‘Institutional racism’ allegedly a problem at elite private school
Students at Wells College, an elite, private liberal arts academy in western-central New York State, recently “occupied” a school building in protest of the alleged rampant racism and discrimination on the college’s campus.
Placing themselves in the lobby outside of the president’s office, students were “protesting a recent faculty hiring and broader issues related to the support of minority students and staff,” according to The Auburn Citizen.
Students were also rallying against alleged “inherent and institutional racism displayed in the hiring of a new tenure-track position for the college,” The Citizen reported.
Students vowed not to disperse until the president of the university, Jonathan Gibralter, “meets with the group and works out their demands,” according to a press release from the occupying students.
From the report:
At the center of the protests is a visiting assistant criminal justice professor, Shilpashri Karbhari, who was passed over in the recent hiring decision. Karbhari declined to comment when contacted by The Citizen. A poster adorned with the words “Justice for Karbhari” was taped to the front of the building. Sayings touting representation and other phrases were scrawled on the ground leading to the building’s entrance.
The college conducted a national search for a tenure-track spot in the criminal justice program, the press release said. The press release said the committee running the search was composed entirely of white faculty.
“Though the woman the committee selected was ultimately a woman of color, Wells College choose not to support their current, much loved faculty of color in order to fulfill a diversity statistic,” the press release said. The press release also claimed a “lack of support and bias from administration and colleagues” had caused former faculty members of color to flee the college.
The occupying students, whom President Gibralter said he “look[ed] forward to working with,” demanded that Karbhari “be given a four-year full-time contract with the college, all committees involved in faculty hiring processes undergo diversity and inclusion training and at least two students are added to every faculty hiring committee.”
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