At the Second Sit-in: Reminders of Haverford's Broken Promises, Optimism for the Future

11/30/2020

At the Second Sit-In: Reminders of Haverford’s Broken Promises, Optimism for the Future – The Clerk

November 30, 2020

At the Second Sit-In: Reminders of Haverford’s Broken Promises,
Optimism for the Future
BY MAXWELL MONDRESS ON NOVEMBER 8, 2020

Editor’s note: In our coverage of the strike, to protect students from doxxing, we continue to blur
faces out and not include names.
Eight days after the rst Founders Hall protest and a week after the campus-wide strike
began, students reconvened on Founders Green on the evening of November 5 for a second
sit-in. The sit-in came in the wake of President Raymond’s November 2 response to strike
demands, deemed by organizers to be inadequate, and an open meeting earlier that day
between a number of senior staff and student organizers.
Although turnout was lower than a week before, there were still hundreds of students
chattering on the lawn. Organizers hung a sign on the porch of Founders Hall—a recreation
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11/30/2020

At the Second Sit-In: Reminders of Haverford’s Broken Promises, Optimism for the Future – The Clerk

of a 1977 poster that followed in the wake of the 1972 Black Students League protests—
reading “Haverford: A Racist or a Quaker Institution?” One student, standing nearby on the
grass, mused under her breath: “Those things are not mutually exclusive.”

Students take to Founders Green for the second sit-in on November 5

At 9:16 pm, organizers took to the microphone, beginning by reading an excerpt from a
letter written in 1971 by the BSL to the Board of Managers, outlining nearly identical
demands—such as calls for a more diverse CAPS staff and a required course on minority
history—to the ones made over the past week. The organizers were clear: they are asking the
school for changes that have been needed for generations. In light of this history, they said,
President Raymond’s latest promises rung empty.
“This has been a struggle of false promises, otherwise known as bullshit!” shouted one
organizer, re ecting on the lack of change from 1972 to today. “And I’m tired of it!”
Speakers at the sit-in extended a couple of invitations to the community: rst up, the new
student- and faculty-led teach-ins which took place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. “You
have to learn the things Haverford won’t teach you,” said one organizer, encouraging
students to utilize their newfound free time to educate themselves on the issues they’re
engaged with by striking.
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At the Second Sit-In: Reminders of Haverford’s Broken Promises, Optimism for the Future – The Clerk

The next invitation was the announcement of student of ce hours held over Zoom, where
organizers have pledged to answer questions about the strike. Students expressing
reservations about the strike, privately and publicly, were also invited to attend their of ce
hours to speak their minds.

Organizers speak from the steps of Founders Hall

After an interlude featuring a couple of songs off of Lizzo’s latest album, the speakers turned
to what they deemed “the big stuff.”
They called attention to the dissent swirling around campus in opposition to the strike,
some of which has accused the organizers of being bullies and silencing opposing views. The
strike leaders also said that they had received a number of legal and physical threats from
parents.
In response, the organizers rejected these claims outright, arguing that there is no
“bullying” in ghting for their rights and that any community members who oppose the
strike are actively preventing the implementation of what they deemed essential changes.
They encouraged student attendees—particularly wealthy or white students—to combat this
narrative and make sure their friends were not exacerbating the problem by potentially
bullying others.
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At the Second Sit-In: Reminders of Haverford’s Broken Promises, Optimism for the Future – The Clerk

Then speakers turned to the open meeting with senior staff, held earlier in the day. Though
the tone of the responses varied, one thing was clear: a feeling that the meeting was far
from what it needed to be. Organizers found the bare-bones agenda—which merely listed
the demands—insulting, and felt the administrators weren’t taking them seriously.
One organizer called the agenda “the most elementary pile of fucking trash I’ve ever seen”
and said that their brother, a second grader, could have done better. Another was less harsh,
but agreed that administrators “didn’t seem prepared” for the meeting. Yet he expressed a
sense of optimism: “On a lot of the points, they agreed with us completely, and on the other
points, they will agree with us by Sunday.”
With a nal reminder to keep the pressure on administrators and faculty, the oor was
opened for community members to come forward and speak. One Bryn Mawr student called
for Haverford students to show support for Bryn Mawr’s recently-launched student strike by
showing up to a sit-in on their campus on Friday. Others returned to discussing the 1972
strike, lamenting the lack of change.
In a particularly powerful moment, one organizer—emotion cracking in their voice—
encouraged the community to continue striking: “Black students have been ghting for 48
years. This strike has lasted eight days.”

Photos from the 1972 Black Students League strike at Haverford
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At the Second Sit-In: Reminders of Haverford’s Broken Promises, Optimism for the Future – The Clerk

Before the sit-in dispersed, organizers took the microphone to celebrate one nal
development— on the call earlier that day, several members of the senior staff, including
President Wendy Raymond and Provost Linda Strong-Leek, pledged to step down if the
college does not ful ll its commitments to anti-racism. This announcement was met with
applause from the audience.
Organizers reminded attendees of the two signi cant goals that the strike had already
accomplished: the designation of Election Day as a holiday across the Tri-College
Consortium and approval of a new program for students to see therapists unaf liated with
the school. At the rally, organizers said that Haverford would cover the cost of these offcampus appointments; judging from the master spreadsheet tracking their demands and the
administration’s responses, it’s not completely clear whether the college has agreed.
These accomplishments were met with a spirit of celebration, which soon evolved into an
impromptu dance party. Students stood up, helped themselves to remaining snacks, and
talked amongst themselves. As numbers began to dwindle, organizers danced to Cardi B and
Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” on the steps of Founders Hall, celebrating the hard-earned
progress they had made. Parting words by one, exclaimed into the microphone: “This is a
great day!”
Published in News
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