11/6/2020
Haverford College Mail - [Hc-staff-broadcast] Nov 6 Update from President Raymond
Elizabeth Jones-Minsinger
[Hc-staff-broadcast] Nov 6 Update from President Raymond
Wendy Raymond
Fri, Nov 6, 2020 at 4:13 PM
To: hc-students-broadcast , hc-faculty-broadcast , hc-staff-broadcast
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,
Yesterday, Thursday afternoon, Board of Managers leadership, my Senior Staff colleagues, and I met with the strike
organizers in a two-hour-plus meeting that also included hundreds of staff, student, and faculty observers. We also
recorded the meeting and will make that and a transcript available shortly.
At the meeting, students provided additional information about their demands, and I was able to ask clarifying questions
and provide insights into what is possible, who at Haverford might have an important interest relating to each demand
(such as faculty control of grading), and what legal or other limits exist. Students also communicated new, additional
demands. I will be providing the strike organizers a revised response, which will include additional specificity, timelines,
budget information, and accountability, by 9 p.m. this evening. I will send my revised response to you all as well.
At the meeting I also announced these immediate steps:
As of today, I have stepped down as chief diversity officer and welcome Linda Strong-Leek as interim Chief
Diversity Officer for about one month, with a plan to move to an interim co-CDO structure. That will mean two
people sharing the CDO responsibility, as of December 1, on an interim basis. The second person will be a staff
member of color currently in the Dean’s Office, with the intentional design of having these individuals in academics
and student life.
The Board of Managers will implement an Anti-Racism Inclusive Accountability Group charged with verifying
assessing institutional progress toward stated goals. It will be populated with students, faculty, staff, alumni, Board
members as well as outside experts, and we will welcome continued dialogue with students about the specific
structure and role(s) of this group.
The College will designate a student living-learning space for BIPOC and FGLI students no later than the next
academic year.
A wholesale reorganization of the DEI work within the Dean's Office is underway and will continue, designed to
become a sustainable organizational support structure both for ongoing work of value to the student body as well
as many of the changes/initiatives currently under discussion.
$10,000 of the new '3126 Fund' will be immediately allocated to the Interim CDO, and, once named, to the Interim
Co-CDO in the Dean’s office, for use toward BIPOC/FGLI initiatives, with BIPOC/FGLI student input.
The above and additional details will be included in our response this evening. I have asked the strike organizers to
respond to me by 3 p.m. Sunday, November 8, so that we will all be able to continue engaging in the signficant anti-racist
work before us and see the academic semester through to its conclusion.
Sincerely,
Wendy
Wendy Raymond
President
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=3564c10b19&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1682647064441964769&simpl=msg-f%3A16826470644…
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