Wheaton Wire

Saturday, May 28th, 2022

  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Features
  • Arts and Culture
  • Sports
  • Astrology
  • Politics and Economics

Sections

  • From the Editor
  • Contribute to The Wire
  • Subscribe
  • Wheaton Wire Staff

Archives

Opinion

In Response to President Hanno

By Colin McNamee on November 5, 2020

In separate but similar emails sent on Friday of last week to students, staff and faculty, following days of pressure for communication, President Hanno wrote of “the challenges we face” noting how he has been “inundated with outreach… a good deal of it very negative” surrounding events including recent demonstrations in town, and the arrest and suspension of a queer student of color under suspicious circumstances. President Hanno lamented a “confrontational and divisive” zeitgeist, saying to staff and faculty “I hope you agree that it is not acceptable.”

His advice: “be planful and intentional about what we do know and what we can control.”

Let’s consider what that looks like:

We do know that some recent communications reveal division over the nature of our crisis and the role of leadership. On one side, is the conservative maintenance of the status quo and its beneficiaries, propped up by immovable “longstanding policies” and appeals for civility. On the other side, an aspirational leadership that’s responsive and transformational, finally prioritizing our most vulnerable in the march towards justice.

We know that by prefacing with tacit admonishments an important and overdue communication to a campus in crisis, President Hanno continued a trend from Wheaton administration of community engagement based on under-supported expectations at times when materially supported solidarity is needed.

We know that Wheaton should wrap around our most vulnerable, not exile them in deference to accusations from a demonstrably unjust system. We know justice is nourished by trust and safety.

We know these values do not preclude functional student conduct and campus safety policy.

We know that if leaders want unity, they’ll have to lead in ways that validate the real trauma in our community. They’ll have to do so with a prompt directness and transparency that models the urgency our community feels, and the respect it deserves. Their leadership will have to appeal for shared humanist values, including some that challenge the conventions of their own power and privilege.

Those are things we know. What can we control?

We can control our persistence towards accountability and open communication from the powerful. We can control our steady pressure for justice and reform, which requires challenging power and welcoming conversation and criticism. We can control our climb to high ground in a community where some mistake our humanity’s strivings for faults. And we can welcome others to that ground once they climb the mountain.

In solidarity,

Colin McNamee ’04

Technical Director, Theatre and Dance

Categories: Opinion

Tagged as: President Hanno, Social justice, Wheaton administration

Post navigation

Wheaton College Moves to Remote Learning, Adds New Campus Restrictions
Say Her Name Vigil

Recent Stories

  • The Wheaton Liar: A Satire Special
  • Count Your Lucky Stars (4/13)
  • Senate versus SGIB: Tensions spark largest Senate turnout
  • Primrose in Full Bloom at Basement Show
  • Road Back to Glory
Tweets by @WheatonWire

Search

Twitter Feed

Tweets by @WheatonWire
  • Top categories: News/Arts and Culture/Features/Opinion/Sports/From the Editor/Astrology/Politics and Economics/Abroad Blog/Satire
  • Top tags: horoscope/ wheaton sports/ sports/ wheaton/ SGA/ abroad/ film/ COVID-19/ interview/ fake astrology
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Broadsheet by Pro Theme Design.