An Update on Smith’s Actions in the Wake of Violence in Israel and Palestine

Dear friends,

After the attacks by Hamas a month ago and Israel’s ongoing response, an increasing number of people have been urging me to make a statement on behalf of the college. Let me say unequivocally, there is no place for antisemitism or Islamophobia at Smith.

I believe that the role of a college president is to embrace reflective action, namely, to protect the kind of work particular to an institution of higher education. Governments can do certain things, individuals can do certain things, and colleges and universities can do certain things. In fact, we have a critical and particular mission to make space for research, analysis, education, learning, and exchange. And in this learning environment we must protect the conditions necessary for academic freedom, including civility and nondiscrimination, and we must summon the courage to engage each other across our differences—even when we’re scared. 

When considering how to respond to pain and turmoil in the world and here on campus, we have choices. In the last month, we have chosen to:

• Hold Generating Justice vigils to acknowledge violence and its repercussions and to support one another across sociopolitical lines; one was held on October 12 and a second is planned for November 9.
• Create opportunities for students to meet with each other and with college administrators, including me, and those meetings have generated terrific ideas and suggestions.
• Expand the pastoral resources available to students by bringing in a rabbi to meet with and create community among Jewish students, staff, and faculty. In addition, students had the opportunity to join a Shabbat retreat with students from Yale and Mount Holyoke.
• Work with Arab and Muslim student organizations to hold regular gatherings that provide cultural food and psychosocial guidance, support prayer and community programs, provide a monthly spiritual gathering, and hold space for students to discuss their thoughts and feelings around the conflict.
• Gather faculty to consider sensitive and appropriate ways to acknowledge and discuss these issues in the classroom.
• Schedule a panel discussion to be held November 8 for the campus community only about the ongoing conflict in Israel/Palestine—featuring faculty from the departments of government, Middle East studies, and religion—with support from the Lewis Global Studies Center. We plan to hold other discussions as the year unfolds.

This list is neither exhaustive nor complete; our work together is ongoing.

Beyond the immediate programs we have planned, my hope for each of you is that you share with a friend, a housemate, a classmate, or a co-worker on campus how you are feeling right now, what you would like to understand better, and hear the same from them. Be assured that you are each in my heart, where I also hold those whose lives have been so tragically upended or cut short—as far away as the Middle East and as close as Maine—over the previous month.

In community,
Sarah