On March 6th, an open letter was penned by various alumni and sent to the Westmont Administration. By noon on March 11th, 2020 it had over 570 signatures. You can sign the letter HERE or read the contents below: To Westmont’s Administration: We alumni have become aware of recent racist incidents on campus and feel compelled to speak out as a group in order to express our frustration, disappointment, and discouragement. We find the treatment of students, faculty, and staff of color at Westmont to be unacceptable, un-Christian, and indefensible, and as alumni, we reject these behaviors and decisions... Racism at Westmont is certainly not a new phenomenon, as evidenced by the low numbers of faculty and staff of color (particularly in executive and tenure-track positions), the lack of support for students of color, the absence of racial justice education requirements, the unwillingness to discuss faith in the context of race, and the repeated lip service paid to diversity that is never backed up by concrete action. Despite students of color advocating for equity and justice for decades, as the 1968 Horizon article “Negro Life in a White Cloud” featuring quotes from students Audrey Davis and Barbara Allen demonstrates, Westmont has resisted making meaningful, long-term changes or meeting students’ demands.
In the past few years, this has become even more evident. The lack of transparency in the campus pastor decision alongside the tokenization of offering a diversity pastor position once again reiterated that race is a tangential and marginal concern for Westmont rather than a central priority. Despite public statements about diversity, Westmont has failed to engage with what diversity would actually mean for the campus beyond face-value aesthetics, and has failed to address the underlying factors that lead to Westmont’s racially homogenous culture. Westmont’s recent accreditation report’s recommendations were almost all directly or indirectly related to diversity, and yet Westmont continues to shut down and intimidate students of color who speak out to voice their experiences. Westmont administration continually positions students of color, particularly those involved with Intercultural Programs, as equally culpable in campus discord, framing those most harmed by the problems as part of the problem. The Westmont White Jesus conversation further indicates the continued penchant for dialogue without action, and carelessness and apathy toward marginalized students’ concerns. Beyond these long-standing tendencies and patterns, the numerous racist incidents over the past month have particularly spurred us as alumni to address the administration. From the restructuring of Intercultural Programs which occurred without input from current or past ICP leaders, to the use of photos of students of color for misleading promotional images (as discussed in the recent Horizon article “Stop Racial Tokenization at Westmont”), to the defacement and removal of posters expressing the experiences of students of color, Westmont has actively ignored, tokenized, and silenced students of color. At Monday's lecture on “Race, Memory, and Monuments After Charlottesville," a white audience member from the Santa Barbara community repeatedly used the dehumanizing n-word without anyone addressing what was happening, until a Black professor stood up and intervened. The burden to stop dehumanizing rhetoric should not be on people of color at Westmont. Furthermore, Westmont should not be a space where people feel like using racial slurs is acceptable. Westmont administration failed to publicly address this incident until Wednesday in chapel, and has not yet sent any other form of communication or taken any other action to educate its students of the history of that dehumanizing slur, or to care for the mental and emotional wellbeing of the people affected by what happened. In fact, not only has Westmont failed to publicly address Monday’s incident in writing, but instead has prioritized reprimanding and intimidating students who are attempting to bring attention to racism on campus. In an all-student email sent yesterday morning, administration threatened disciplinary action against students expressing themselves by posting signs on campus. Throughout this year, other unapproved posters, mainly featuring jokes or memes, have been hung around campus without administration feeling the need to publicly address the issue, revealing that for the administration the problem is not with unapproved posters but with students of color expressing their experiences. Although we appreciate the public apology sent later that day and consider it a step in the right direction, unless backed up by concrete action, apologies will not cause real change. In light of all of this and more, including the serious psychological harm done to students of color throughout Westmont’s history, we alumni reject Westmont’s inability to acknowledge racism and work for the betterment of the lives of students of color on campus. We demand that Westmont address its previous and current actions that have harmed and continue to harm students of color. If Westmont has any interest in being antiracist, it needs to listen to students of color and establish infrastructure and support mechanisms for students, faculty, and staff of color on campus. Until Westmont addresses the presence of white supremacy in its culture and history, change will not come. From our viewpoint as alumni, we believe Westmont could begin by instituting racial education standards, promoting faculty of color to tenure, allocating more financial and staff resources to Intercultural Programs, improving transparency in communication with the student body, creating accountability for racist incidents that occur on campus, including a wider variety of theological traditions and cultural backgrounds in chapel, and continually, actively, purposefully working to reorient Westmont and its vision in order to better demonstrate the radical inclusivity and justice represented by the life of Christ. However, given that we alumni are no longer at Westmont, we think it would be even more beneficial for Westmont to heed the demands of the students of color who are currently on campus. As alumni, we are representatives of the Westmont community to the wider world, and we believe Westmont can do and become better. Given this belief, we call upon Westmont to listen to its students of color and enact meaningful, structural change. Sincerely, The Undersigned Alumni of Westmont College
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