Dear Wellesley community,
There are times when plans developed with the best of intentions do not achieve their hoped-for results. A little over a week ago, Senior Leadership and I put in place an interim policy on planning demonstrations to ensure the safety of the Wellesley community. We did this in good faith to prepare for possible scenarios that could put our students, faculty, and staff at risk.
I strongly support the right of our community members to make their voices heard through peaceful protest. We are—all of us—deeply committed to the free exchange of ideas, including those that are the most controversial. As Wellesley’s president, it is my responsibility to promote these values while protecting the safety of our community and ensuring the continuity of our educational mission. It is a constant balancing act of critical priorities.
After hearing thoughtful feedback last week from concerned students, faculty, and staff, I have realized how important it is that the community has confidence in the process used to develop and implement a policy with the impact of this one. Only then can the policy effectively achieve its intended benefit.
It is with these thoughts in mind that I have decided to suspend the interim policy on planning demonstrations. We will restart our process to ensure community involvement in the development of our demonstration planning policy.
Senior Leadership and I have already begun to reach out to College Government and other interested students and faculty. In the next few weeks, we will formalize a more inclusive process for finalizing a new policy by the end of the fall semester. In the meantime, recognizing that advance planning can be critical to a safe and successful protest, we continue to urge all who intend to demonstrate to discuss their plans with the Dean of Students or Campus Police.
I look forward to working with you in an expeditious way to develop and implement a demonstration planning policy that addresses safety while embracing the long and valued tradition of peaceful protest at Wellesley College.
Sincerely,
Paula A. Johnson
