On May 1, 2018, Director of Opportunity Programs Phyllis Breland and Vice President of Enrollment Management Monica Inzer sent an email to Posse Foundation Scholars enrolled at Hamilton College, announcing the decision to terminate Posse Boston. Current Posse Boston Scholars’ scholarships were protected, as well as the incoming posse — the 18th Posse Boston cohort — but Hamilton, would no longer be participating in Posse Boston. From then on, they would only be accepting a new posse every year from Posse Miami.

Following this decision, Scholars immediately met with different staff and administrators on campus, including Breland and Inzer. Scholars were shocked and upset by the announcement and wanted to know why the decision was made. They were told repeatedly that it was made out of a greater attempt to “diversify diversity recruitment” and increase “geographical diversity.” However, from the beginning, there were rumors of other factors as well, including that Posse was too expensive of a program. Most significantly, Scholars who took part in the first meeting stated that Posse Boston Scholars having low “performance” (such as grade point averages) as a cause for the termination was briefly brought up, but that when Scholars attempted to get more information that line of inquiry was shut down. Scholars also questioned why no one was involved in the decision-making process (such as Posse Boston officials, alumni, or even students themselves), and were allegedly told that it would be too personal for those individuals and that students are only here temporarily so they cannot be fully trusted with a decision that impacts the future of the College — echoing Breland’s similar comments in The Spectator’s most recent article, “Posse Boston Decision Controversy Reignites at PossePlus Retreat.”

Less than a year later, the annual PossePlus Retreat (PPR) in Feb. 2019 acted as a catalyst for the underlying tensions over the decision to end Posse Boston. As Scholars spent time talking and thinking about the termination of Posse Boston, how the College made and announced the decision, and the general sentiment that Posse Scholars were being ignored and treated unjustly, Scholars began to brainstorm ways to bring more awareness to the termination and receive concrete answers. PPR thus culminated in an Op-Ed released in The Spectator by Posse Boston Scholar Saphire Ruiz ’22 on Feb. 21 and the relaunch of meetings between Scholars and staff and administrators. Between March 2019 and May 2019, there were two meetings between Inzer and Dean of Students Terry Martinez and Posse Boston and Miami Scholars, where Scholars tried to get clarification over the reasons for terminating Posse Boston, and, more specifically, why no representatives of Posse were part of the decision-making process.

During these meetings, a lot of the discussion sought to dismiss rumors such as unhappiness with Hamilton and low academic performance. Posse Scholars in attendance were told multiple times by Martinez and Inzer that neither of those reasons was taken into consideration as the College discussed terminating Posse Boston. Scholars were still concerned, however, as we felt that the Scholars who had met with Inzer and Breland in May 2018 and claimed “performance” was briefly brought up would have no reason to lie; the implication that they were lying left a bad taste in our mouths.

Programs such as QuestBridge were also brought up as they are said to attract students in different areas and with need-based financial status. However, different programs like QuestBridge and the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) are often used in some ways to devalue Posse, and Scholars often feel that the programs are being unfairly pitted against each other. Most of the students in all three of the programs are close with each other and act as support systems for each other; so for our groups to be reduced down and compared to each other based on whether we as individuals offer the College the diversity statistics it is searching for is deplorable. It also ignores the inherent issue that the majority Black and Brown students in all three programs are outright ignored and mistreated at Hamilton, partly because of the rhetoric that these students are “given a chance to go to an elite institution.” Since Hamilton gives many networking opportunities and is ranked highly amongst other schools, it is seen as a place where marginalized groups can get out of their oppressions and become better than their counterparts. This, however, is false and creates feelings of tokenism on a campus that does not fully want to support us.

After the first initial meeting, we had a follow up that aimed to expand on the idea of support for Posse students, as we do not receive any on campus and have to resort to dealing with situations with only our mentor and/or reaching out to Posse staff in Boston. The meeting, however, failed to acknowledge the ways we need to be supported, and instead, administrators listed the different initiatives Hamilton participates in such as Common Ground, a program that is used to foster “healthy” dialogue. The use of healthy dialogue would allow different groups of people to come together and work to live in harmony instead of hate. In Hamilton’s logic using Common Ground integrates identities to the point where divisions are non-existent and arguing with one another is gone. This continues to emphasize the issue of problems being swept under the rug to save face.

On April 29, 2019, Student Assembly (SA) also held a Town Hall, at which the termination of Posse Boston was a topic for five minutes at the very end. There, a few Posse Scholars were given the opportunity to ask President David Wippman direct questions about the decision to terminate Posse Boston. However, the administrators present were in conflict with Posse Scholars still seeking answers. As we shifted into the topic, the atmosphere immediately felt tense for Posse Scholars, because many Hamilton students began leaving the Town Hall as soon as Posse was mentioned — showing the disconnect between the greater campus and Posse Scholars; there was a general sentiment among Scholars that no one really cared about our existence. Throughout the segment, administrators placed continuous emphasis on the “geographical diversity” initiative and the denial of any other reasons for the termination. After a Hamilton Board of Trustee member at PPR 2019 suggested that Posse is too much to maintain and requires too many resources, Posse Boston Scholar Luis Morales ’20 asked President Wippman if the College cut Posse out of financial concern. In response, President Wippman refused to answer. When asked why the College did not make a public statement, he argued that the College does not make public statements about admissions chances and that technically him addressing Posse Boston while being live-streamed was a public statement.

This year’s PPR in early February once again kindled feelings of anxiousness and stress. It first came out of President Wippman, Dean Martinez, and Vice President Inzer attending the event for the first time. Although Scholars were blindsided by this, many felt it was important for them to come as most attendees — specifically Posse Scholars — had issues they would have liked to have addressed by the administrators. However, instead of attending the full PPR, the administrators came for dinner, President Wippman gave a speech on “political discourse” and left the event, leaving many students again frustrated with the efforts of the administration to avoid conversations they say they want to have. Tensions continued to rise during lunch that following day. The same Trustee who suggested Posse was cut in part because it required too many resources, added to the fire by reportedly stating to two Posse Boston Scholars at lunch that he was glad Posse Boston was cut because the students do not perform academically well. This was a slap in the face to many who felt that the administration’s reasonings were never fully honest. Furthermore, there was a special concern given that low “performance” as a factor has come up time and time again, and denied time and time again since the decision was first announced. Scholars already feel as though the information is being withheld from us, and that our questions are going unanswered; now we have reason to believe that we are willfully being lied to by multiple members of the administration, while simultaneously those same administrators imply that previous Scholars lied about topics brought up in earlier meetings.

After the situation, Scholars made a statement at PPR a few hours later, urging those who supported Posse to come to the SA meeting on Feb. 3 during the public comment period. There we gave a full statement on our demands for administration and expanded reasoning for our outcry. As Posse Boston Scholar Malik Irish ’22 stated at the SA meeting, “we are tired of being gaslit by not only administration but also by students themselves who feel as though our existence should not really matter and that we should be here at all.” He expands by explaining that Posse Scholars “really want to focus on what inclusion and diversity means on this campus and the ways that Hamilton looks at diversity and inclusion are not actually helpful and that they need to fix the systems that really do affect Black and Brown bodies on this campus, low-income bodies on this campus, and actually let us have a voice and say what our concerns are so that we can actually make a change here.”

We are but a few months away from the two year anniversary of the termination of Posse Boston. Since that decision, Posse Scholars, and especially those from Boston, have been wrought with anxiety, anger, hurt, and frustration. We have spent the last year and a half defending our right to be on this campus, defending ourselves against claims of falsification and misplaced anger, and simply trying to just survive on a predominantly white, predominantly rich campus such as Hamilton.

Since last year, Scholars have demanded the College released a public statement about the decision to terminate Posse Boston. Now, we are also demanding a public apology, namely from President Wippman, Dean Martinez, Vice President Inzer, and the Trustee. As Ruiz ’22 said in their public statement at SA on Feb. 3rd, “we deserve to be treated with respect. We deserve to have our voices heard. We deserve to not have to carry endless weight while doing our best to succeed academically and take part in extracurriculars, and overall live happily and healthy in our short but impactful four years on Campus.”

Note from authors: we made the personal decision not to name the Trustee in this article. However, he is named in the SA statement made on Feb. 3 and is in the minutes from that meeting. We are also willing to talk about it more in person.