Editor’s note: on November 6, President Wendy Raymond sent Haverford students an email containing her revised list of responses to the demands of the strike organizers. They differ from her original response in scope and depth. For readability, some extraneous material has been omitted from this document. The administration’s full responses, including responsible groups, timelines, budgets, and progress for each item, may be viewed on the “Anti-Racism Commitments and Strike Responses 2.0” spreadsheet.
Update 11/11: the above spreadsheet has been renamed “Anti-Racism Commitments 2.1” and contains a somewhat modified version of the content listed in this article.
Demand 1
Demand 1A: “We demand that Haverford College return institutional land back to Native nations.”
Administration response: No. “The College cannot return institutional land without ceasing its educational mission as currently realized.”
Demand 1B: “If institutional land cannot be returned to Native nations, Haverford College should provide free higher education to Native students on their traditional homelands as landbased reparations. […] Establish a reparations program for any descendents of Native Peoples original to Pennsylvania state territories. […] Announce that any individual Lenape individual or descendant of Native Peoples original to PA state territories heritage will be given preferential admission consideration. Upon admission, said individuals will receive a full-tuition scholarship, including room and board.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “The Office of Admission will strengthen recruitment and enrollment of Native peoples [and] establish a formal relationship with College Horizons, a nationally-known organization supporting Native students in their path to higher education. The Office of Admission will articulate admission preference for students from the Lenni-Lenape nation and students descending from Native peoples original to Pennsylvania state territories.”
Demand 1D [sic]: “The College continues to profit off of the romanticized story of the Penn Treaty Elm in their admissions programming and through on-campus tours.”
Administration response: Yes. “The College will ensure that programming and materials reflect the appropriate context about the Penn Treaty Elm (and its romanticized narrative), including a new plaque at the base of the tree.”
Demand 1E: [Indigenous Communities]
Administration response: “We will formalize a Land Acknowledgment for Haverford College, to be included on our website, in formal College materials, and during College events, and will explore avenues for dialogue with the Lenape and other indigenous communities.”
Demand 2
Demand 2A: “We demand removal of President Raymond as “Chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”
Administration response: Yes. “As of 11/6, President Raymond stepped down as CDO”
Demand 2B: “Haverford must, instead, hire a BIPOC Chief Diversity Officer—vetted by students and faculty of color on campus—who is committed to their interests rather than the college’s.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “President Raymond will convene by December 1 a CDO Advisory Group of students, faculty, and staff to recommend the best way forward for a CDO structure for Haverford. This will include budget and organizational support, and how to fill that role at Haverford, with the goal of appointing a new CDO or instituting a model that does not include a CDO (e.g., DEI Council) effective no later than July 1, 2021.”
Demand 2C: “We…ask that you release a public apology for self-appointing yourself for [the CDO] role as a white woman. […] We request that rather than appointing another Chief of DEI without any student feedback, that the position remain unfilled until proper student consultation has been taken into account.”
Administration response: No. “We need an interim CDO to continue institutional progress. Provost Linda Strong-Leek will serve as interim CDO for about one month, with a plan to move to an interim co-CDO structure, that is two people sharing the CDO responsibility, as of December 1. The second person will be a staff member of color currently in the Dean’s Office, with the intentional design of having these individuals in academics and student life. White individuals have seen demonstrated success serving as CDOs; President Raymond’s interim service does not merit an apology.”
Demand 2D: “The students on this advisory group should be included in the decision making process as to who is hired. The same committee of students that will be in charge of hiring the Chief of DEI will be tasked with implementing the funding approved for this position.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “Students would be in any CDO search committee. Specific structures and individuals selected will be recommended by the CDO Advisory Group which will include students.”
Demand 3
Demand 3: “We demand that you follow in the footsteps of Swarthmore College and cancel classes on Election Day and provide paid leave for college employees.”
Administration response: Yes. “Classes were canceled, staff were given the day off, and hourly (non-exempt) staff who worked on Tuesday, November 3, were paid ‘holiday pay.’”
Demand 4
Demand 4A: “We demand academic leniency for BIPOC and/or FGLI students who are traumatized by the effects of COVID and constant police violence in their communities”
Administration response: Yes. “[The Educational Policy Committee] has agreed to the P/F model from the spring for all students for the fall. Deans and faculty will consider impacts while teaching and guiding students.”
Demand 4B: “We ask that you give full transparency to the community on the actions of reform taken by [the Faculty Affairs and Planning Committee] and [the Committee on Student Standings and Programs]… Openly admit that the CSSP put people on academic warning as a result of the Spring semester and acknowledge that the decision does not reflect trust, concern and respect immediately.”
Administration response: Yes. “CSSP…drafted a letter to the community that will be sent Nov 7 acknowledging that CSSP is part of the problem and needs reform. By Nov. 20, we will clarify all procedures used by CSSP in all 2020-21 student reviews and outline a series of reforms to CSSP that will happen during the 2020-21 academic year. For Fall 2020, we will have full transparency in our processes. CSSP is working to reform the outdated language related to academic warnings, such as that academic warning will be replaced by “academic support” or similar term.”
Demand 4C: “Put in place a framework within CSSP to allow Academic Flexibility Petition or a similar petition for unforeseen events or trauma. […] Provide guidelines to counselors with CAPS to encourage and assist students throughout this process [and] have them work with their dean…to develop an academic plan related to their specific situation.”
Administration response: Yes. “Right now, CSSP has only one of three students appointed to the committee, so CSSP is reluctant to make substantial changes without the full student persepctive [sic] throughout the process. CSSP is willing to speak with other students about this.”
Demand 5
Demand 5: “We demand that the school encourage and protect student participation in supporting direct action […] in the abolition work done by activists on and off campus.”
Administration response: Yes. “The College supports students in living out their values with integrity. I want Haverford to be a place that encourages and supports students to act on their values in service of a more just world, and that includes through direct action.”
Demand 5A: “Providing institutional funding to mutual aid networks within the Bi-Co community and broader Philadelphia.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “As a charitable organization, the College does not provide direct philanthropic support to other organizations. The College would be interested to have students, faculty, and staff who engage with mutual aid networks…relating to student curricular or co-curricular learning…develop specific proposals for bilateral relationships that could include funding dimensions. Such an initiative could receive financial support from a standing department or center, or use discretionary funding. See centrally CPGC funding possibilities.”
Demand 5B: “Opening up unused campus resources to directly support impacted communities in West Philadelphia.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “The CPGC has recently piloted programs that invest directly into communities through remunerating community-based educators, leaders, activists, and nonprofits. CPGC will develop a report on the ways in which their funding supports community organizations and students and to identify new opportunities to advance social justice, consistent with the values articulated in the demands.”
Demand 5C: “Ensuring students who participate in direct action will not be punished for going off campus, but rather set structures in place like expedited COVID-19 testing, sanitation, self-isolation, and quarantine.”
Administration response: Yes. “The College has been providing—and will continue to provide—necessary health-supporting measures for students who engage in protest, including COVID-19 testing and campus isolation spaces. There will be no disciplinary consequences from the College for students engaging in protests provided they meet the College’s health and safety guidelines, including the Travel Policy.”
Demand 5D: “Explicitly naming white supremacist groups and police forces as chief contributors of violence at protests rather than spreading anti-Black tropes of outside agitators that undermine protests against police violence.”
Administration response: Yes. “Done, in Nov 2. communication: ‘I affirm students’ right to protest as called by their consciences, and I understand that students undertake such acts knowing the risks that have been demonstrated around the country where white supremacist groups and police have escalated tensions and promoted—directly and indirectly—violent outcomes.’”
Demand 5E: “To the Board of Managers, we ask that you commit to opening institutional funds to student groups who are providing needed resources to students in the Bi-Co and residents in Philadelphia (an example being Bi-Co Mutual Aid).”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “The Board of Managers affirms the commitments above from the president and realized relevant campus departments.”
Demand 6
Demand 6A: “We demand the institution recognize and resolve that the increased surveillance and policing amongst students in regards to COVID-19 primarily affects students of color, who have always been more prominently surveilled by the campus community.”
Administration response: Yes. “The College is committed to ensuring that its own processes are free from, and have zero tolerance for, bias and will investigate and follow up on any specific concerns and/or issues raised about surveillance or policing of the campus BIPOC community. Students may submit concerns or suggestions via their dean or, if they wish to remain anonymous, through the web-based tip line. I have asked my colleagues in the Operations Planning Group to evaluate and revise our monitoring and response systems around student health and safety so we will be better able to understand the extent and nature of any patterns of bias and then address them. Based on this work, the OPG will produce a detailed report that will be made available to the entire campus.”
Demand 6B: “We expect the college will make Covid-19 reporting data publicly available by Thanksgiving Break.”
Administration response: Yes. “This data will be anonymized to protect the identities of indidviduals [sic].”
Demand 6C: “We also expect the Director of Campus Safety to order officers to end profiling only Black residents of Ardmore and preventing [sic] them from using the campus while White residents are given the benefit of the doubt.”
Administration response: Yes. “Racial profiling of any kind—of members of our campus community or otherwise—is and has been unacceptable and against current policy. This explicit message is and will be conveyed during on-boarding of new officers and reinforced through continuing education programming annually in January.”
Demand 6D: “BIPOC students have been ‘carded’ to prove they are a student. This practice must end immediately, and should Campus Safety officers refuse to comply, they must be removed effective immediately.”
Administration response: Yes. “The College will convene a group of students, faculty, and staff to review procedures regarding asking students for identification. Campus Safety will develop a mechanism whereby incidents of asking for ID will be compiled. This data will inform efforts to guard against racial profiling.”
Demand 7
Demand 7A: “We demand Haverford honor and credit the work of Black women driving institutional change instead of taking credit for their continued labor and erasing their contributions. This includes the work from BSRFI, BSL, ALAS, SWOL, SALT, and AOCC.”
Administration response: Yes. “President Raymond recognizes the extraordinary efforts and commitment to antiracism on the part of Black women and Trans people across the Haverford community and pledges to be attentive and appropriately generous in acknowledging the work of others in all of our collaborations, and expects the same of faculty and staff colleagues.”
Demand 7B: “You need to directly collaborate with Haverford library archivists to ensure institutional memory exists. A project timeline must be set no later than December 18, 2020 and a set digital archive must be in existence by the end of the academic year.”
Administration response: Yes. “The Libraries and Archives are actively working with the Multicultural Alumni Action Group (MAAG), Alumni Affairs, the community, and specifically with BIPOC student-colleagues to more fully illuminate the work of these individuals and, further, to correct and address absences where the records of that work are less evident. Further, Archives is actively collecting and documenting the strike will make that digital archive available at the end of the academic year. Archives invites strike organizers to capture all they are doing via social media outlets and transfer those records to us at the end of the strike for the digital archive.”
Demand 8
Demand 8A [1]: “We demand that the school creates a framework to deal with problematic professors and generates spaces of accountability.”
Administration response: Yes. “FAPC is willing to commit to the students’ timeline of 1/29/2021. FAPC will be developing a statement to that effect and seeking faculty feedback on it immediately, and will bring it to the floor of the emergency faculty meeting scheduled for Wednesday, November 11, 2020.”
Demand 8A [2]: “A body will be formed to receive these reports, elected entirely by the student body and composed of 50% students, 25% faculty, and 25% administrators. Students will be compensated for this work. This body will not be punitive, but will instead communicate concerns to a given professor, make concrete recommendations, and provide resources for how they might change their thinking/behavior moving forward. Should there be multiple reports across multiple semesters, however, with few changes on the professor’s behalf, a formal report will be made to the provost, (new) diversity officer, and department head for that professor. In addition to receiving and reviewing reports, this body will also conduct anonymous course feedback at the end of each quarter with questions specifically asking about the inclusive nature of each Haverford course. A summary of the feedback will then be given to each professor, and they will address any concerns with their class.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “Please see details above. Faculty are working with FAPC on a process that will make more transparent and update methods for engaging with “problematic faculty.” Please see the information above regarding FAPC’s timeline, which includes disucssion [sic] at the Wednesday, November 11, 2020 Faculty Meeting.”
Demand 8B [1]: “We also demand adequate support and protection for both tenure-track and contingent faculty of color, whose expertise is often minimized or ignored and whose labor is exploited.”
Administration response: Yes. “The Provost commits to providing support for both tenure-track and contingent faculty of color. The Provost will meet with tenure-track and contingent faculty of color collectively and individally [sic] to understand their specific needs as they navigate the reappointment and promotion process.”
Demand 8B [2]: “We demand…the reevaluation of tenure and promotion guidelines to center the specific and exceptional kind of work done by BIPOC faculty.”
Administration response: Yes. “Academic Council will continue discussions about reevaluating the tenure and promotion criteria to include all ‘shadow work’ and other non-traditional forms of scholarship. This work must take place within faculty governance as only faculty can alter the tenure and promotion processes.”
Demand 9
Demand 9A: “We demand that the school continue to pay the students who are participating in the strike.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “Student workers who elect not to work will be eligible to receive up to 20 hours of compensation for scheduled but lost work. […] The 20 hours of compensation is not limited to a finite timeframe within the strike, but students will not receive compensation for more than 20 hours that they did not work.”
Demand 9B: “Our supervisors should not be pressuring us to return to work during this time.”
Administration response: Yes. “Supervisors will accommodate students who choose not to work, with no questions asked.”
Demand 9C: “POC staff, especially in the Dining Center, Facilities, and the Coop, should be paid overtime for the duration of the strike.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “The College will continue to pay overtime rates to all hourly employees who work overtime during the strike or otherwise, consistent with state and federal law.”
Demand 10
Demand 10A: “We demand that no student, staff or faculty partaking in the strike face financial, academic or professional retribution, or penalties of any kind.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “Professors have discretion about whether and how to accommodate striking students in their individual courses. […] In the event that individuals fall short of our health, safety, educational, or other rules and guidelines, the College pursues remedies that seek to address the concern within a humane and restorative framework.”
Demand 10B: “We need a firm commitment—not up to individual faculty…that students who have been participating in the strike will not receive ANY academic penalties.”
Administration response: No. “Many faculty are working to accomodate students, and EPC has agreed to a pass/fail model for Fall 2020 that mirrors that process for Spring 2020. Students may take a pass/fail in any class this fall with the option to uncover the grade, which should alleviate the worry of grades or retaliation. Individual faculty do have final authority over whether or not they forgive or provide alternate assignments for striking students as a consequence of their decision to strike.”
Demand 11
Demand 11: “Through purported academic rigor, the weaponization of academic forced leave, a wheelchair unfriendly campus, and inaccessible, white-dominated mental health services, disabled students are continuously pushed out of our community. Many BIPOC students who are disabled, impaired, and/or neurodivergent face violence from professors, administrators, and CAPS faculty.”
Administration response: N/A. “Access & Disability Services (ADS), Facilities, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), and other departments will be key partners in making tangible change in support of disabled students. ADS and Facilities conducted an accessibility deficiency survey of our campus and have been making annual investments in accessibility based on the survey’s recommendations. There is more work to be done. Facilities and ADS will coordinate to make additional priority improvements to the physical accessibility of campus next year.”
Demand 11A [1]: “A more representative CAPS staff, whose practice is informed by the racial and economic origins of mental illness and the acknowledgment of structural disparities in diagnoses and healing services.”
Administration response: Yes. “CAPS will foreground the priority of reflecting our diverse student body in its current search for a senior CAPS staff member and in its ongoing selection of trainees.”
Demand 11A [2]: “By the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester, the entire center must begin recurring ‘culturally responsive therapy’ or similar training and consultations.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “CAPS will convene conversations with students about the changes they are seeking and how best to pursue them in order to co-create an optimal approach.”
Demand 11A [3]: “By the beginning of the Spring 2021 semester, the college should place paid student representatives on the hiring committee for CAPS counselors and increase transparency between students and administration through every step of the CAPS hiring process.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “Students will be invited to serve on search committees in CAPS but will not be compensated for this voluntary role. Student reps on the committee will be able to share relavant [sic] (non-confidential) information about the hiring process.”
Demand 11B [1]: “The abolition of mandated reporting of mental health details to police, CPS, and/or administrative authorities.”
Administration response: No. “Pennsylvania licensing laws require CAPS staff to be ‘mandated reporters’ for issues involving child and elder abuse. CAPS also must report information if there is clear and present danger to self and/or others. Within these strictures, CAPS will only report when absolutely necessary and, whenever possible, with students’ consent.”
Demand 11B [2]: “By Spring semester 2021, specific guidelines for what is subject to mandated reporting at Haverford College should be publicized. There should be separate workshops for both mandated reporters and students on what mandatory reporting entails to prevent overreporting and reporting without consent. Students should be informed of their right to use hypotheticals to avoid mandatory reporting. Students should always be given 24 hours (or more) of prior notice before a report is made.”
Administration response: Yes. “Information about mandated reporting will be made available through a variety of channels and formats.”
Demand 11C [1]: “No requirements for verification or documentation from “a licensed professional” for academic and housing accommodations as this is exclusionary to low-income, BIPOC students.”
Administration response: No. “ADS considers each student’s history, experience, and accommodation request. While students are a vital source of information, some accommodations legally require documentation. If providing documentation is a financial hardship, ADS works with the student to help fund testing, if testing is necessary, and/or assist in finding a health care professional for an appointment/evaluation.”
Demand 11C [2]: “Haverford should provide completely free access to diagnostic assessments and subsequently necessary resources for those seeking accommodations, from a health service provider of the students choice beginning Spring 2021.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “If providing documentation is a financial hardship, ADS works with the student to help fund testing, if testing is necessary, and/or assist in finding a health care professional for an appointment/evaluation.”
Demand 11C [3]: “Accommodations should be provided to low-income and BIPOC students by increasing accessibility on campus across the board by the beginning of Fall semester 2021. This acknowledgement should look like but is not limited to:
- Free, regular, wheelchair-accessible transportation from the apartments to up-campus.
- Less strict attendance policies and leniency for late assignments. This could be implemented by including mental health as a legitimate reason for absence or lateness.
- Increased transparency of the results of the accessibility deficiency surveys.
- Requirement of content warnings from professors for readings that include anti-Blackness, slavery, r*pe, abuse, fatphobia, etc. and generally more [Accessible Educational Materials].
- The widespread initiation of programming related to disability culture on campus.
- Scholarships specifically for disabled people that aren’t determined by GPA.
- Financial support for a completely student-run Project LETS chapter on campus.
“For further demands see SWDCC SUA’s demands.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “This a wide array of new demands that individually need more time and conversation. […] We wish to assess and partner with a wide variety of BIPOC and FGLI students across all communities and identities, as well as offices and groups, to bring more access, diverse programming, workshops to the campus.”
Demand 11D [1]: “Consequences for professors who neglect necessary accommodations for students.”
Administration response: Yes. “Faculty are required to implement the accommodations identified in a student’s accommodation letter. […] If a student prefers not to speak directly with a professor on their own, ADS can assist in notifying professors of a student’s accommodations and/or meet with students and their professor to discuss accommodations. The provost…will ensure that there is accountability for faculty who provide inadequate attention to this responsibility.”
Demand 11D [2]: “There should be an increase in consideration for accessibility by all Haverford professors. This should be encouraged by a recurring faculty training led by experts who embody the diversity of experience held within the disability community beginning Fall semester 2021.”
Administration response: Yes. “The Provost’s Office commits to providing training for faculty led by experts who embody the diversity of the disability community by Fall semester 2021.”
Demand 11E [1]: “Campus Safety should never be called during a mental health crisis, unless the student expressly consented prior.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “CAPS will review the use of Campus Safety during mental health emergencies and explore alternatives to ensure that students are able to access the on-call counseling services they need, in a safe way.”
Demand 11E [2]: “The college shall create a crisis intervention team composed of professional counselors, rather than law enforcement or campus safety.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “In consultation with CAPS, we commit to a review of policy with an eye toward redesigning the response team structure, providing appropriate training so that every first responder has the appropriate understanding of crisis intervention that makes the handoff to the Counselor-on-Call better for students.”
Demand 12
Demand 12: “We demand more robust aid and support for queer and trans students of color.”
Administration response: Yes. “A Task Force on Retention and Persistence, with leadership from Associate Director of Institutional Research Kevin Iglesias and Professors Matt McKeever and Ben Le, is in the midst of a detailed study of student experiences, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students, in order to identify causes of student attrition and ways Haverford can better support thriving.”
Demand 12A: “An increase of LGBTQ+ CAPS therapists.”
Administration response: Yes. “Consistent with (11 A 10/29) above, CAPS will prioritize the identification of candidates with demonstrated successes in support of LGBTQ+ clients in its current and future hiring processes in order to better reflect the needs of the student body.”
Demand 12B: “Reserve hours for LGBTQ+ students with said therapists should be instituted by no later than Thanksgiving break.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “CAPS will explore the recommendation to reserve specific hours for LGBTQ+ identified students and other strategies to ensure that CAPS meets LGBTQ+ students’ needs. Additionally, we will immediately provide new, ongoing financial support to enable BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students to access therapeutic practices off campus with diverse professionals.”
Demand 12B: “We approve of the measures taken to allow students to visit off-campus therapists, and the details of this must be outlined and implemented by the start of the Spring 2021 semester, no later than February 1, 2021. There must also be steps taken to ensure that the counselors who specialize in counseling LGBTQ+ clients and BIPOC clients are included in this network.”
Administration response: Yes. “CAPS offers a list of practices and their specialties, which includes LGBTQ+ clients, to help students identify therapist that meet their criteria. Students will not be limited to practitioners on the list if they wish to utilize a different therapist.”
Demand 12C [1]: “Holding both professors and Committee on Student Standing and Programs (CSSP) accountable to providing academic leniency when students come forward about working through trauma.”
Administration response: Yes. “The College will support students working through trauma. In cases when an accommodation is legally documented, it will fall under the framework discussed in (11C 10/29) above. In other cases, the work described in (4A 10/29) above about mechanisms to support students’ academic work under extenuating circumstances will apply.”
Demand 12C [2]: “You need to provide immediate updates from the Education Policy Committee, and work more closely with FAPC to remove barriers for faculty in changing their curriculum towards these goals, relay, and provide a detailed plan with organizers by no later than Thanksgiving.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “The Dean of the College will work with and CSSP, who will work more closely with FAPC to create a proposal to effect pedagogical change.”
Demand 12D: “Provide an alternative or concrete reform to Haverford’s Title IX procedure that does not include policing.”
Administration response: Yes. “This summer, our new BiCo Title IX Coordinator developed and implemented a new comprehensive Sexual Misconduct Policy that applies to students, faculty, and staff. This policy and the accompanying procedures provide multiple options for addressing and resolving complaints, including an alternative resolution option. The College is committed to equitable treatment for any community member who has experienced sexual misconduct or gender-based discrimination. Our BiCo Title IX Coordinator is available to meet with students to further understand concerns about policing, and will facilitate a Zoom session with the Director of Campus Safety early in the spring semester on the topic of concerns about policing with regards to Title IX, policing, and BIPOC/LGTBQ+ students.”
Demand 12E: “Annual CAPS survey sent out to students who access CAPS services in order to ensure that ineffective/problematic counselors are not a part of CAPS.”
Administration response: Yes. “CAPS will administer an annual survey at the end of the fall semester to solicit student feedback and evaluate student satisfaction, effectiveness of resources, and ease of access. The survey will not only include those who access CAPS, but also those students who do not, in order to ensure that all students are aware of available services and to identify any obstacles to student access.”
Demand 13
Demand 13A [1]: “We demand that the college terminate all relationships with the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD).”
Administration response: Yes. “The College does not maintain a relationship with the Philadelphia Police Department.”
Demand 13B: “We demand that the college actively work toward police and prison abolition.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “The College can and in some cases already does support this work when it is within faculty scholarship or students’ curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular opportunities. Through the CPG, students, faculty, and staff are engaged in this work.”
Demand 13A [sic] [2]: “We Demand that the college terminate all relationships with the Lower Merion Police Department (LMPD), Haverford Township Police (HTP), and any police department.”
Administration response: No. “By law, local police have jurisdiction over Haverford’s campus. Relationships allow the College to advocate that law enforcement agencies, over which it has no control, provide services in a manner that is as supportive as possible of Haverford’s community and educational mission.”
Demand 13C: “The colleges will also divest, both in and of themselves, from any partnerships that may exist, with companies that rely on prison labor.”
Administration response: Yes. “The College is not aware of any such partnerships. The endowment has no direct or indirect exposure to prison companies based in the U.S. Underlying holdings of an international equity index fund, which is meant to provide broad exposure to all international equities and holds approximately 4,000 companies, results in effectively zero, or about 0.001%, exposure to internationally-based prison companies in the endowment.”
Demand 14
Demand 14A: “We demand an entirely renewed Black Cultural Center. The house’s current state illuminates the neglect and lack of priority the house faces, which is a direct reflection of how Black students on campus are treated by the larger community.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “The College invites collaboration on the vision for this space.”
Demand 14B: “In solidarity with our Latinx peers and the continued erasure of their work, we also demand a Latinx Center.”
Administration response: Yes, qualified. “We have publicly made a commitment to establish a LatinX Center. Conversations with ALAS have included the possibility of new construction, with other options also under consideration in those conversations.”
Demand 15
Demand 15: [Additional College Commitments]
Administration response:
- “We will create a new vendor policy, including commitments from the College to prioritize the hiring of certified minority-owned businesses (and local minority-owned businesses), as well as businesses that employ formerly incarcerated individuals, businesses that comply with ‘ban the box’ in their hiring practices, and businesses with published non-discrimination policies. The College will plan routine, intentional outreach to identify and pursue these relationships.”
- “The Corporation is actively working on significant changes to its bylaws and membership processes, in order to more quickly diversify the composition of the Corporation and the Board of Managers, to which it nominates many members.”
- “A wholesale reorganization of the DEI work within the Dean’s Office is underway and will continue, designed to become a sustainable organizational support structure both for ongoing work of value to the student body as well as many of the changes/initiatives currently under discussion.”
- “Staff and faculty anti-racism professional development via 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge.”
- “Anti-racism professional development specific to the field of Institutional Advancement conducted by Aspen Leadership Group.”
- “The President’s Office hired three Anti-Racism Project Assistants for 2020-21 to support anti-racist learning and action across the institution.”
Image credit: Haverford College
