The Episode That Roiled Smith College - The New York Times
The New York Times
Readers, including several Smith alumnae, react to a Times account of how a Black student’s bias claims against college employees have created tensions on the campus.
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To the Editor:

Re “Tensions Simmer Over Race and Class at Smith” (front page, Feb. 25):

I am disheartened by the coverage of the recent resignation of a white staff member at Smith College over what she calls a “racially hostile workplace” (for white people) in response to an incident involving security being called on a Black student eating lunch in a closed lounge.

While a legal investigation found no evidence of racial bias, it doesn’t account for a campus culture where students are encouraged to treat their college residence as their home. Students can take snacks from the house kitchen after hours, lounge in the living room during holiday breaks, and take many liberties that would not make the Black student’s behavior seem at all aberrant.

People of color are often called out or, worse, endangered for actions that no one would object to from a white person. Meanwhile, Jodi Shaw, the employee who resigned because she didn’t like having to take antiracism training, has raised over $280,000 on GoFundMe to mount a legal challenge against Smith College (for what? she wasn’t fired).

It is apparent that many people agree with her that having to reflect on one’s privileges and assumptions in order to lessen violence against Black people or microaggressions toward people of color is tantamount to being attacked themselves. Where is the conversation about white fragility and its obstruction to progress?

Clara Fang

Detroit

The writer is an alumna of Smith College and founder of Climate Diversity, which works to increase diversity in the climate movement.

To the Editor:

This is a simple case. The student was in a place that was off-limits. The janitor did what he was trained to do and called campus security. Nonetheless, Kathleen McCartney, the president of Smith College, apologized profusely to the student and put the janitor on a paid three-month leave. The student posted the name, photograph and email of a cafeteria worker and a different janitor on Facebook and called them racist. This accusation was widely publicized.

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