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March 26, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Actions of the Smith College
Board of Trustees
Regarding Issues of Civil Liberties Past and Present
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.-At its winter meeting
on February 23, 2002, the Board of Trustees of Smith College
approved the following statement and description of initiatives,
both of which were developed in extensive discussions with the
Faculty Council:
"As an institution founded to counter discrimination against
women, Smith College has made efforts over many decades to expand
and clarify its non-discrimination policies. In the 1980s the
College formulated guidelines to prevent discrimination in the
admission of students, and then explicitly extended these to
faculty, staff and administration. The guiding notion is fairness,
and we have learned the need for periodic reconsideration and
adjustment.
"The College thus acknowledges civil liberties widely endorsed
in our nation's legal and moral culture (such as the right to
privacy), and it also recognizes that the freedom of inquiry
central to a vigorous and demanding education is predicated upon
the existence of such liberties. Indeed the College cannot carry
out its mission without consciously and continuously attending
to the task of understanding what the possession of these liberties
means and the conditions which support or subvert them.
"The recent attention given to the cases of Newton Arvin,
Joel Dorius and Edward Spofford, former members of the Smith
faculty whose employment at the College ended in 1960-61, provides
the College with an important opportunity to reaffirm its statement
of non-discrimination:
- Smith College does not discriminate
in its admission policy, programs or activities on the bases
of race, color, creed, handicap, national/ethnic origin, age,
religion, sexual orientation or disabled veteran/Vietnam-era
veteran status. Nor does the college discriminate on the bases
of race, color, creed, handicap or national/ethnic origin, age,
religion, sex, sexual orientation or disabled veteran/Vietnam-era
veteran status in its educational policies, scholarship and loan
programs, athletic and other school-administered programs, or
employment practices and programs.
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- "In addition to meeting fully
its obligations of non-discrimination under federal and state
law, Smith College is committed to maintaining a community in
which a diverse population can live and work in an atmosphere
of tolerance, civility and mutual respect for the rights and
sensibilities of each individual, regardless of differences in
economic status, ethnic background, political views or other
personal characteristics and beliefs.
- "The College, recognizing the
complexity of social change and embracing its obligation to come
to some historical understanding of the conditions and events
that militate against the safeguarding of civil liberties, also
announces the following programs:
(1) The Dorius/Spofford Fund for
the Study of Civil Liberties and Freedom of Expression
Joel Dorius and Edward Spofford
were members of the Smith College faculty whose employment ended
in 1960-61 and whose dismissal has since raised questions of
academic freedom and civil liberties. This $100,000 fund will
support lectures, symposia, research, visiting professors and
other programs that examine the core concepts of civil liberties
and freedom of expression, as well as the contemporary and historical
forces that endanger them. The fund will encourage proposals
addressing the nature and definition of citizenship, the challenge
of academic freedom and the social and cultural issues associated
with sexual identity and expression. The programs are expected
to take place over two years, beginning in fall 2002, and the
funding may be renewed at the discretion of the administration.
(2) The Newton Arvin Prize in American
Studies
When the College's American
Culture (later American Studies) Program was established in 1939,
noted literary critic Newton Arvin became the first American
Culture faculty adviser to students. He taught in the program
for more than two decades and served as its chair in 1951-52.
This $500 endowed annual prize, to be given to a student in the
American Studies Program, will commemorate Arvin's important
literary and cultural scholarship while also supporting future
interdisciplinary work examining the society in which he lived.
(3) A national conference on the
impact of the civil liberties crisis of the 1950s on the academy
This is envisioned as a two-day
symposium, probably during spring semester 2003, with distinguished
scholars from a variety of disciplines. The event will have a
national scope, but it is also expected that some of the College's
own complex history will be explored in the larger context of
the Cold War era, a time when many academics suffered discrimination
because of their political beliefs, race, religion or sexual
orientation. At the core of the conference will be an examination
of the notion of citizenship and how it was defined and called
into question during that period.
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