This Saturday, March 6th, marks one year since the last protest rally that was held on Hamilton’s campus before the COVID-19 Pandemic took hold. Since 2020 has made us forget many things as we simply try to survive our new conditions — and there is now a whole class year of students that does not know how Hamilton can come together to demand what we need of our administration — there are many things that we the students need to be reminded of, including what has, has not, and needs to change.
To give context, the March 6th Climate Strike was the third on-campus rally that Sunrise Hamilton (which all of us writing to you currently are or were hub coordinators of at the time of the rally) had since the hub’s founding in fall 2019. The rally’s demands were largely the same as the previous ones: divestment of Hamilton’s endowment from fossil fuels, a college carbon neutrality date of 2030, declare a climate emergency like so many colleges have and increased consultation with the Oneida Nation on future climate policies by the college. The additional demand that we included for this rally was for increased transparency from the Board of Trustees about its investment decisions and meetings, where something like divestment would be discussed. For this very reason, we decided to rally on the day that the Board would be meeting on campus. Further, we chose the location of the rally to be Buttrick Hall, where we learned from information gathered on 25Live and from multiple invited students that many trustees and students would be meeting for lunch at the time.
At the time, we had no reason to believe that the majority of the Board even knew about any of the previous protests and demands — or that they cared. We needed to bring the issue directly to them. They needed to hear student voices directly. To this end, we invited President Wippman, Stephen Sadove (Board Chairman), and Bob Delaney (Chair of the Investment Committee) to the rally, with the stipulation that they only speak if they were going to announce any changes in investment policies so as to center students’ ability to speak. Despite the invitation, Mr. Sadove and Mr. Delaney did not show up — and neither did the rest of the Board, as President Wippman told us at the rally that Buttrick Hall had not been used for “years” due to “disability concerns.”
This, we knew from anonymously forwarded invitations and subsequent location change notices sent after we announced the location of our rally, was a lie. We also must note the particularly egregious use of “disability concerns” as the cover for the lie.
Following the rally, when the college was soon closed for Spring Break, we waited until the College had made a firm decision to not bring students back to campus for the rest of the Spring 2020 semester to reach out to President Wippman to gain further clarity on the truthfulness of the location of the Trustees. Though he addressed the other points in our email — particularly refusing yet again to give written notice of any kind on the Board’s decision to not divest from fossil fuels — President Wippman ignored our question of location entirely.
The events leading up to and following Hamilton’s last protest rally to date need to serve as a reminder as to why students have been long demanding transparency and respect from our administration. Whether you look at them moving the location of a meeting to avoid student concerns for how Hamilton is abetting the climate crisis, only including one student on a racial equity and inclusion council meant to benefit students, or the refusal to release written public statements on student protests despite a 2017 Student Assembly resolution demanding they do so, it is clear that Hamilton often does not take the concerns of students seriously in the way it is asked to. This is not an issue of students voicing their concerns, but of having these voices listened to and responded to. To do this, students need to be allowed and welcomed where decisions are being made. Students need to make their own decisions and be allowed to speak for themselves.
This problem can only begin to be solved by implementing the Student Assembly proposal for student delegates by Class President Kuczek ’23, Rep. Saied ’23, and Rep. Harris ’22, a feature of many other institutions but not Hamilton. Trustees need to hear directly from students about how the college needs to operate as participants at the same exact table. A college is supposed to benefit the education and lives of the students, and Hamilton needs to follow through on this promise.
It is our ultimate hope that this ethos can be extended into every aspect of the college wherever possible — but still, being readily included does not mean that students can stop being critical of the administration. Students should always be able to share concerns. Student journalism — including and especially the Spectator — should always serve as a true check on the administration. For every decision this institution makes that impacts its constituency of students, it must include and justify the decision to that constituency. Students should always strive for a better campus for all students, present and future. There can no longer be a perception of student demands for change being “predatory language,” as President Wippman described it at the March 6th rally.
As we come upon the anniversary of March 6th, we are hopeful that we will one day be able to contribute to this end by gathering in protest with our fellow students. Until then, our work has not ended with a pandemic nor do we intend for it to.
Sincerely,
Madison Lazenby, Sunrise Hamilton Hub Coordinator
Izzy Rutkey, Sunrise Hamilton Hub Coordinator
Jessica Sanchez, Sunrise Hamilton Hub Coordinator
Eric Stenzel, Spring 2020 Sunrise Hamilton Hub Coordinator and Student Assembly Fall Vice President-Elect
