www.broadwayworld.com: Students at Connecticut College in New London have been occupying Fanning Hall on campus since Sunday evening in response to a canceled fundraising trip by college president Katherine Bergeron to the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, Florida. The club "has been accused of racist and antisemitic actions" reports CT Public.
2 comments:
I am in awe of how these students are standing up to the racist practices that are present within their theatre community. The Student Voices of Equity organization for the Connecticut College in New London are advocating for better DEI representation and rights for students and faculty. The fact that they are in the process of trying to fire Katherine Bergeron the current preside of Connecticut College shows just how unjust the system and community have become for the students. Their protest against performing the college’s production of Into the Woods supports how much energy is needed in order to create the change they are demanding. And the students are willing to do anything to create the change they deserve in their community, even if that means boycotting their performances. The president’s response to the student's actions shows how she is not taking their concerns seriously and it reinforces the student’s demands to get her to resign. Overall this article should teach us all a lesson about how to advocate for ourselves and how to create a community that supports and uplifts everyone.
I don’t know how to feel about this article. I absolutely agree that if the President has a racist and anti-semetic past then she should be background checked and removed from the school. I deeply appreciate the theatre sector of the school acknowledging their great funding and support from the school and using their privilege to ask why the school can’t put that much funding and graciousness into their programs that help diversity programs, financial aid, disability access, etc. I say I don’t know how to feel about this one because I don’t know the whole story or the situation of administration at Connecticut College in relation to the theatre department, but nevertheless I respect the Into the Woods Company’s dedication to demanding their requests for a more equitable school. As a final note to the article I did feel their second hand frustration at the administration's response that many of the requests were too large or “already being worked on.” I think “already being worked on” is the most annoying response at any school when students demand changes surround racism and equitable practices because clearly you’re not acknowledging your’re not “already working on it” hard or fast enough because no one who is directly affected by those problems have been seeing or expecting any change.
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