Dr. Robert Low
Provost
University of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont 05405
Dear Provost Low:
The steering committee of the Faculty Women´s Caucus recently met to discuss the extraordinary events of last semester in the arena of race relations. We, as a body, are writing to express our grave concerns about those events and about the current state of affairs.
Last semester, the Commission on Racial Justice and Multicultural Education was disbanded, primarily because of a disagreement over the creation of a position of Executive Officer for Cultural Pluralism and Racial Equality that the Commission strongly oppos ed. Despite additional opposition by a number of campus groups including the Student Government Association, the President´s Commission on the Status of Women, and a majority of the ALANA Studies faculty, a search for the Executive Officer position continues. The steering committee of the Faculty Women´s Caucus strongly disagrees with your decisions on these matters. The disbanding of the Commission, a body that was established after long and careful study by two campus commissions, and by a consensus of the larger campus community, demonstrates a lack of commitment to participatory processes that we find particularly disturbing. The continuation of the Executive Officer search, in the face of increasing disagreement, underscores this point.
Moreover, the public silence in the face of an ongoing hunger strike by a member of the campus community is particularly disheartening. Surely, there must be some way for your administration to take leadership in publicly acknowledging the action of our student that demonstrates the moral role a University holds in its community and our responsibility to fight racism.
The Faculty Women´s Caucus would like to express its ongoing commitment to the elimination of racism on our campus. We believe that the only way that this is possible is via a collegial model, rather than unilateral decision making, and that recent events have brought us still farther from our goal. We hope that continuing decisions in this highly public and delicate area will be taken with a greater concern for both collegiality and the good opinion of the community.
Sincerely,
Beth Mintz
for the Steering Committee of the Faculty Women's Caucus
Doris Bergen, Assistant Professor of History
Phyllis Bronstein, Associate Professor of Psychology
Anne Clarke, Associate Professor of Religion
Judith Cohen, Associate Professor of Technical Nursing
Mary Jane Dickerson, Assistant Professor of English
Laura Fishman, Associate Professor of Sociology
Shirley Gedeon, Associate Professor of Economics
Edith Hendley, Professor Emerita of Physiology and Biophysics
Carroll Lewin, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Roxanne Lin, Assistant Professor of English
Sarah Mahler, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Beth Mintz, Professor of Sociology
Maria Franca Morselli, Professor Emerita of Botany
Elizabeth Scannell, Extension Associate Professor
Robyn Warhol, Associate Professor of English
cc: Jean Held, Chair
Faculty Senate
Edward Zuccarro, Chair
Board of Trustees
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