Tensions boiled over at Connecticut College this week, with students locking themselves inside a campus building over several race-related issues, including the dean of diversity abruptly quitting in February after the school planned a fundraising trip to a social club with an alleged history of discrimination.
On Wednesday, hundreds of staff members and students gathered outside Fanning Hall—which houses the president’s office—to cheer on the occupiers and call for the ouster of President Katherine Bergeron.
The diversity scandal came to a head after the school planned a Feb. 8 fundraising trip to the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, Florida, which students and the former Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion Rodmon King accused of having a racist and antisemitic past. The club reportedly had a pattern of excluding Black and Jewish people as members when it opened in 1919, according to the editorial board of student newspaper The College Voice.
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“We don’t want to take donations from people who are racist or antisemitic,” Connecticut College student Leila Merhi told Connecticut Public radio.
The College Voice claimed Connecticut College President Katherine Bergeron was aware of the Everglades Club’s history and still chose to hold a fundraiser there. The event was ultimately canceled on Feb. 6.
“Full participation is a core value at Conn, which is why I regret our decision to schedule an event at a location whose history and reputation suggest otherwise,” Bergeron wrote in a letter to the college community two days after the cancellation, The College Voice reported. “We made that decision believing that our values were clear. But the decision to proceed came across differently, and we recognize now that we were wrong.”
A manager at the Everglades Club declined to comment on the controversy.
On Feb. 7, Bergeron announced King, a Black man, had resigned from his position, but didn’t provide any explanation as to why he left.
“Over the past year, I have witnessed President Bergeron yell at, denigrate, talk over, and silence my colleagues during Cabinet meetings,” King wrote the same day in a letter to Connecticut College’s Board of Trustees chair and vice chair, obtained by The Day. “These bullying behaviors are clearly violations of the basic respect that should be afforded any professional. …This has led to a toxic administrative culture of fear and intimidation. People seek to avoid triggering [Bergeron’s] anger and this affects their ability to do their jobs.”
Students believe that King was not the only faculty member of color who was subjected to bullying from school officials, and in the wake of his resignation, they continued voicing their frustrations with the school’s leadership, gaining the support of over 120 faculty members who signed a letter expressing the need for change, local outlet WTNH reported.
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Nearly a week after King left on Feb. 12, the school’s Board of Trustees released a letter to the community about his “sudden resignation.”
“Like President Bergeron, we acknowledge that the decision of the College to schedule a fundraising event at a venue that has been associated with discriminatory policies and practices was a mistake, inconsistent with our College’s commitment to equity and inclusion, which is why the event was canceled,” the board wrote. “Still the planning of the event sent an unintended message that has caused disappointment, dismay, and confusion in our community.”
The Board of Trustees vowed to take diversity efforts seriously and accepted “the call to much more effectively ensure that all members of our community experience, and not just hear about, that commitment.”
But it wasn’t enough. On Feb. 23, Student Voices for Equity, a group created after King’s departure, launched an online petition demanding Bergeron’s resignation, transparency in the search for a new college president, increased diversity initiatives and offices, more people of color employed at the school, more readily available resources for students from marginalized communities, and stronger support of various ethnic studies programs.
The Board of Trustees attempted to calm the burgeoning storm by holding meetings with students and faculty members regarding the lack of diversity initiatives on Feb. 24, The College Voice reported. Students began their building takeover the following week.
Late Sunday night, dozens of students locked themselves inside Fanning Hall, hung signs outside windows calling for change, and crowded college streets, according to The College Voice. Some professors canceled classes. The demonstrations continued into Tuesday and Wednesday and could last up to five days, The Day reported.
“Many students have realized from the resignation of our former dean of institutional, equity, and inclusion that we just can no longer stand for the tokenization, bullying, and blatant racism that President Bergeron and leadership has had [an] impact on our Connecticut College community,” Student Voices for Equity member Lyndon Inglis told the Connecticut Mirror.
Connecticut College alumnus David Collins wrote in an essay for The Day that it was a bad look for a school president “accused of bullying and ignoring college diversity issues to refuse to appear in public and address the growing crisis, as both students and faculty demand a change in leadership.”
On Wednesday morning, Bergeron responded to Student Voices for Equity demands. She claimed finances would be reviewed for the purpose of finding funding for diversity programs, but she did not comment on students’ and faculties’ cries for her resignation.
Students continued protesting into the afternoon.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Cramer said the rest of the college community is operating normally “with some academic and administrative units working remotely this week.”
“College leadership supports the right to free expression and peaceful protest, and will continue to pursue constructive dialogue with students, faculty and staff as we address the important concerns they have raised,” he said.
King declined to comment on the matter.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the students attempted to lock themselves inside multiple buildings but are only occupying one.
