Hundreds of Vassar student surrounded and occupied Main Building last Friday, spurred on by a series of revelations about the college’s administrative response to allegations of sexual assault and racial profiling on campus. Protestors called on the administration to do better.
The Vassar protests were framed by the larger national debate sparked by Ferguson and the lack of indictment in the Eric Garner case.
“It was a rally for sexual and racial justice. It was a peaceful one, wonderfully coordinated, with speakers and so on. We value that at Vassar. We value the opportunity for folks to say what’s on their mind,” said Dr. Christopher Roellke, dean of the college.
On campus, complaints relating to sexual assault, racial profiling and mental health came to a head last week in a confluence of events resulting in the protests.
A current Vassar student published an open letter to the administration in Boilerplate, a student blog, on Dec. 1, recounting her experience of an alleged sexual assault as a new freshman at Vassar.
The college is also in the process of investigating its Safety and Security operation. In recent years, there have been a series of allegations that campus Safety has engaged in routine racial profiling. Margolis Healy, a Burlington, Vermont-based consulting firm, was tasked with evaluating Vassar’s Safety and Security and offering recommendations for improvement.
A day after the student’s letter was published in Boilerplate, Steven Healy, the managing partner of Margolis Healy, presented the firm’s preliminary findings to hundreds of students, faculty and staff in an open meeting on campus on Dec. 2.
