This February, Whitman promoted a variety of Black History Month events for faculty and staff. These events included presentations of Black history and African colonial history, a faculty panel discussion, Whitman Black Student Union’s Black Voices Project and a Women of Color Voices haircare event for students of color. Whitman also sent out educational resources to the student body and encouraged students to engage with affinity groups for people of color on campus. While these efforts appear well-intentioned, Whitman’s vocal support for Black students and faculty in February struck a performative tone for many on campus.
In July 2020, Black, Indigenous, people of color and allies at Whitman wrote “Results May Vary,” an online zine turned Wire op-ed addressing a new “Whitman Inclusion Task Force.” These students argued that similar past task forces had not met the demands of students of color.
“The new task force has requested BIPOC students, who’s emotional labor has been exploited for years, to answer their questions regarding ‘diversity and inclusion’ at Whitman,” The authors wrote.
The students presented a list of demands to the administration with the purported goal of “creating the anti-racist campus we are all working towards.” In April 2020, these same students compiled a list of emails from administration which, they argue, proved that Whitman disregarded the safety of Black students who were the victims of hate crimes.
In 2021, a Wire opinion piece argued that Whitman’s administration continued to ignore and disregard the voices of students of color who presented concerns and offered ideas for improvement. The piece stated that none of the demands laid out in “Results May Vary” had been met.
“Whitman College claims to be an ‘anti-racist institution,’ but the school refuses to listen to the voices of those severely impacted by its racist environment, arguably making Whitman an institution that upholds and maintains white supremacist values,” Alanna Sherman, a Wire opinion writer, wrote in the 2021 piece.
Current students and faculty continue to ask Whitman to effectively address anti-Blackness on campus and beyond.
Aaliyah-Ari Howard is a student programming assistant at the Third Space Center, president of Women of Color Voices and vice president of Whitman’s Black Student Union. Howard spoke about working alongside other students to organize Black History Month programming. The Third Space Center and BSU organized almost every Black History Month event at Whitman this February. Whitman does not pay student club leaders for the labor of organizing programming such as the events Howard and others put together. However, Whitman does fund efforts in other ways. The Third Space Center, which opened this year, seeks to be a safe space for students of color and is a hub for many clubs to organize in.
“I definitely think a lot of the experiences that I’ve had with administration specifically… It’s a lot of performative support,” Howard said.
Howard also discussed bias reporting, Whitman’s system that calls on students to report “incidents or behaviors that negatively impacted” them “based on their age, ancestry, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, military status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or veteran status.” A bias report is reviewed by Director of Equity and Compliance Cassandre Beccai, Senior Associate Dean of Students Juli Dunn and Associate Dean of Faculty Development Helen Kim. If these individuals decide that the incident violates Whitman policy or the law, they will begin a grievance process. While the bias reporting system seeks to “document bias, monitor the campus climate, and intervene to de-escalate community concerns,” Howard says that the system is ineffective.
“I’ve been here a year and a half and I’ve never submitted a bias report. Have I never experienced a microaggression or a direct act of racism? No, I have. But I personally didn’t want to report it … A bias report leads to you having to answer questions and you having to defend why you feel unsafe. And having to defend why you feel unsafe is the craziest thing that people don’t understand, especially when it comes to racism,” Howard said.
Dr. Ayondela McDole joined Whitman’s Indigeneity, Race and Ethnic Studies department as a faculty fellow this fall. Dr. McDole spoke at the faculty panel “Some of Us Are Brave: A Celebration of Blackness” in late February. While Dr. McDole is new to Whitman, she sympathizes with students who have been criticizing administration.
“There is a lot of tokenism here, like: ‘This is your duty.’ [With] me being visiting, I can’t speak to that personally … But I see that for the students’ side,” Dr. McDole said.
Dr. McDole also discussed the six Black professors who joined Whitman’s faculty this Fall. While this step increases campus diversity, Dr. McDole says, just hiring these professors is not enough.
“It’s admirable to have that initiative, but you have to get the whole school on board, right? You can’t just be like: ‘Oh, here come these six or seven black people.’ When we interact with staff and admins and stuff like that, everyone has to also be wanting us to be around and that ain’t necessarily the case. There’s a lot of people who are adjusting to us being here. I don’t think they’ve necessarily gotten the school ready. Even though it may benefit the school, they haven’t sold it to the staff … A few of my friends have had some hard times,” Dr. McDole said.
In the past year, multiple incidents have led students to question whether administration prioritizes the safety of students of color on campus.
In November, the Glover Alston Intercultural Center was closed for the 2024-25 school year due to accessibility concerns during construction of the Junior-Senior Village apartments. The GAIC was established to “facilitate Whitman’s commitment to sustaining a diverse community.” The GAIC offered a food pantry, a free clothing closet, contraceptives and other resources for any students who needed extra support. These resources were relocated to Reid Campus Center, Room 208 as a result of the GAIC’s closure.
Later in November, the morning after Trump was reelected, student protesters splashed red paint on Memorial Building and chalked messages criticizing Board of Trustees chair Joe Davis’ work for the Boston Consulting Group and administration’s rejection of forming a committee to explore divestment from military corporations. The paint caused an estimated $4,000 in damage to Memorial Building. Whitman threatened these protesters with police action. This severe response prompted many students and faculty to criticize Whitman for putting students of color, who are disproportionately targeted by police violence, at risk. Critics charged Whitman with hypocrisy, stating that the threat of law enforcement does not align with the college’s vow to support marginalized students from systems of oppression during their time at Whitman.
Early February, the Trump administration declared all race-conscious student programming, resources and financial aid illegal, threatening to investigate and rescind funding of any institution that does not comply. Officials in Washington state recommended schools not to take action, as the order does not change federal law. Shortly after, in an email to the student body, President Sarah Bolton vowed not to make changes to operations or policies.
“While we will follow any new binding legal rulings, we may also participate in lawsuits to challenge any potentially unlawful orders if they directly impact our mission,” Bolton stated in her Feb. 18 email.
More recently, President Sarah Bolton’s budget proposal sparked outcry from students. Whitman’s Power & Privilege symposium began in 2006 as a student organized teach-in to address campus racism when two students were caught doing blackface at a Whitman party. By 2013, P&P was a full day student-led lecture series. P&P continues to be promoted by Whitman as an integral component of Black History Month programming. However, Sarah Bolton’s new budget reduction proposal includes reducing the P&P budget by “$0 – $5,000.” The proposal states that “Impacts of budget reductions may — but also may not — include the following: symposium quality compromised, potentially reduced engagement with the symposium, and reduced support for minoritized student communities.”
Tebraie Banda-Johns, the Director of the Intercultural Center, says that he understands some student concerns regarding performativity.
“I would love to see more joint social gatherings centering Black culture and identity amongst students, staff and faculty. Additionally, more education about microaggressions, cultural competence, and cultural pluralism is always a plus which I think will help move the campus community towards the goal of inclusive excellence,” Banda-Johns said in an email to The Wire.
Dr. John Johnson, Whitman’s vice president for inclusive excellence, declined to comment for this article.
Many concerns about administration’s inaction regarding anti-Blackness remain unaddressed. However, many clubs on campus — such as Black Student Union, Women of Color Voices, Whitman African Students Association and Queer Trans Students of Color continue to provide education and community on campus.
