CLAREMONT >> A top administrator at Claremont McKenna College resigned Thursday, a day after students criticized the university’s handling of a racially insensitive photo and claims of racial bias.
Dean of Students Mary Spellman announced in an email to students, faculty, and staff on Thursday she had resigned after students expressed concerns about the Dean of Students office being unsupportive toward students of “marginalized identities.”
“I believe it is the best way to gain closure of a controversy that has divided the student body and disrupted the mission of this fine institution. Most important, I hope this will help enable a truly thoughtful, civil and productive discussion about the very real issues of diversity and inclusion facing Claremont McKenna, higher education and other institutions across our society,” Spellman wrote in an email to students.
• Photos: Claremont McKenna College students march
The events at CMC come three days after the chancellor and president of the University of Missouri both stepped down amid criticism of their handling of racially-motivated actions on campus.
A protest Thursday drew hundreds of students from all five Claremont colleges. The protest was organized in solidarity with students at the University of Missouri and Yale as part of a national movement, but events at Claremont McKenna and alleged racial injustices at their own schools took center stage.
On Wednesday, several student groups demonstrated on campus and called for Spellman’s resignation. Two students announced they would go on a hunger strike until she resigned.
Tensions about race relations on campus came to a head after an incident on Halloween involving the junior class president, who posed in a photo alongside two white women who were wearing sombreros and ponchos and holding maracas.
According to student publication The Forum, before Halloween, CMC’s Title IX office put up posters with the campaign “OurCulturesAreNotCostumes” to discourage students from wearing stereotypical costumes. When the image of Kris Brackmann, the junior class president, surfaced on social media, students reached out to the student who posted it, junior Casey Garcelon, asking that she remove it from her Facebook page. Brackmann stepped down as junior class president earlier this week after the photo drew attention on social media.
• Storify: How social media, online essays factored into Claremont McKenna resignations, protests
Students say this is the most recent incident in the past eight months that has racial overtones, which Spellman and her office have failed to address.
On April 9, about 30 students wrote to CMC president Hiram E. Chodosh to express concerns about the support and resources CMC offers its students. In the two-page letter, the students pushed for more diversity initiatives such as funding for multicultural clubs as well as a resource center.
They point to an opinion letter by CMC student Lisette Espinosa in which she expressed her concerns about being a Latina on campus. Espinosa shared that letter with Spellman.
“Thank you for writing and sharing this article with me. We have a lot to do as a college and community. Would you be willing to talk with me sometime about these issues? They are important to me and the DOS staff and we are working on how we can better serve students, especially those who don’t fit our CMC mold,” Spellman responded on Oct. 25.
Students were offended by the “fit our CMC mold,” comment and college officials said the response prompted a review of the office of Student Affairs.
On Thursday, after the resignation was announced, one of the students who said she’d engage in a hunger strike, Taylor Lemmons, said the intolerant climate on campus extends far beyond Spellman.
“Our faculty use the term ‘welfare queen’ in our econ classes un-ironically,” said Lemmons, a junior who intends to apply to law school after graduation.
She said she repeatedly runs into a white student who refers to her by a derogatory name, due to the small campus.
• Video: CMCers of Color lead protest of lack of support from administration
“You can’t escape,” Lemmons said. “We have one main dining hall, we have one main academic quad. I saw that guy every day.”
Gay pride posters at the school have been vandalized with slurs and profanity, she said.
“This is the climate of the school,” Lemmons said. “These things are being presented to Dean Spellman, they’re being presented to faculty, and it really felt like nothing was happening. … This is absolutely not the end of what’s happening here.”
On Thursday, the protesting students said Spellman’s resignation should be just the beginning.
Students say they are compiling a list of demands that will include a permanent space for black, Latino and other minority students to meet, said CMC junior Alyssa Jones.
“We need a place where we feel safe talking about these things,” she said.
But students shouldn’t just be pushed to the side to talk amongst themselves, added student DeDe Curtis, a junior and president of the Pan-African Student’s Association and co-founder of the Black Womyn’s Collective on campus.
“They need to bring us into the discussions, give us a seat at the table, not just say — you can be over there,” Curtis said.
• Storify: Internet reacts to Claremont McKenna protests
In her letter, Spellman said she had served as the dean of students since 2010.
“These nearly six years have been the most rewarding and fulfilling of my life, but also with the conviction that it is the right thing to do for the school and the students I care about so deeply,” she wrote in the letter.
Spellman also wrote that she had received support from faculty and students.
A faculty member wrote to Spellman: “I also recognize how much you have worked to make our community more inclusive. … I know I join many fellow faculty members and students in expressing my full support and confidence in you as Dean of Students here at CMC.”
On Wednesday night, Chodosh released a letter announcing the creation of a new position on diversity and inclusion within Student Affairs.
Chodosh wrote the position will be “dedicated to provide direct student support and educational and experiential programming for the entire campus.”
In his letter, he also announced a series of other actions the campus is taking to address the issue, adding that he spent most of Wednesday with 40 students listening to their experiences, concerns and suggestions.
“We will utilize the Athenaeum to build a series of regularly scheduled, ongoing participatory programs to bring students, faculty, and staff together for serious discussions about issues that affect our campus community and society more broadly,” he wrote.
Chodosh said the university is working on creating a permanent “safe space” for students, with plans being finalized by spring.
“I stand by our students,” he wrote. “I support their right to speak out forcefully, and want their voices to be heard.”
Staff Writers Beau Yarbrough and Rebecca Kimitch contributed to this report.
