Women’s and Gender Studies Black Lives Matter Statement

Dear WGS Students,

We, the WGS faculty and staff, are outraged by the recent death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer and the continued state-based violence directed at Black communities. As we all struggle to cope with the global pandemic, which has disproportionately hit the Black community, the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, Riah Milton and Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, among so many others, remind us that we live in a world where systemic anti-Black racism and the legacies of slavery remain deeply entrenched. We condemn this racism and commit to doing all that we can (in our jobs at Wheaton and in our personal lives) to dismantle structural racism and the systemic violence that is rooted in white supremacy.

As intersectional feminist scholars, allies, and activists, we pledge to renew our energies to dismantle white supremacy and to promote and embody anti-racism. As part of our college community, we will work together – among ourselves, and with you – to advance racial awareness and justice at Wheaton by committing to improve our own curriculum, by creating more spaces of reflection, and by doing our best as mentors. Looking beyond the classroom, we, like you, commit to the crucial work of anti-racism in all parts of our lives.

We want to reach out to all of you and extend our solidarity right now. If you need anything— if there is anything that we can do for you – please know that we are here and we will do what we can to help you get the help you need. We’re attaching a list of suggestions for daily forms of activism, here, which might be useful for you. Now is a time when many of us are reflecting on our own activism—what we’ve done in the past, what feels necessary now— and this list is a helpful resource for that reflection. If any of you would like to have a virtual meeting with the WGS faculty/staff to talk about all of our experiences and reactions to what is happening, we would love to meet with you.

Black Lives Matter. We are living through an urgent moment, and we should work together to hold ourselves accountable.

Sincerely,
Mark Armstrong, Archivist & Records Manager, Madeleine Clark Wallace Library Laura Bohn Case, Visiting Assistant Professor of German
Kate Boylan, Director, Archives and Digital Initiatives, Madeleine Clark Wallace Library Claire Buck, Professor of English and Co-Director, Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning
Bev Clark, Professor of English
Barbara Darling, Assistant Professor of Religion
Nick Dorzweiler, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies
Leah Dyjak, Assistant Professor of Photography
Linda Eisenmann, Professor of Education and History and Women’s and Gender Studies Nancy Evans, Professor of Classics
Lindsay Flynn, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Tommasina Gabriele, Professor and Coordinator of Italian Studies
Cary Gouldin, Humanities Liaison, Madeleine Clark Wallace Library and Co-Director, Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning
Donna Kerner, William Isaac Cole Professor of Anthropology
Janine Kuntz, Social Science Liaison, Madeleine Clark Wallace Library Tessa Lee, Associate Professor and Chair of German Studies
Sarah Leventer, Visiting Assistant Professor, Film and New Media Studies
Kate Mason, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies
Karen McCormack, Professor and Chair of Sociology, Co-coordinator, Journalism Studies John Miller, Professor of Economics
Kim Miller, Jane Oxford Keiter Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies/Art History; Coordinator, Women’s and Gender Studies;
Coordinator, Peace & Social Justice Studies
Francoise Rosset, Associate Professor and Chair of Russian Studies Kent Shaw, Assistant Professor of English
Jonathan Walsh, Professor of French Studies
Kelly Whitford, Visiting Assistant Professor of History of Art
Russell Williams, Associate Professor of Economics, Coordinator of Urban Studies Brenda Wyss, Professor of Economics, Coordinator of Development Studies Kersti Yllo, Professor of Sociology, Emerita
Gretchen Young, Dean, Center for Global Education