Dear seniors,
Over the weekend I received letters from many students who are concerned that the College has denied a Native American student the opportunity to read the land acknowledgment at commencement. There has been some disturbing miscommunication about this issue and I want to clarify our plans for commencement and explain the decisions that have been made about the ceremony.
The College does not yet have an official land acknowledgment. We have been working in good faith with the Native American Student Association (NASA) on this issue for several months. We have also consulted with Native American leaders at other colleges and universities to understand best practices for the process of developing the land acknowledgment and its language and usage. The board of trustees has been engaged in these discussions, and we are planning to bring a draft land acknowledgment to the board for consideration at its first meeting in the fall. We take the issue of a land acknowledgment seriously.
Now let me say a bit about commencement. Commencement is our most formal and cherished ceremony at Wellesley. We have been working with the senior class council for months to make this ceremony a joyful one. The senior class council asked if a land acknowledgment could be offered at the beginning of the commencement ceremony. In the spirit of compromise and out of respect for the senior class, we suggested that the senior class presidents incorporate a land acknowledgment on behalf of the senior class as part of their introductory remarks. We did not agree to have an additional speaker give the land acknowledgment as this is not an official acknowledgment.
Much thought and planning goes into these events, and we do not add speakers beyond the traditional program, especially so close to the date. In general, if a senior class council and class want to have a particular student speaker, they are welcome to encourage that student to apply to be the speaker and the senior class council can choose them. That is the process we have for selecting student speakers for commencement, and the one we will keep.
The misinformation that is being presented on this issue, suggesting that the identity of a speaker is the reason for our decision, is inaccurate and ignores the hard work that has been done on all sides regarding developing an official land acknowledgment.
This has been a challenging year, and I look forward to coming together in just a few days to celebrate the evergreen class of 2021. I also look forward to continuing the important work that we are doing with NASA, the trustees, and others, to develop an official land acknowledgment for the College. We deeply respect and value NASA’s perspective and leadership on this issue and will involve them in the official announcement of the land acknowledgment at the appropriate time, once the board has approved it for the College.
Sincerely,
Paula A. Johnson
President
