC on Friday, May 3 at 10 pm for a community gathering. I don’t know what this will be yet. If you have suggestions or ideas, I welcome them. I do not want to simply rehash these hateful incidents or open old wounds; nor do I want to engage in an empty celebration of community. Perhaps being together in solidarity is a place to start, and we can decide as a community what we want to do.

Please take care of yourselves and each other. Do not hesitate to contact me if there’s anything I can do for you, or if you have suggestions or ideas for how we can move forward together.

This is our home. While I am angry, I will not be frightened.

With love,
Alina Wong