It was the best of times for the president of Smith College adorned with her Louboutin’s, it was the worst of times for her students, particularly students of color. The night of September 8 was a tale of two campuses; as some were excited for our visiting speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Just across the street from the lecture hall where she spoke, students hid in their dorms out of fear; people stood with Trump signs and Confederate flags camped just outside our doorsteps. I was one of these students. Just outside my dorm window, protestors were loudly shouting, drumming, and intimidating the streets of our institution.
The scariest part of that night was the fact that there was no sense of security for the students. The day before Pelosi came, workers in trucks lined the front of John M. Greene Hall with concrete barricades. Campus Security and the Secret Service came prepared to protect her, but students had to fend for themselves, some unable to even go outside to get dinner. As Pelosi droned on about how the future needs us, it didn’t even feel like our own administration cared about our safety among white nationalists. Smith College is made up of 14.1 percent of international students and ~36 percent of students of color/other marginalized ethnic groups. There was no consideration for our safety as people stood with “China Owns Biden” signs and no consideration of the fact that many students of color do not feel safe under police surveillance. For a school that proclaims to center around the health and wellness of the students, it is clear that these values do not pertain to the entire student body.
What can be done to reassure the safety of marginalized students, especially at a primarily white institution (PWI)? A half-hearted email from administration means nothing, and a listening session, originally scheduled on Yom Kippur, does not soften the blow.
I ask myself if it was necessary to hold an event with someone so politically controversial in the wake of the Jodi Shaw incident which put Smith on the map as a conservative punching bag. We are still in a pandemic and this event put students at risk in more ways than one.
We should not have to fear leaving our homes, getting our meals, and crossing the street because the college president prioritized having a renowned speaker over our safety.
[Image: Nancy Pelosi. Photo via Smith College.]
