This past Monday I attended Student Assembly’s weekly meeting, where the first resolution was passed since 2017. It called for the President and VP of SA to become full voting members of the Board of Trustees. The events following its passage proved its necessity.
President Wippman delivered remarks about his plans for the semester and year. His remarks were short compared to the over an hour of questions members of the Assembly asked him, questions which, disappointingly, he appeared ill-equipped to answer. President Wippman was asked questions ranging from why he had not consulted or gathered consent from BLSU before sending out an all-campus email claiming they were working with him (his response amounted to “I’m sorry you feel that way”) to what the College is doing to work with the Oneida Nation (he doesn’t know). On all but a few occasions, his answers were evasive, unprepared, and even offensive.
When Rep. Emily Fienco ’23 asked about why the College has refused to release a statement on the rationale for terminating Posse Boston despite releasing statements about other admissions changes, President Wippman falsely claimed that he talked about this “at length” at a previous town hall. In actuality, Posse Boston was made the last topic at that town hall and given only a few minutes, long after many people had left. He went on to say that he was “convinced it was the right decision” to terminate Posse Boston. This is not to mention, his explanation that the decision had nothing to do with academic performance directly contradicts statements made in February and covered in this publication by a member of the Board of Trustees that they were glad about the decision because Posse Boston didn’t perform as well.
When presented with emails from the Office of the President as evidence that he and the Board lied to students about the location of a Trustee meeting where students were set to protest for climate action back in March, and I asked what he was doing to earn students’ trust that he and the Board take the climate crisis seriously, he said that he “completely disagree[d] with” my “characterization.” He then proceeded to not provide a single substantial action that he or the Board will commit to undertaking, yet still claimed the Board takes it seriously.
So, as Rep. Lóri Fejes asked, what can students do on campus to get answers and make positive change at an institutional level? Wippman said to set up a meeting with him. That is fascinating, considering that as someone who has met with President Wippman on numerous occasions, he has not once agreed to take a tangible systemic action following said meeting. I encourage students to ask their friends on the boards of the Black and Latinx Student Union, Feminists of Color Collective, Shenendoah-Kirkland Initiative, Sunrise Movement, Survivors Making Activism and Radical Transformation, the Womxn’s Center, and others whether or not they feel any of their meetings with President Wippman have produced positive change and tangible action steps. You will likely find that when President Wippman, and in fact most (not all) administrators say to “set up a meeting,” what they actually mean is that they want to allay your concerns, gaslight their necessity, and pray you never return again with a bullhorn.
If we are a “Hamily,” then the actions of President Wippman on Monday (and long before) indicate a pattern of abuse. We must break that cycle ourselves. That is why I ask that we as a community begin to assert ourselves more forcefully; SA’s resolution is a first step. Next, student journalism should begin to take a more adversarial approach and investigate incidents like why the meeting location in March was changed, the real Trustee discussions on the termination of Posse Boston, why BLSU, FCC, and Professor Shelley Haley were excluded from the Advisory Council, and the numerous values antithetical to our community that exist on the ever-mysterious Board of Trustees, especially the conflict of interest that exists regarding Bob Delaney’s assets and decision-making on divestment. We should also be filling up all two hours of Wippman’s office hours every week so that he can face the people and he can be forced to answer questions as tough as those he faced Monday, but regularly. SA should continue passing resolution after resolution before the Trustees next meet in October so that the full Board will have a stack of student demands to sort through. Our community is strong, and it is time we flex that muscle.
In disappointment, frustration, and anger,
Eric Stenzel ’23