{"id":895,"date":"2013-07-19T09:41:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T13:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/?page_id=895"},"modified":"2015-04-19T21:46:55","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T01:46:55","slug":"reclaim-colby","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/stories\/reclaim-colby\/","title":{"rendered":"Reclaim Colby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students speak at convocation<\/h3>\n
by\u00a0Sam LeBlanc<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Colby Echo,\u00a0<\/em><\/a>March 6, 2013<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

Four students calling for change at the College unexpectedly stepped up to the microphone in Lorimer Chapel following President William \u201cBro\u201d Adams\u2019 Bicentennial Address Feb. 27.<\/p>\n

Three of the students were part of a group that calls itself \u201cReclaim Colby,\u201d and dozens of students and some faculty at the convocation wore red shirts bearing that same slogan.<\/p>\n

Berol Dewdney \u201913, who is not a member of Reclaim Colby, was the first to speak. Dewdney stated her love for the College but cited the \u201cstill serious issues\u201d of racism, classism, ableism, sexism and homophobia which she said need to be addressed and said that disordered eating, depression and rape happen at the College.<\/p>\n

Members of the procession, consisting of administrators and trustees, stayed in the chapel as Dewdney spoke. Following Dewdney\u2019s speech, Vice President and Secretary of the Corporation Sally Baker motioned for the choir to sing after which the procession exited through the back door instead of leaving the way it had entered the chapel. \u201cIt was fairly clear that that avenue was not going to be available in the same way that we had rehearsed\u2026.I decided that the convocation was now over and we could recess, but we would have to recess the way that we did,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

Most of the audience also left, but some, including numerous rows of students in red, remained to listen to the speeches.<\/p>\n

Kyle Migliorini \u201913, a Reclaim Colby speaker, focused on the College\u2019s increasing tuition and lack of administrative transparency. Cassie Clemmer \u201915 and Uzoma Orchingwa \u201914 called for concrete changes. \u201cWe need a Gender and Sexual Diversity Resource center. We need a Learning differences center,\u201d Clemmer said. \u201cWe need administrative support for multiculturalism and living wages for all of our workers. We need a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am certainly a believer that communities need to be able to come together to discuss all things, including the most difficult conversations,\u201d Associate Dean of Students and Director of Campus Life Jed Wartman said. \u201cI think at the root of [Wednesday\u2019s] events was a desire to discuss, a desire to engage on some difficult topics, and I appreciate and value that.\u201d Despite what may have been a positive intention, \u201cthe environment and the way it took place didn\u2019t allow for a discussion,\u201d Wartman said. \u201cSo I regret that I don\u2019t think the intended outcome, of inspiring a better Colby, was reached.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Jim Terhune believes the issues the students addressed are \u201cabsolutely critical.\u201d \u201cI appreciate what I know to be sincere commitment to issues of importance to the College and issues of significance to virtually every member of this community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Terhune said, \u201cI do struggle with what I think is a misrepresentation of the administration\u2019s engagement with both the individuals involved there and these issues.\u2026As Bro said in his message [Wednesday] these are things we\u2019ve been working on, are committed to and will continue to be [committed to]. I expect those conversations to go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Student Government Association (SGA) Vice President Kareem Kalil \u201913, \u201cPeople have criticized the movement for not trying to work through the system.\u201d Kalil had intended to introduce the students in an effort to facilitate understanding. \u201cI knew it could potentially go a lot better if I could introduce them\u2026.I thought they had an important message, [and] I thought my role could be facilitating that in a productive way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adams and Baker spoke with Kalil when he got on stage, and Kalil was thus unable to introduce the students. \u201cWhat I was telling him was that I thought this was inappropriate,\u201d Baker said. Kalil said, \u201cThey told me it wasn\u2019t my time which I was totally aware of. I didn\u2019t want it to be my time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalil explained that trying to move through the proper channels to accomplish something is a very slow and difficult process at the College. \u201cI can tell you as somebody who has tried to work with the system, it\u2019s really\u2026hard and slow here\u2026.I\u2019m going to keep trying to work through the system because that\u2019s what I committed to this year\u2026.I see no harm in trying to push the envelope a little bit when the system is the way that it is; it\u2019s really hard to work through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As a member of the group who planned the Bicentennial activities, Baker was \u201cvery disappointed\u201d that the event didn\u2019t go as planned. \u201cWe started [planning] five years ago\u2026.I think what was occurring to me as this was happening was the amount of work that committee put in and the amount of work the president put in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some, including Terhune and students who posted on the Civil Discourse following the demonstration, said the speakers\u2019 actions were disrespectful to the choir. \u201cThe bottom line is that the action also wasn\u2019t simply disruptive to the speech that President Adams gave, but it also disrupted a performance that several students were prepared to give and had worked hard on,\u201d Terhune said.<\/p>\n

The students who spoke said that their intention was not to be disrespectful or to interrupt but to insert themselves into the convocation. Orchingwa explained that they listened to the president\u2019s platform and wanted to present their own. Having examined the schedule for the convocation, Orchingwa said, \u201cNo one [was] being interrupted; no one [was] being disrespected\u2026. [The chapel was] a space where people are meeting and we want[ed] to be there engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Education Program Director and Professor Mark Tappan, Professor of Education Lyn Mikel Brown, Allen Family Professor of Latin American Literature Jorge Olivares and Spanish Department Chair and Associate Professor Betty Sasaki supported the students by wearing the red \u201cReclaim Colby\u201d shirts. All four professors contributed to the Civil Discourse stating their support for the students who spoke at the convocation.<\/p>\n

The students decided to speak at the convocation because, \u201cwe\u2019ve learned from our mistakes from the past,\u201d Orchingwa said. He said that \u201cthere might be some posturing\u201d on the part of the administration, and \u201cpart of what we\u2019re engaged in\u2026 is not to let the posturing allow us to fail\u2026.This action [was] not at all antagonistic\u2026but we really want to be heard,\u201d Orchingwa said.<\/p>\n

Orchingwa explained via e-mail that \u201c[we] support activism and see ourselves as activists, but [what] we did on Wednesday shouldn\u2019t be confined to the scope of activism, because activism in some people\u2019s mind gives the connotation that [we\u2019re] doing something [we\u2019re] maybe not supposed to do. We think it\u2019s within the rights of students to be part of a convocation that celebrates Colby\u2019s history. We are simply living up to the liberal arts values that Colby champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope going forward would be that all the parties involved will engage and share in sincere and honest ways so we can come to an understanding of each other and then determine opportunities from there,\u201d Wartman said. Migliorini shared similar sentiments. \u201cI think if we create that dialogue one on one, that might be the next step moving forward,\u201d Migliorini said.<\/p>\n

Migliorini said that although he understands why people said that the demonstration was carried out in the wrong place or at the wrong time, \u201cnobody has accused us of having a bad message yet which I think is something important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dewdney said, \u201cI understand and appreciate critiques of the time and space and I\u2019m sorry for the hurt that was caused\u2026. What I worry most about is this taking away from what\u2019s important and that\u2019s the issues and our love for the community, and I\u2019m hopeful we can move forward with positive dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams addressed the convocation demonstration in an Official Notice to the College sent the day after the Bicentennial. \u201cIt will no doubt be difficult\u2014some might say impossible\u2014to find perfect agreement on strategies, timing, resource allocation, and other factors to fully address these issues,\u201d he wrote. \u201cBut, as I hope we have learned by reflecting on Colby\u2019s two centuries of determination and perseverance, we are not an institution that shies away from such challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student speeches (short version)<\/a><\/p>\n

Student speeches (long version)<\/a><\/p>\n

On Loyalty and Activism<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reclaim Colby<\/a><\/div>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students speak at convocation by\u00a0Sam LeBlanc The Colby Echo,\u00a0March 6, 2013 Four students calling for change at the College unexpectedly stepped up to the microphone in Lorimer Chapel following President William \u201cBro\u201d Adams\u2019 Bicentennial Address Feb. 27. Three of the students were part of a group that calls itself \u201cReclaim Colby,\u201d and dozens of students and some faculty at the convocation wore red shirts bearing that same slogan. Berol Dewdney \u201913, who is not a member of Reclaim Colby, was the first to speak. Dewdney stated her love for the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"parent":648,"menu_order":29,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/895\/revisions\/1099"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/activism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}