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Dear STEM faculty,
It is now the fourth day of the strike and we have seen the least support from STEM faculty.
Faculty in non-STEM departments have been quick to respond and write to their students in
support of the strike. STEM faculty on the other hand have been slow and reluctant to cancel
classes, close labs, and show complete solidarity with the strike. We find it necessary to reiterate
and emphasize why STEM departments need to go beyond academics and prioritize Black and
BIPOC students.
This comes in addition to what BSRFI highlighted through their initial open-letter to the Bi-Co
Community in June 2020. Some of the issues they highlighted were:
- “Students from historically underrepresented backgrounds disproportionately left STEM
courses at a rate of 59% compared to other students at 28%”
- Until very recently, no Black faculty in STEM
- “In Astronomy, Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science (but not Biology or
Chemistry), numbers of underrepresented students decrease disproportionately between
their first and second semesters and into the second year. For Bio/Chem this decrease
happens between second and third year (e.g. after Bio 200 and Chem 222)” 1
None of this has been addressed concretely by any of the departments, even after four months.
All initiatives for diversity and support for marginalized communities within Haverford’s STEM
Departments have been historically the result of drastic measures in some shape or form by
students, especially by BIPOC students and women of color. Bureaucratic measures based on
these initiatives are important but are ultimately not enough, as STEM Departments continue to
fail their marginalized students. Given the long standing history of anti-Blackness and gender
inequality in STEM, it is an undeniable responsibility for Haverford’s STEM departments as a
whole to stand in solidarity with BIPOC students and engage in drastic action.
STEM Departments at Haverford have historically continued to benefit from Black and Brown
lives. BIPOC students work not only in labs, classes, seminars, and discussions, but also support
the college with their labor in logistics, food, communications, and various organizations
forming the backbone of this college. STEM at Haverford has also continued to enjoy being
situated in a liberal arts environment, with a reputation for diversity and inclusivity but has
continued to function against those ideals. Haverford STEM must deviate from their historical
narrative of STEM being separate from social issues surrounding them and take on the mantle of
responsibility by striking with BIPOC students.
1
Ibid
It's time to care about social issues. It is irrefutable that STEM research and knowledge have
been used to do incredible amounts of violence to BIPOC. Claiming that STEM is apolitical and
colorblind is a fallacy. Haverford STEM must take responsibility for this historical and current
violence perpetrated by and with STEM both in academia and outside of academia. We
recognize that we are all here to learn, but learning cannot happen while BIPOC are burdened by
COVID, police brutality, and the lack of support from professors. Being educators and
researchers within our respective STEM departments does not merely limit us to dispensing
scientific knowledge. An educator’s responsibilities include being a member of their field’s
community. As leaders and influencers with immense potential to teach, inspire, and subvert
established systems, STEM faculty must realise their responsibility to strike even at the cost of
established STEM syllabi.
Taking the position that closing labs will harm BIPOC, women, and underrepresented students in
STEM undermines the meaning and purpose of the strike. In any and all strikes, BIPOC people
will always be those most vulnerable to harm, as marginalized communities will always be more
vulnerable. However, BIPOC students organized this strike nonetheless, aware of the sacrifice it
would entail, knowing its goal was reparations that would change the harmful conditions that
exist and restore some of the harm done by Haverford. Keeping labs open will not alleviate the
harm that BIPOC students are facing [globally] and at the hands of the institution currently.
Keeping labs open will only benefit white and/or the most privileged POC students not
participating in the strike, further disadvantaging the larger BIPOC community and those
committed to striking for institutional change. You must get a hold of the larger narrative at play.
Closing labs does not mean killing live cultures, it just means closing labs for all student work.
At this time, scientific research must halt in order to show support for BIPOC students. We
cannot reiterate enough your status as community leaders, influencers, and educators makes your
solidarity all the more important, as your support is crucial to educate our white/privileged peers
and those who are not striking.
In order to support your students and stand in solidarity with the strike, we urge you all to
indefinitely cancel classes and postpone ALL assignments until after the strike has ended as
opposed to moving them back a week. Moving them back a week creates a lot of uncertainty for
students and it likely means that students privileged enough to be able to “continue as normal”
will disengage from the strike. The strike should not be used as time for white and/or privileged
POC to “get ahead” in their classes. Follow suit with other departments and faculty that are
removing assignments and restructuring syllabi altogether.
We ask you to contextualize what your solidarity with BIPOC students means for the rest of the
Haverford community. The demands raised by BIPOC students address components of
institutional harm that have existed and will continue to exist if not addressed and acted upon by
administration. These demands have been originally stated in the Open Letter that many of you
responded to and signed. We would like to remind you that the end of the Open Letter clearly
stated, “Should our colleges openly refuse or fail to meet these demands within the given time
period, we are prepared to be uncooperative with standard college procedures and expectations
until expeditious, recognizable, and vigorous efforts are made.” We ask that you stay true to your
signature of support to escalation if demands layed out fail to be met. We expect you to be in
support of our escalation now and show solidarity; otherwise signing the letter in June was
simply performative. In June signatures were requested, now action is.
Your positions as faculty, staff, and department chairs hold weight over the college. Your
authority can accelerate institutionalized change that will support present BIPOC students and
future BIPOC students. Because of this we urge you to hastily respond and advocate for your
students by maintaining solidarity and communicating your support to administration.
If your department hasn’t already done so, we urge you to send a centralized message from the
department to all your students expressing support and solidarity with students striking.
To reiterate this: BIPOC and/or FGLI students are traumatized by both the effects of COVID and
police violence on top of the constant stress caused by the academic rigor of the College. At this
time, we need your continued support as we strike. This includes, but is not limited to:
1. Adjusting lesson plans accordingly so as to relieve pressure from students at this time
2. Cancelling classes, giving extensions, or even removing assignments altogether
3. Promoting the demands of BIPOC and/or FGLI students by spreading them across your
professional network
4. Demonstrating your solidarity with students by demanding that Wendy and Joyce meet
student needs
5. Make sure that there is no component of class/lab/thesis during the strike ‘available to
people who are not participating’ as this will largely negatively impact BIPOC students
the most.
6. Engaging in conversations with fellow colleagues who are not in full support
7. Collectively discourage students from asynchronous coursework and instead inform them
to take this time to donate, help BIPOC leaders, and educate themselves on issues
surrounding Black lives on campus and in the wider community.
8. If you are to continue teaching, as we understandably recognize that this is your job
which you may feel responsible for, we push to not teach your syllabi and instead teach
antiracism within your jobs/field of study, the purpose of the strike, or the historical
oppression in and outside of Haverford of BIPOC
9. Being ready to adjust the syllabi once the strike is over so as not to burden students who
were actively striking. This means if you do not have the capacity to teach about
antiracism, spend your time rethinking the syllabus and about how to creatively and
effectively teach material in limited time after the strike has ended. This way students
will not miss material that you suspect they will miss due to the strike.
Clarifying terms of strike: We would like to reiterate that the strike will continue indefinitely,
and will not end until demands have been met. This is a precarious condition, but it is the only
way to truly pressure this institution into action.
Also we ask each of you to please respond to this email, acknowledging that you have read this
email and let us know your thoughts. We ask that you reply to at least one senior from your
department/major who has signed this letter.
If any faculty are curious in holding conversations about the strike and our statement feel free to
set up meetings with the Chemistry Student Group ( csg.haverford@gmail.com ), Biology
Student Group (bsg.haverford@gmail.com) , and/or Physics Student Group (
psg.haverford@gmail.com ).
Our best,
Your BIPOC students
Hasibe Caballero-Gomez ‘21
Madison Adore ‘21
Shoaib Shamsi ‘21
Rasaaq Shittu ‘23
Shreya Kishore ‘21
Roy Simamora ‘22
Tazkia Afra ‘23
Daniela Moreira ‘23
Zakiyyah Winston ‘22
Turner Johnson ‘22
Blien Habtu ‘21
Giancarlo Rendon ‘22
Nile Bayard '22
João Pedro Carvalho '22
Finley Medina ‘23
Clarice Xu ‘23
Tien Vu ‘23
Silvia Lang ‘21
Kristina Tran ‘23
Shiza Ranamagar ‘24
Berlensie Chery ‘23
Kristen Min ‘23
Faizah Khan ‘23
Gabriel Pascal ‘21
Kayla Baquiran ‘23
Liz Mari ‘23
Ruanna Small ‘22
Ian Ogolla ‘21
Layan Shaban ‘23
Karla Sofia Garcia ‘21
Margaret Chen ‘21
Kaito Nakatani ‘21
Marly Banatte ‘21
Katie Chung ‘21
John Jayasankar ‘22
Luis Contreras-Orendain ‘21
Neel Vidwans ‘21
Shahla Mukhtar 24’
José E. Rodríguez 22’
Adrian Soto Soto ‘23
Darshan Patel ‘23
Trea St. Hillaire ‘23
Woodkensia Charles '24
Trevor E. Esilu ‘21
Ernest Keefer-Jacques ‘21
Cat Kim ‘22
Urgyen Wangmo ‘22
Tia Brown ‘21
Ash Arango ‘21
Amra Zegeye ‘22
Rob Duncan ‘22
Loui Othman ‘21
Lauren Nguyen ‘21
Aaron Xu ‘23
Junior Nguyen ‘22
Nyla Robinson ‘21
Anthony Lockner ‘24
Anagha Aneesh ‘24
Kayla Robinson ‘23
Lourdes Taylor ‘21
Ebony Graham ‘23
Sam Olivares-Mejia ‘22
Anita Zhu ‘22
Kassandra Rodriguez ‘24
Emanuel Barba ‘24
Anthony Carrillo ‘23
Andrew Beltran ‘23
Ananya Prakash’ 21
Margin Zheng ‘23
Steve Lee '21
Cathy Zhu ‘23
Zaida Boissiere ‘24
Gaby Cruz Navas ‘21
Kelsey Chai ‘21
Diego Capcha ‘23
Daniel Paredes ‘22
luigie febres ‘22
Annemarie Wood ‘23
Bilikisu Hanidu ‘23
Marisleysis De La Cruz ‘23
Seun Eisape ‘24
Bianca Teves ‘23
Mina Moore ‘22
Theo Bien ‘22
Aissatou Seck ‘24
Samanyu Kurra ‘23
Rubi Rivas ‘23
Gigi Chen ‘24
Leily Behbehani ‘21
Lisette Pham ‘23
Ava Panetto ‘23
Trisha Phan ‘24
Ryan Totaro ‘22
Marina Kheyfets ‘21
Michelle Panaguiton ‘23
Marcos Cadena '24
Pendo Kamau ‘24
Ellen Carlson ‘22
Ivan Ruiz ‘23
Marika Takeshita ‘21
Annette Lee ‘22
Brandon Alonso ‘22
Genevieve Uy ‘22
Betelhem Muno ‘22
Maria Yea ‘22
Hikaru Jitsukawa ‘23
Ken Ruto ‘21
Calvin Mbuyu ‘23
Simon Perales ‘21
Faculty Emails:
Physics:
Chair: alommen@haverford.edu
samador@haverford.edu
tbrzinski@haverford.edu
dgrin@haverford.edu
skhan3@haverford.edu
nlewandows@haverford.edu
klmasters@haverford.edu
wsmith@haverford.edu
pthorman@haverford.edu
Compsci:
Chair: dwonnaco@haverford.edu
sfriedle@haverford.edu
jdougher@haverford.edu
agrissom@haverford.edu
rkumar@haverford.edu
slindell@haverford.edu
smathieson@haverford.edu
llieberma@haverford.edu
shlindel@haverford.edu
Chem:
Chair: clonderg@haverford.edu
kakerfel@haverford.edu
fblase@haverford.edu
lcharkou@haverford.edu
cdaly2@haverford.edu
bkokona@haverford.edu
anorquis@haverford.edu
rscarrow@haverford.edu
pspoors@haverford.edu
kstreu@haverford.edu
mthomas2@haverford.edu
hwhite@haverford.edu
kmatz@haverford.edu
mstein@haverford.edu
Bio:
Chair: rhoang@haverford.edu
acooke1@haverford.edu
rfairman@haverford.edu
aglazier@haverford.edu
shim@haverford.edu
rjain1@haverford.edu
kjohnson@haverford.edu
slang2@haverford.edu
emiller3@haverford.edu
jlunden@haverford.edu
kwhalen1@haverford.edu
jowen@haverford.edu
jwilson@haverford.edu
Psychology
Chair: rcompton@haverford.edu
lbeen@haverford.edu
mboltz@haverford.edu
sbourne1@haverford.edu
ahochman1@haverford.edu
mkelly@haverford.edu
ble@haverford.edu
rlei1@haverford.edu
jlilgend@haverford.edu
jlinowitz@haverford.edu
robinsond@haverford.edu
twadden@haverford.edu
swang1@haverford.edu
ehaughee@haverford.edu
atartaro@haverford.edu
Admin: aewolverto@haverford.edu
Math
Chair: jsabloff@haverford.edu
taougab@haverford.edu
lbutler@haverford.edu
ccunningh1@haverford.edu
edrellich@haverford.edu
reverett@haverford.edu
ejanofsky@haverford.edu
dlippel@haverford.edu
jtecosky@haverford.edu
emilicevic@haverford.edu
wmiao@haverford.edu
rmanning@haverford.edu
Environmental Studies:
dbackus@haverford.edu
eevans1@haverford.edu
jmoses@haverford.edu
hwhite@haverford.edu
jwilson@haverford.edu
tyoung@haverford.edu
Bryn Mawr ENVS faculty????:
dbarber@brynmawr.edu
cdhillon@brynmawr.edu
sgrossman1@brynmawr.edu
chager@brynmawr.edu
^yes please send to them
Other:
mlatrick@haverford.edu
Econ
Chair: dowens@haverford.edu
aarredondo@haverford.edu
rball@haverford.edu
ngrabell@haverford.edu
sjilani@haverford.edu
vkontoro@haverford.edu
smudd@haverford.edu
gparames@haverford.edu
apreston@haverford.edu
cbinder1@haverford.edu
Organizing STEM faculty for strike
Letter written by Haverford BIPOC students to Haverford faculty in STEM departments regarding their lack of support for the student strike compared to faculty in other departments. The letter argues that Haverford STEM departments have historically benefitted from the labor of Black and Brown people, but that STEM research and knowledge have done "incredible amounts of violence to BIPOC," and urges Haverford STEM faculty to take responsibility for historic and current violence perpetrated by and with STEM. The letter also urges STEM faculty to cancel labs and classes, postpone assignments, and stand in solidarity with striking students. The letter is signed by over 100 Haverford BIPOC students. A link to this letter was included in the daily strike update for November 1, 2020.
(approximate) 2020-11-01
10 pages
born digital
2020_11_02_captured_Organizing STEM faculty for strike