To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Our Approach to Addressing Discrimination and Supporting our Community
Date: November 22, 2023
Given the extensive media coverage of the review of Wellesley and other colleges and universities by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), I wanted to share some context and to let our community know about our ongoing efforts to build an inclusive educational environment.
On November 16, the OCR notified Wellesley that it will be conducting a review of the College in response to a complaint filed by the Brandeis Center (which is not affiliated with Brandeis University).
The OCR will be investigating Wellesley’s response to a recent incident about which we have previously shared information. The complaint also refers to a teach-in during which several Wellesley faculty provided historical context and scholarly perspective on the Israel-Hamas war. We are cooperating fully with the investigation.
The OCR is a neutral agency tasked with ensuring that higher education institutions are complying with federal civil rights laws. It’s important to know that the OCR’s decision to investigate does not presume Wellesley has violated any of these laws. This is an active area for OCR review, with more than 50 open investigations of educational institutions’ handling of Title VI complaints.
Title VI protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, and the OCR has explained that this protection “extends to students who experience discrimination, including harassment, based on their actual or perceived (i) shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics; or (ii) citizenship or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity.”
We embrace freedom of expression for everyone in our community, which is critical to a liberal arts education and to a democracy. And, I want to be clear: Wellesley College condemns antisemitism, along with anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination, and any other form of hate. No one at Wellesley should feel unsafe, and we will not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind on our campus.
The significant work we are doing to foster an inclusive educational environment continues unabated, and I am writing to update our community on the different ways in which we are moving forward.
Safety
Campus safety remains our highest priority. We are working closely with our public safety partners to ensure the physical safety of our community in a way that fits with our campus culture.
We also want our community to be aware of our well-established policies and processes for reporting incidents of discrimination, including anonymous reporting. We encourage students, faculty, and staff who have experienced antisemitism or anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, or anti-Palestinian prejudice or hate to reach out to our director of nondiscrimination initiatives and Title IX coordinator and ADA/504 coordinator. In addition to the Student Life resources mentioned below, all community members can reach out to our Ombuds Office.
Supporting students
Our Student Life team and partners across campus have been deeply focused on making sure all our students feel safe, are connected to each other, and are supported. We are bringing in an expert in restorative justice principles and practices to enhance our ability to build a community that supports all students.
Our faith leaders in the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) have played a central role in our response to events since the attacks of October 7. In addition to weekly Jum’ah and Shabbat services on Fridays, ORSL has been holding an extra open/drop-in gathering for both the Muslim Life and Jewish Life communities each week. College chaplains are setting aside extra time for one-on-one counseling and pastoral care, and we have seen an increase in students seeking that support.
We are committed to making sure our Student Life and ORSL teams have the resources they need during this time, and we are increasing budgets and adding staff hours where necessary.
Demonstration policy
We are working with student leaders in College Government and elsewhere to ensure that students are aware of our demonstration policy. The policy’s intent is to ensure that sufficient security is in place to keep everyone safe, including those who are demonstrating, and that demonstrations are conducted in a way that does not suppress others’ rights or impact the College’s ability to fulfill its educational mission.
We are developing a resource students can consult to help protect themselves from doxxing, which the Dean of Students will soon share. It is important to recognize that once social media content has been posted, in many cases there is no way to control the responses or remove it from online spaces.
Engaging our community
To address the many questions and concerns I received after the incident named in the OCR investigation, I communicated to all parents to affirm our commitment to safety. In response to inquiries from Jewish families and alumnae, I held webinars with these groups to discuss what we are doing to protect and support all students on campus. Dean of Students Sheilah Horton and I also met with members of a student organization dedicated to supporting Muslim students on campus. We plan to schedule a webinar session with alumnae and families who have expressed concerns about the well-being of our Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab students. In all of these conversations, we have listened and learned, and shared what we are doing to work against any form of antisemitism as well as anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinan, and anti-Arab hate.
Supporting teaching and learning
To supplement the ongoing internal training offered by our director of nondiscrimination initiatives, we are working with an external Title VI and civil rights expert to develop and offer training focused on the prevention of discrimination and harassment based on religion and shared ancestry. We will offer this training to all faculty and staff next month.
Our associate provost for equity and inclusion is also providing instructors with resources and pedagogical strategies to discuss complex and difficult topics. She and our associate dean of students for inclusion and engagement have hosted a faculty session on resolving conflict in the classroom, and they are planning additional sessions in the future.
Fulfilling our academic mission
We are continuously focused on living up to our mission as a place of learning, and we plan to work with faculty to invite additional speakers in the spring semester who can contribute to the multilayered understanding this complex topic requires.
We clearly have more work ahead of us, and we don’t have all the answers. What we do have is the resolve to ensure that all our students can thrive in an educational environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of hate. We will continue to listen to our community, and to learn from each other.
As we enter a season traditionally marked by peace, hope, and togetherness, the news carries daily reminders of conflict all over the world. We mourn the mounting numbers of Palestinian civilian deaths, and we welcome the news of a temporary cease-fire and an agreement to release some of the hostages taken on October 7.
During this time of global strife, let us strive to be a community where hate has no place, and where we can continue to engage one another with curiosity, compassion, and empathy. I am very grateful to you all for your dedication to Wellesley’s mission, to our students, and to each other.
I wish you and your loved ones a restful and peaceful Thanksgiving holiday.
