Important changes marked this year’s Otelia Cromwell Day.
During the opening ceremony, Floyd Cheung, who was recently appointed Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, announced that this year would be the last “Otelia Cromwell” Day. From now on, the day would be called Cromwell Day to also honor the recently deceased Adelaide Cromwell, Otelia Cromwell’s niece and the first African American professor at Smith.
Cheung also announced that President McCartney announced a fellowship founded in honor of Adelaide Cromwell. The fellowship, which will be administered by the Africana Studies department, will be awarded to three students for advanced research, internships or travel for research. Applicants may apply in September. The department will announce the first winners in November.
Reflecting on the previous day’s event, “Exposing the Truth: Smith College and the N-Word,” Cheung said that hearing students’ stories “awakened [him] to their pain.”
“I believe that some colleagues are unaware that pronouncing the n-word out loud — even in a well-prepared teaching context — can do serious harm to their students,” Cheung said in an email to The Sophian. “Hence, Michael and I are going to make this clear at the next faculty meeting and gathering of chairs and directors. This proactive step has never been taken before. We are grateful to students for educating us about the harm of hearing the n-word under any circumstances.”
Later in the day, Cheung gave an update on Inclusion in Action. Over the summer, Cheung explained, a group of faculty and staff, as well as one student, discussed data gathered from Inclusion in Action. From that data key themes emerged — Identity/Representation, Education/Learning, Communication, Engagement and Justice — and action groups comprised of students, staff and faculty have been convened around each of them. Throughout the semester, the action groups will work with the Office for Equity and Inclusion to determine what programs around equity and inclusion are already in place and to determine whether innovation grant funds are needed for initiatives. Next semester, the groups will come up with ideas for changes that could be implemented.
At the opening ceremony, McCartney opened by reflecting on this year’s theme, “Acknowledging Injustice and Practicing Anti-Racism.”
“Neither Otelia nor Adelaide experienced full inclusion during their time at Smith,” she said. Of “Exposing the Truth,” she said, “It’s clear that black students want the administration to help them heal.”
Other highlights of the opening ceremony include Blackapella’s rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” Professor Andrea Hairston’s speech on Otelia Cromwell’s legacy and and Camille Ollivierre’s reading of Nikki Finney’s poem “Maven,” written about Otelia Cromwell. Kim Alston, the Program Coordinator for the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, spoke about her personal relationship with Adelaide Cromwell, and Professor Ginetta Candelario discussed the late professor’s scholarship. Denisse Materre ’74, who was recently hired as Vice President for Alumni Relations, introduced Deborah Archer ’93, who gave the keynote address “From ‘Living While Black’ to the Fight Against Affirmative Action: Contextualizing, Understanding and Fighting the Movement to Reclaim ‘White Spaces.’” Workshops about white supremacy, protest and racial microaggressions were held after.
