Wendy Raymond's Response to the HC Strike 2020 Statement & Demands

11/30/2020

Wendy Raymond’s Response to the HC Strike 2020 Statement & Demands – The Clerk

November 30, 2020

Wendy Raymond’s Response to the HC Strike 2020 Statement &
Demands
BY GUEST ON NOVEMBER 3, 2020

This letter was published with the permission of the President’s Of ce.

November 2, 2020
Dear Women of Color House, Black Students Refusing Further Inaction, Black Student
League, and networks of the BIPOC community who have contributed to the HC Strike 2020
Statement & Demands document:
I write with deep respect and admiration for the passion and hard work with which
Haverford BIPOC students, and particularly the leadership groups Women of Color House,
Black Students Refusing Further Inaction (BSRFI), and Black Student League, are pursuing a
truly just and equitable society and systemic change at Haverford. The Senior Staff and I,
and many people at Haverford, share the goal of making Haverford College a racially
equitable institution, through visible and systemic institutional change, so that all BIPOC
students, faculty, and staff can thrive. The Senior Staff and I see much overlap between the
demands you have forwarded and our view of what can and will be done, whether
immediately and in the near term, or as part of sustainable, long-term efforts. I will
articulate those ongoing actions and efforts designed to yield real and tangible results in
subsequent communications to the campus.
Speci c responses to your letter of October 29, 2020, enumerated below, are also grounded
in the College’s purpose to promote the personal and intellectual growth of students

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enrolled at Haverford, and to foster the pursuit of excellence and a sense of individual and
collective responsibility.
The responses below include many acknowledgements of institutional failures and
shortcomings, gaps which, over many years, students themselves have worked diligently
and often unrewarded to ll. I cannot make amends for all the years of neglect of our BIPOC
communities at Haverford, but I can make a commitment to effect change.
Together, let us nd ways—through alignment and difference—to enact our shared purpose
in having Haverford College leadership, faculty, staff, and students make structural,
systemic, policy, practical and cultural changes so that all BIPOC students can thrive at
Haverford and beyond, in lives of integrity and consequence. I am immersed in this work as
president, as are the Board of Managers and the Haverford Corporation.
As you and our community reads our responses, below, I hope you will see therein a good
faith and strong approach to meet you where you are, with substantive, tangible, immediate
action.
To the extent that further work needs to be done before implementing any particular aspect
of the list, Senior Staff members and I will collaborate in good faith with student groups,
faculty, and staff— in and across relevant groups, departments, of ces— to enact and
embrace change that improves the Haverford educational and holistic student experience
for BIPOC students. With the goal of racial equity, this work will build on common ground,
and participants will work with and through difference to expand common ground. This
will require focus, dedication, exibility, and intentionality, which I will lead, as will faculty,
staff, student, Board, and Corporation leaders.
I have invited you to a Zoom meeting with me and Senior Staff on Wednesday, November 4
at 2 p.m. The invitation came earlier today from Joan Wankmiller, as a follow-up to my
email from yesterday. I look forward to being in conversation with you.
Sincerely,

Wendy E. Raymond
I. We demand removal of President Raymond as “Chief of Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion.”
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I have publicly stated from the start that my role as chief diversity of cer (CDO) was an
interim measure for the rst two years of my presidency because this was not envisioned or
intended as a long-term approach. As president, I will convene by December 1 a CDO
Advisory Group of students, faculty, and staff to recommend the best way forward for a CDO
structure for Haverford. This will include budget and organizational support, and how to ll
that role at Haverford, with the goal of appointing a new CDO effective no later than July 1,
2021. I invite students interested in collaborating to design the CDO Advisory Group to
work with me directly on this process by lling out this form. Current protocols would turn
to Academic Council to recommend faculty appointments, Staff Association Executive
Committee to recommend staff appointments, and Students’ Council to recommend
student appointments, in addition to any direct appointments that might be made.
II. We demand that you follow in the footsteps of Swarthmore College and cancel
classes on Election Day and provide paid leave for college employees.
Responding to student initiative and demands, the faculty and the Staff Association
Executive Committee both support the recommendation that Election Day 2020 be made
into a paid holiday for all staff, with all classes canceled. The Senior Staff gave their full
support. Hourly (non-exempt) staff who will work on Tuesday, November 3, will be paid
“holiday pay,” as would be typical College practice for any hourly employee working on a
paid holiday.
III. We demand academic leniency for BIPOC and/or FGLI students who are
traumatized by the effects of COVID and constant police violence in their
communities.
Many BIPOC and FGLI students have been disproportionately impacted by the traumatic
effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic, of repeated violence against Black and Brown
bodies continuing and throughout US history, and of the political instability in our country.
It is expected that deans and faculty consider these impacts while teaching and guiding
students. I acknowledge that while there are formal systems at Haverford designed to
provide close, individualized support for all students (e.g., Of ce of Academic Resources,
peer tutoring, Writing Center, deans, ADS, CAPS, GRASE, Customs People, UCAs, the
Chesick Scholars program, Horizons, etc.), some BIPOC and FGLI students’ experiences
demonstrate that we can and do fall short of what is needed in practice. I will ask our Task
Force on Retention & Persistence (discussed further in Section XI below) to devote a
portion of its research work to learning more from these student experiences. Dean Joyce
Bylander, Provost Linda Strong-Leek, and I will engage with faculty and deans on long-term
structures as well as immediate efforts to create failsafe means of support for BIPOC and
FGLI students. Some of this work has already begun within both the Dean’s Of ce and FAPC
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(Faculty Affairs and Planning Committee), focusing on reorganizations of support
structures and changes to the language and resultant framework of CSSP, respectively. I
know that some faculty are taking extraordinary measures to ensure that students are able
to complete their work under extenuating circumstances. I applaud this and encourage all
faculty and deans to likewise nd creative avenues to student success at this time when
BIPOC and FGLI students are experiencing the impacts of these ongoing traumas.
IV. We demand that the school encourage and protect student participation in
supporting direct action.
The College supports students in living out their values with integrity. I want Haverford to
be a place that encourages and supports students to act on their values in service of a more
just world, and that includes through direct action.
There are many steps Haverford has taken and will take to support students’ engagement
with surrounding communities, including West Philadelphia. As a non pro t, educational
institution, those investments often take the shape of civic engagement opportunities for
students—curricular, co-curricular, or extra curricular—designed intentionally to have
bilateral bene t to community organization partners. For example, building upon longstanding work by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship (CPGC) and others, earlier
this fall the College announced a new Philadelphia Justice and Equity fellows program for
students made possible by a new endowed fund created by the Board and Corporation of
Haverford College. I am interested to learn about opportunities students see to use speci c
“unused campus resources to directly support impacted communities in West
Philadelphia”; direct payments by Haverford College to other not-for-pro t organizations is
not consistent with our own status as a not-for-pro t institution with a mission to provide a
liberal arts undergraduate education. While I understand the desire to have Haverford
demonstrate its commitment to anti-racism through charitable contributions to worthwhile
causes, this is not an avenue the College will take.
I af rm students’ right to protest as called by their consciences, and I understand that
students undertake such acts knowing the risks that have been demonstrated around the
country where white supremacist groups and police have escalated tensions and promoted
—directly and indirectly—violent outcomes. As Dean Bylander and colleagues previously
communicated, the College has been providing—and will continue to provide—necessary
health-supporting measures for students who engage in protest, including COVID-19
testing and campus isolation spaces. There will be no disciplinary consequences from the
College for students engaging in protests provided they meet the College’s health and safety
guidelines, including the Travel Policy.

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V. We demand the institution recognize and resolve that the increased surveillance
and policing amongst students in regards to COVID-19 primarily affects students of
color, who have always been more prominently surveilled by the campus
community.
Disproportionate surveillance of BIPOC is a systemic and national injustice; I recognize that
Haverford operates within this context. The College is committed to ensuring that its own
processes are free from, and have zero tolerance for, bias and will investigate and follow up
on any speci c concerns and/or issues raised about surveillance or policing of the campus
BIPOC community. Students may submit concerns or suggestions via their dean or, if they
wish to remain anonymous, through the web-based tip line. The College does not currently
have data that point to bias against BIPOC students within campus efforts to monitor and
respond to health and safety concerns related to COVID-19. This does not mean that we are
free from such bias. I have asked my colleagues in the Operations Planning Group to
evaluate and revise our monitoring and response systems around student health and safety
so we will be better able to understand the extent and nature of any patterns of bias and
then address them.
VI. We demand Haverford honor and credit the work of Black women driving
institutional change instead of taking credit for their continued labor and erasing
their contributions.
I wish always to give credit and am mindful of previous errors of omission, of co opting,
and/or being perceived to co-opt others’ work. In this, I recognize the extraordinary efforts
and commitment to antiracism on the part of Black women and Trans people across the
Haverford community and pledge to be attentive and appropriately generous in
acknowledging the work of others in all of our collaborations, and I will expect the same of
my faculty and staff colleagues. The Libraries and Archives are actively working with the
Multicultural Alumni Action Group (MAAG), Alumni Affairs, the community, and
speci cally with BIPOC student-colleagues to more fully illuminate the work of these
individuals and, further, to correct and address absences where the records of that work are
less evident.
VII. We demand that the school creates a framework to deal with problematic
professors and generates spaces of accountability– the honor code is not enough and
it never has been.
The relationship with faculty plays a critical role in student success. In order to ensure that
Haverford is doing all it can to foster a climate of thriving, the provost is now reviewing
faculty personnel and grievance systems, including the processes situated in the Dean’s
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Of ce and the Of ce of Human Resources. The provost will include Associate Provost Rob
Manning in this work, as well as the Faculty Liaison for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Ben
Le. These processes must be consistent, robust, and widely—and clearly—communicated.
Given the requirements for faculty input via campus shared governance, the provost will
provide an initial progress report no later than March 1, 2021.
The provost will work with Academic Council, Faculty Affairs and Planning Committee
(FAPC), and others to provide support for both tenure-track and visiting BIPOC faculty.
Haverford College has a robust program of faculty support that includes a pre-sabbatical
leave for eligible tenure-track faculty, as well as generous resources for research. However,
it is also true that many BIPOC faculty take on disproportionate “shadow service” in
mentoring and advising BIPOC and FGLI students. Academic Council began conversations
this fall about how such “shadow work” might be considered during the faculty review
processes. The provost also commits to individual meetings with all tenure-track and
visiting faculty to provide early opportunities for mentoring that may lead to the goal of
greater retention of BIPOC faculty here at Haverford.
VIII. We demand that the school continue to pay the students who are participating
in the strike.
Student workers who elect not to work will be eligible to receive up to 20 hours of
compensation for scheduled but lost work; guidance to managers will be forthcoming from
the Of ce of Human Resources about how to handle this payment and enter the
compensation appropriately. Supervisors will accommodate students who choose not to
work, with no questions asked. Further, the College will continue to pay additional
compensation to all hourly employees who work overtime during the strike or otherwise,
consistent with state and federal law.
IX. We demand that no student, staff or faculty partaking in the strike face
academic or professional retribution, or penalties of any kind.

nancial,

In consideration of students engaging in the strike toward effecting productive change at
Haverford, the College has taken steps to provide extra exibility. This includes
accommodating students who miss work shifts and compensating them for up to 20 hours
(per the above). Professors have discretion about whether and how to accommodate striking
students in their individual courses, understanding that faculty are responsible for
delivering the education they and the College are committed to providing you this
semester.

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In acts of civil disobedience, individuals must and do make decisions of conscience and
consequence. A community premised on trust, concern, and respect, is not premised on a
framework of penalties or retribution. In the event that individuals fall short of our health,
safety, educational, or other rules and guidelines, the College pursues remedies that seek to
address the concern within a humane and restorative framework.
To underscore the spirit in which Haverford operates in times of disruption, I note that
during the COVID-19 crisis, the College went to great lengths to support staff members,
including continuous employment (i.e. no furloughs) even when speci c jobs were
signi cantly disrupted or impossible to ful ll. The College paid student workers who were
unable to work through the Spring of 2020 because of forces beyond their control.
X. We demand that the Bi-Co stop its violence against disabled students.
Access & Disability Services (ADS), Facilities, Counseling and Psychological Services
(CAPS), and other departments will be key partners in making tangible change in support of
disabled students. ADS and Facilities conducted an accessibility de ciency survey of our
campus and have been making annual investments in accessibility based on the survey’s
recommendations. There is more work to be done. CAPS is constantly striving to be
available and accessible to any who need treatment. For instance, as a result of changes
made between last year and this year, CAPS currently does not have a wait list for students
while having more sessions than we had at this time last year. There, too, more work
remains to be done.
I will work with campus partners to improve support for disabled students including:
• Continuing the process above, Facilities and ADS will coordinate to make additional
priority improvements to the physical accessibility of campus next year. The director of ADS
welcomes student suggestions for speci c improvements.
• CAPS will foreground the priority of re ecting our diverse student body in its current
search for a senior CAPS staff member and in its ongoing selection of trainees.
• Pennsylvania licensing laws require CAPS staff to be ‘mandated reporters’ for issues
involving child and elder abuse. CAPS also must report information if there is clear and
present danger to self and/or others. Within these strictures, CAPS will only report when
absolutely necessary and, whenever possible, with students’ consent.
• ADS considers each student’s history, experience, and accommodation request. While
students are a vital source of information, some accommodations legally require
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documentation. If providing documentation is a nancial hardship, ADS works with the
student to help fund testing, if testing is necessary, and/or assist in nding a health care
professional for an appointment/evaluation.
• Faculty are required to implement the accommodations identi ed in a student’s
accommodation letter. If a student opts not to implement accommodations in a course, the
student should notify the director of ADS immediately. If a student prefers not to speak
directly with a professor on their own, ADS can assist in notifying professors of a
student’s accommodations and/or meet with students and their professor to discuss
accommodations. The provost, in her review of faculty personnel systems above, will ensure
that there is accountability for faculty who provide inadequate attention to this
responsibility.
• CAPS will review the use of Campus Safety during mental health emergencies and explore
alternatives to ensure that students are able to access the on-call counseling services they
need, in a safe way.
All of our campus partners are open to dialogue and committed to accountability and
partnership. I have invited them to produce expanded documents about the concerns you
have raised that they will make available to the campus community for fuller engagement of
these important issues.
XI. We demand more robust aid and support for queer and trans students of color.
I share your concern about the experiences of LGBTQ+ students and BIPOC LGBTQ+
students. Last year, building off our learnings in the 2018-19 Clearness Committee’s report,
I convened a Task Force on Retention and Persistence with leadership from Associate
Director of Institutional Research Kevin Iglesias and Professors Matt McKeever and Ben Le.
This group is undertaking a detailed study of student experiences especially among student
cohorts identi ed by the Clearness Report, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students, in order
to identify causes of student attrition and ways Haverford can better support thriving.
• Consistent with Section X above, CAPS will prioritize the identi cation of candidates with
demonstrated successes in support of LGBTQ+ clients in its current and future hiring
processes in order to better re ect the needs of the student body.
• In direct response to this request, we will immediately provide new, ongoing nancial
support to enable BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students to access therapeutic practices off campus
with diverse professionals.

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• Students must be able to identify and work with clinicians of their choosing and have that
priority be supported by CAPS through its intake procedures. CAPS will explore the
possibility of reserving speci c hours for LGBTQ+ identi ed students and other strategies to
ensure that CAPS meets LGBTQ+ students’ needs.
• The College will support students working through trauma. In cases when an
accommodation is legally documented, it will fall under the framework discussed in Section
X above. In other cases, the work I described in Section III above about mechanisms to
support students’ academic work under extenuating circumstances will apply.
• This summer, our new BiCo Title IX Coordinator developed and implemented a new
comprehensive Sexual Misconduct Policy that applies to students, faculty, and staff. This
policy and the accompanying procedures provide multiple options for addressing and
resolving complaints, including an alternative resolution option. The College is committed
to equitable treatment for any community member who has experienced sexual misconduct
or gender-based discrimination. Our BiCo Title IX Coordinator is available to meet with
students to further understand concerns about policing.
XII. We Demand that the college terminate all relationships with the Philadelphia
Police Department (PPD), and actively work toward police and prison abolition. The
(college) will also divest, both in and of themselves, from any partnerships that may
exist, with companies that rely on prison labor.
The College does not maintain a relationship with the Philadelphia Police Department.
The endowment has no direct investment in prison companies and does not seek to invest
in such companies. Our Investment Of ce also performed a look-through analysis to the
underlying holdings of investment funds in the endowment to determine any indirect
exposure to prison companies. The endowment has no indirect exposure to prison
companies based in the U.S. Underlying holdings of an international equity index fund,
which is meant to provide broad exposure to all international equities and holds
approximately 4,000 companies, results in effectively zero, or about 0.001%, exposure to
internationally-based prison companies in the endowment. This exposure is due to the
nature of index funds’ investment in all publicly-traded companies. The endowment
maintains no actively-managed funds that seek to invest in such companies, as the College
maintains open dialogues with investment managers regarding our condemnation of such
investments. With respect to prison labor, the College does not invest directly in any
companies at all and are unaware of any indirect exposure through investment funds; the
Investment Of ce will continue to investigate how we can learn more.

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Our Investment Of ce has been engaged with students interested in these issues and has
already been in the process of completing a DEI and ESG survey of all investment managers
in the endowment. Findings from this survey will be shared with the community through
our annual endowment letter, which will be released by the end of November 2020 and
discussed by the Investment Committee of the Board of Managers by December 15, to
determine the impact of our investment policies with regard to these areas and to determine
additional steps for further progress.
Published in Opinion

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