Office of the President
The president leads Earlham College under the guidance of the College’s Board of Trustees. She is supported in her decision-making by members of Cabinet, a leadership team representing the various administrative and academic units of the College. The president, Board and Cabinet work collaboratively with our entire campus community, seeking consultation and consensus when possible.
RECENT STATEMENTS AND SPEECHES
Statement on Palestine
The rapid escalation of violence inside Israel and Palestine is staggering. As a Quaker and as a human being, I — and the College as a whole — cannot stay silent in the face of so many civilian deaths and injuries, including children, mass destruction, evictions of families, and widespread political and social injustice.
The Chauvin trial
Like many of you, I watched in horror last summer as footage of George Floyd’s final moments emerged. As Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, Floyd choked out the words “I can’t breathe” nearly 30 times — until he could no longer speak. After his death, these whispered words became a rallying cry for change.
Statement on Indianapolis Shootings
Not again.
Those are the words that ran through my mind as I awoke to news of a mass shooting in Indianapolis. Another horrifying event in a year marked by horrifying events. Only this time, it happened in our own state, and to many within the Earlham community, our own back yard.
Statement on Atlanta Shootings
As I sit here writing in the wake of the Atlanta shooting deaths, I am heartbroken, and I am reminded that there is still so much work to do to address the bias and hate that continues to divide our nation and world. Incendiary language and violence against people of Asian descent is a longstanding — and historically invisible — problem in our country. The brazen rhetoric and anti-Asian sentiment that has emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has only brought this reality out of the shadows.
Statement regarding the attack on the Senate and House
First, let me step back for a moment and rejoice with you on the highest number ever of Americans voting in the presidential elections this November, and the highest percentage of citizens voting since 1900 (and also the highest percentage of voters since women were allowed to vote in 1920). More people of color voted, more young people, more women – it was the most diverse and representative group of voters in our nation’s history.
Black Lives Matter at Earlham College
The last few months have been so hard on all of us – having to leave campus suddenly, having to teach and learn online with little preparation, trying to plan for a future that remains unclear, and more recently, budget cuts and painful position eliminations. But our challenges as a community pale in comparison to what was demonstrated last week in the murder of George Floyd by someone sworn to protect him. And this is not an aberration. It is clear that toxic and violent racism is an inherent part of our society and our institutions for over 400 years.