Staff, Faculty of Color Stand with Campus Protesters

November 20, 2015

An open letter from staff and faculty of color at Oberlin College and Conservatory:

To the students at Missouri State, Yale, Ithaca, Claremont McKenna and elsewhere: As you have raised your voices against racism to demand better, we have been overcome by heartbreak and inspiration. It is heartbreaking that in 2015 Black and other students of color still encounter racial insensitivity, invalidation, intimidation and even violence on the campuses that promised to be enlightened and welcoming places of learning for them. Yet it has been inspiring and humbling to witness your courage and unity in confronting not just your campus cultures but also your most powerful officers to demand accountability for all students. It is outrageous that it took putting yourselves and your bodies on the line to compel the changes that we’re now seeing. We extend our respect and solidarity, as you are not just working to improve conditions on your campuses, but to create a better world.

To our Black and other students of color at Oberlin: These events have resonated profoundly for us, as surely they have for you. For many of us, supporting, advocating for and counseling students struggling to find their place in what can be a wearisome racial environment has been a continuous theme in our employment here. We care deeply about your education and success, yet recognize that the culture of elite colleges like Oberlin — what the sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva has called “historically white colleges and universities” — can demand much more of you than it does of itself to be truly diverse and inclusive. Having once been students ourselves, it is disheartening and painful to realize that, in many areas, so little has changed. That said, we have also been continually inspired by your resolve to speak up, support one another and work toward a vision of a more just and equitable community. We celebrate your activism as a continuation of longtime struggles.

To the larger Oberlin community: We are proud of our institution’s history and glad that “diversity” is one of our campus’ core values, but let’s not be complacent. Diversity as a goal is empty if it is not informed by an acknowledgment of racism and commitment to ending it, by all of us. Otherwise, recruiting students, staff and faculty of color is meaningless beyond having colorful brochures and web sites. When someone vandalizes the campus with racist graffiti, let’s not simply tell the targeted students to ignore it but take seriously the fear and pain that such incidents produce, understand their cumulative effect when they occur repeatedly and condemn the actions as attacks on the entire community. When students approach us with their experiences of racial alienation, instead of dismissing their stories, let’s consider what actions we can take to change the culture. And let’s make sure that disrespect and invalidation do not remain routine experiences of our minority staff and faculty and acknowledge that the “invisible labor” they perform is itself a symptom of systemic racism.

While the current unrest on campuses arises from ongoing challenges in higher education to promote and achieve diversity, it is also informed by recent developments that have lain bare the persistence of racial inequality in America. We are in a moment where we can neither afford to deny our failures to achieve equality and justice nor rest in our pursuit of these goals.

– Thomas Abeyta, Senior Associate Director of Admissions

– Zeinab Abul-Magd, Associate Professor of History

– Ehrai Adams, Assistant Director Office of Wellness

– Dio Aldridge, Africana Community Coordinator, MRC

– Yveline Alexis, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies

– Kazim Ali, Associate Professor and Director of Creative Writing

– Tanya Aydelott, Assistant Director of Admissions

– Rick Baldoz, Associate Professor of Sociology

– Adrian Bautista, Associate Dean of Campus Life

– Marsha Lynn Bragg, Assistant Director of Web Communications, Office of Communications

– Lisa Ann Brlas, Administrative Assistant, Office of Financial Aid

– Pam Brooks, Jane and Eric Nord Associate Professor and Chair of Africana Studies

– Naomi Campa, Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics

– Ana Cara, Chair and Professor of Hispanic Studies

– Howard Chambers, Facilities Supervisor, Service Building

– Bonnie Cheng, Associate Professor of Art History and EAS

– Ron Cheung, Associate Professor of Economics

– Johnny Coleman, Professor of Africana Studies and Studio Art

– Ana Maria Diaz Burgos, Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies

– Peter Dominguez, Professor of Jazz Studies and Double Bass

– Isabella Dueñas, Program Houses Area Coordinator, Res Ed

– Debra El-Amin, Clinical Director and Staff Psychologist, Counseling Center

– Eric S. Estes, Vice President and Dean of Students

– Andres Fernandez, Assistant Dean of Studies

– Jessica Ford, Major Gifts Officer

– Meredith Gadsby, Associate Professor of Africana Studies

– Meena Ghaziasgar, Director of Alumni Relations

– Lisa Godbolt, Client Support Analyst, CIT

– Isadora Grevan de Carvalho, Visiting Assistant Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies

– Brenda Grier-Miller, Associate Dean of Academic Services

– Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón, Visiting Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies

– Fredara M. Hadley, Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology

– Dana Hamdan, Assistant Director for Student Engagement, Career Center

– Tabassum Haque, Special Projects Researcher, Office of the Dean of Arts & Sciences

– Jesse Hernandez, Associate Director of Admissions

– Roberto Hoyle, Visiting Instructor of Computer Science

– Jason Hudson, Director of Wellness and Student Athlete Services

– Yumi Ijiri, Professor of Physics

– Kimberly Jackson Davidson, Associate Dean of Students

– Caroline Jackson Smith, Professor of Theater and Africana Studies

– Christopher Jenkins, Assistant Dean for Academic Support, Conservatory of Music

– Gillian Johns, Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies

– Eboni A. Johnson, OC ’97, Reference & Instruction Librarian, OC Libraries

– S. Marina Jones, Faculty-in-Residence and Lecturer of German

– David Kamitsuka, Associate Dean of the Curriculum, Arts & Sciences, and Professor of Religion

– Joy Karega, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition

– Shozo Kawaguchi, Associate Dean of Community Life

– Jiyul Kim, Visiting Assistant Professor of History

– Gunnar Kwakye, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

– Leslie Kwakye, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

– Shelley Lee, Associate Professor of History and Comparative American Studies

– Rosalinda H. Linares, Reference & Instruction Librarian, OC Libraries

– Sean Mair OC ’09, Concert Sound, Student Union

– Shane McCrae, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing

– Rostom Mesli, Postdoctoral Fellow in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies

– Ann Mickel, Administrative Assistant, Office of the Registrar

– A.G. Miller, Associate Professor of Religion

– Pablo Mitchell, Associate Dean of Faculty Development, Arts & Sciences, and Professor of History

– Jan Miyake, OC ’96, Associate Professor of Music Theory

– Stephanie Mora Hernández, OC ’13, Returned Fellow, Oberlin Shansi

– Pipo Nguyen-duy, Professor of Studio Art

– Tamika Nunley, Assistant Professor of History

– Afia Ofori-Mensa, Director, Office of Undergraduate Research and Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative American Studies and Africana Studies

– Willis Okech Oyugi, Visiting Assistant Professor of History

– Vannessa Pelaez-Barrios, Lecturer Hispanic Studies and Director of La Casa Hispánica

– Joo Won Park, Visiting Assistant Professor of TIMARA

– Swapna Pathak, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies

– Andrew Pau, Assistant Professor of Music Theory

– RaShelle Peck, Director and Faculty-in-Residence, Afrikan Heritage House

– Gina Perez, Professor of Comparative American Studies

– Charles Peterson, Associate Professor of Africana Studies

– Anna Phung, LGBTQ Community Coordinator, MRC

– Baron Pineda, Associate Professor of Anthropology

– Trecia Pottinger, Bonner Scholars Program Director, BCSL

– Alysia Ramos, Assistant Professor of Dance