Dr. Claudine Gay: Let Us Not Allow Her To Be Erased
Today, President Claudine Gay resigned.
This story is not on the home page of Harvard University. https://www.harvard.edu/
It is almost as if she has been erased.
It is important that she is not erased.
Her resignation reminded me of the resignation letter of Lesley Lokko, the former Dean of former Dean of Architecture, CUNY, who resigned after 9 months.
In Lesley Lokko’s resignation statement, she states in part:
No job is worth one’s life and at times I genuinely feared for my own. Race is never far from the surface of any situation in the U.S. Having come directly from South Africa, I wasn’t prepared for the way it manifests in the U.S. and quite simply, I lacked the tools to both process and deflect it. The lack of respect and empathy for Black people, especially Black women, caught me off guard, although it’s by no means unique to Spitzer. I suppose I’d say in the end that my resignation was a profound act of self-preservation.” https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14831-lesley-lokko-explains-her-resignation-from-city-college-of-new-yorks-spitzer-school-of-architecture
Dr. Claudine Gay, in her resignation letter states in part: “Amidst all of this, it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.” Claudine Gay, former President of Harvard University, who resigned after 6 months.
In a separate statement, the Harvard Corporation said: “”While President Gay has acknowledged missteps and has taken responsibility for them, it is also true that she has shown remarkable resilience in the face of deeply personal and sustained attacks. While some of this has played out in the public domain, much of it has taken the form of repugnant and in some cases racist vitriol directed at her through disgraceful emails and phone calls. We condemn such attacks in the strongest possible terms,” the statement said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/claudine-gay-resigns-harvard-university-president-letter/
In 2018, I co-edited a volume with Dr. Joanna Maes, “Journeys of Social Justice: Women of Color Presidents in the Academy.”
https://www.amazon.com/Journeys-Social-Justice-Presidents-Critical/dp/1433131838
It was inspired by an annual conference – the Faculty Women of Color in the Academy National Conference. (registration still open). What I learned in writing the book is that the presidency for women of color is a precarious position. It is important that we are in those positions, but the academy is structured in such a way that our success and ability to thrive in leadership positions is difficult and challenging. These jobs can kill us, if not literally, then figuratively. I recently wrote about the death of two women of color presidents on the job, https://menahpratt.com/simon-says-take-two-giant-steps-backward/
I reflect on three critical statements in Dr. Gay’s resignation letter:
1) Amidst all of this, it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.
2) These last weeks have helped make clear the work we need to do to build that future — to combat bias and hate in all its forms, to create a learning environment in which we respect each other’s dignity and treat one another with compassion, and to affirm our enduring commitment to open inquiry and free expression in the pursuit of truth.
3) When my brief presidency is remembered, I hope it will be seen as a moment of reawakening to the importance of striving to find our common humanity — and of not allowing rancor and vituperation to undermine the vital process of education. I trust we will all find ways, in this time of intense challenge and controversy, to recommit ourselves to the excellence, the openness, and the independence that are crucial to what our university stands for — and to our capacity to serve the world.
Two important take aways: Racism is still a powerful force in society. In fact, the Corporation (I just fascinated by the use of that term to describe the governing body), acknowledged the hate directed towards her.
Higher education should be a place where we can learn how to serve the world, how to move past “rancor and vituperation” and how to “find our common humanity.” I’m not sure our institutions are currently structured to do this.
Lesley Lokko, in her resignation, provides a hint of the challenge needed to do this:
“I have always conceived of the academy as the space that is both protective and protected in which citizens (faculty, staff and students) are free to explore options for change before the rage consumes us all. As long as we continue to resist it, the kind of transformational change we all claim to seek in the built environment disciplines, will require a kind of intellectual violence that no institution wants to provoke or support. Someone sent me one of those Instagram snapshots that read, ‘you will never influence the world by trying to be like it.’
I suppose the real question for all schools, again, not just Spitzer, is how far they’re prepared to ‘allow’ leaders to explore options for influencing the world differently, with different pedagogical and operational models, different paradigms, different hierarchies and different outcomes, which, for me, is the only way to achieve meaningful change.”
Can the academy, can higher education, be a place for influencing the world differently? What does intellectual violence against the current dominant hegemony of political influence, economic influence, look like? How can higher education be this place when states are systematically dismantling structures, systems, and offices that are engaged in “intellectual violence,” and challenging the dominant hegemonic cannons of American ideologies of whiteness, wealth, and privilege?
We must continue to try to find the answer to this question.
At this moment, I am more than ever convinced of the need for conference like the Faculty Women of Color in the Academy National Conference.
If you are woman of color in higher education and are a faculty member, graduate student, administrator, post-doctoral fellow, or independent scholar please ask your institution to sponsor you to attend the Faculty Women of Color in the Academy National Conference (FWCA) virtual or in-person. I founded this conference, now hosted and supported by Virginia Tech, specifically to support women of color in higher education.
The 12th annual installment of FWCA, April 11-14, 2024,(virtual and in-person) will feature sessions that will explore the topics of leadership, career advancement, personal well-being, scholar activism, and graduate school / emerging scholars.
Learn more at https://www.inclusive.vt.edu/Programs/FWCA/conference-info.html
Dr. Claudine Gay: We Will Not Allow You To Be Erased
Dr. Gay’s full resignation letter, because our words matter:
Dear Members of the Harvard Community,
It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president. This is not a decision I came to easily. Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great university across centuries. But, after consultation with members of the Corporation, it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.
It is a singular honor to be a member of this university, which has been my home and my inspiration for most of my professional career. My deep sense of connection to Harvard and its people has made it all the more painful to witness the tensions and divisions that have riven our community in recent months, weakening the bonds of trust and reciprocity that should be our sources of strength and support in times of crisis. Amidst all of this, it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.
I believe in the people of Harvard because I see in you the possibility and the promise of a better future. These last weeks have helped make clear the work we need to do to build that future — to combat bias and hate in all its forms, to create a learning environment in which we respect each other’s dignity and treat one another with compassion, and to affirm our enduring commitment to open inquiry and free expression in the pursuit of truth. I believe we have within us all that we need to heal from this period of tension and division and to emerge stronger. I had hoped with all my heart to lead us on that journey, in partnership with all of you. As I now return to the faculty, and to the scholarship and teaching that are the lifeblood of what we do, I pledge to continue working alongside you to build the community we all deserve.
When I became president, I considered myself particularly blessed by the opportunity to serve people from around the world who saw in my presidency a vision of Harvard that affirmed their sense of belonging — their sense that Harvard welcomes people of talent and promise, from every background imaginable, to learn from and grow with one another. To all of you, please know that those doors remain open, and Harvard will be stronger and better because they do.
As we welcome a new year and a new semester, I hope we can all look forward to brighter days. Sad as I am to be sending this message, my hopes for Harvard remain undimmed. When my brief presidency is remembered, I hope it will be seen as a moment of reawakening to the importance of striving to find our common humanity — and of not allowing rancor and vituperation to undermine the vital process of education. I trust we will all find ways, in this time of intense challenge and controversy, to recommit ourselves to the excellence, the openness, and the independence that are crucial to what our university stands for — and to our capacity to serve the world.
Sincerely, Claudine Gay
Lesley Lokko’s Resignation statement:
It was a difficult decision to arrive at, no matter how clear it might appear, but the decision to come to Spitzer in the first place was also difficult. I withdrew from the selection process during the search, but the late Michael Sorkin persuaded me to give Spitzer a try. In hindsight, it was naïve of me to think that I could directly apply a model from one context to another, but I suppose it appeared to me as though many of the conditions that I’d had direct experience of in South Africa — issues of diversity, race, equity, development, and even sustainability — were similar to those at Spitzer.
I thought I’d been very clear about my own vision, both at interview and subsequently, but I also acknowledge that the gap between what’s said and what’s understood is often wider than anyone thinks, particularly the person doing the talking.
Change was always going to be my mandate, however.
No one takes a position of leadership to be popular — you do it to put your vision of the future in front of your audience, and do your best to bring people on side, empowering them to interpret the changes in their own way and hopefully creating a new community pulling more or less in the same direction in the process.
That process involves intense dialogue and discussion, many bottles of wine and a measure of compromise, which I generally thoroughly enjoy doing.
COVID truncated that process, but the school’s own internal climate was a major factor. Any institution, having waited for four years for leadership is going to be a difficult space to enter and Spitzer was no exception. Reactions in the first couple of weeks veered sharply between hostility and adulation, which usually signals trouble ahead. Michael’s tragic death deprived both parties of a go-between, someone who was prepared to broker better compromises and better buy-in.
The pandemic months (March to May) were actually much easier for me personally than the months that followed George Floyd’s killing. There was so little understanding of the impact it might have (and did have) on minority faculty, staff and students that it took me a while to come to terms with what the lack of empathy meant in the broader context of American society.
Demands on my time quadrupled overnight (which is to be expected and were also opportunities, which I freely acknowledge) but those demands, coupled with drastic budget cuts, contracting COVID myself and operating with nowhere near the level of administrative support required, meant that there were moments when I wasn’t sure I’d wake up the following morning.
At a broader level, since it’s counterproductive to spend too much time wallowing in detail, which is always contested and subjective, my experience at Spitzer has only confirmed something I know I understood coming in, no matter how optimistic my view of NYC might have been. I look back now at my own Instagram posts and am struck by my own levels of giddy excitement.
The changes we made in South Africa were, I believe, only possible in the context of violent student protests that occurred in 2015 and 2016. The one great achievement of the GSA, in my view, was its ability to turn the impulse from destruction to production — of knowledge, insight, opportunity.
That was the real transformation: working productively with violence, as strange as that might sound. For all sorts of valid reasons, Americans fear violence, no matter that it’s all around. Yet in the short time I’ve been here, the level of emotional and intellectual violence inflicted on those of “difference” – however it’s constructed — has been both sobering and shocking.
I have always conceived of the academy as the space that is both protective and protected in which citizens (faculty, staff and students) are free to explore options for change before the rage consumes us all. As long as we continue to resist it, the kind of transformational change we all claim to seek in the built environment disciplines, will require a kind of intellectual violence that no institution wants to provoke or support. Someone sent me one of those Instagram snapshots that read, ‘you will never influence the world by trying to be like it.’
I suppose the real question for all schools, again, not just Spitzer, is how far they’re prepared to ‘allow’ leaders to explore options for influencing the world differently, with different pedagogical and operational models, different paradigms, different hierarchies and different outcomes, which, for me, is the only way to achieve meaningful change.https://www.dezeen.com/2020/10/12/lesley-lokko-resigns-black-dean-new-york-city-college/#