The Posse Plus Retreat (PPR), an annual opportunity for students connected to the Posse Foundation to discuss specific social issues, serves as a weekend for Posse Scholars, friends, and mentors to build and maintain a strong sense of community. Difficult topics are addressed. Sensitive stories are shared. However, at the most recent PPR, which took place from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, one topic in particular loomed over discussions: the removal of Posse Boston.
Since the fall of 2012 and up until the fall of 2019, the Posse Foundation — a full-tuition leadership-based scholarship program that partners Scholars with over 50 colleges and universities around the country — has sent two groups of Scholars to the Hill campus each year: the Boston Posse and the Miami Posse. However, on May 1, 2018, Posse Scholars already enrolled at Hamilton were notified via email that the College would only be enrolling Posse Miami Scholars effective fall 2019.
The email, signed by Vice President for Enrollment Management Monica Inzer and Director Opportunity Programs/Interim Director Diversity & Inclusion Phyllis Breland ’80, explained that this decision was made as “part of a broader reallocation of resources [to] support an expanded and increasingly national approach to diversity recruitment.” Inzer and Breland emphasized that “regardless of the diversity partnerships we join, Hamilton is richer for having you here.”
The decision received backlash from some of those associated with the Posse Foundation, as Scholars and their friends and mentors argued that the decision was made with little transparency or explanation. It was a topic at the spring 2019 Student Assembly Town Hall, during which President David Wippman gave a public statement in which he stressed that the College continues to have the Posse Foundation and that diversity and inclusion remains a goal of the College.
The controversy was reignited at this year’s PPR during a discussion with a Trustee of the College. Posse Boston Scholar Katherine Barnes ’20 alleged to Student Assembly (SA) at the Feb. 3 SA meeting that the Trustee had said “he believed Boston Posse was removed from Hamilton because [Posse Boston] could not keep up academically with everyone else on campus.” Barnes delivered her comments through fellow Posse Scholar Saphire Ruiz ’22. Ruiz attended the SA meeting along with other members of the Posse program, Sunrise Movement Hamilton College, other scholarship programs, friends, and Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas to share their anger over the Trustee’s comments and what they feel has been a lack of explanation from members of the administration. Academic performance was rumored to be a reason behind the decision to discontinue Posse Boston since the original email announcement. However, Posse Scholars state that members of the administration have denied these rumors; thus, Scholars interpreted the Trustee’s comments as indicating administrative dishonesty.
Administrators met with Posse Scholars a number of times over the 2018–19 academic year in an attempt to reach a resolution. Inzer told
The Spectator
that “we have had numerous meetings and conversations with alumni, faculty, and current students, in an effort to reassure our community of our unwavering commitment to diversity, including all of our currently enrolled Posse Scholars,” during which Inzer and other administrators answered Posse Scholars’ questions about the decision. However, the scholars that spoke at the Feb. 3 SA meeting argued that no explicit answers had been given.
Ruiz reported that she and her fellow Scholars had been told that the reasons for removing Posse Boston were geographical diversity and to diversify the College’s diversity recruitment, which aligns with the original statement sent via email in May 2018. Thus, the Trustee’s alleged comments struck Scholars as insensitive as well as indicative of dishonesty on the administration’s part.
The outrage has come to represent a general feeling of discontent with diversity and inclusion on campus; at the SA meeting, Malik Irish ’22, a Posse Boston Scholar, stated that Posse Scholars have been gaslighted by both administrators and fellow students, accusing both groups of “[feeling] as though [marginalized students’] existence on campus should not really matter, that we shouldn’t be here at all.” Irish added that “if we really do want to fix the problem of Posse Boston and other diversity programs on this campus, and really make them beneficial, we really need to harp on [administrators] to realize the issues and make a change.”
Ruiz agreed with Irish’s feelings of marginalization in an op-ed submitted to
The Spectator
in February 2019, arguing that the College has “[reduced] us to numbers, statistics, and dollar signs… [and] stripped of us of our identities and humanity.” Ruiz further argued that the decision to remove Posse Boston denied her and her fellow Scholars of a “true Posse experience.”
At both the SA meeting and in her op-ed, Ruiz detailed the difficulties, described as “emotional and mental exhaustion” to SA members, that she and other marginalized students feel they face on campus. Ruiz asserted that maintaining a partnership with both Posse Boston and Posse Miami is essential to creating a suitable support network for Posse Scholars, adding in her op-ed that she “feel[s] as though the administration is purposefully working against us… we are being made to feel as though Hamilton can no longer profit off of our emotional labor, our hard work, and our spirit, and so it will no longer invest in our futures because we are simply not worth it.”
In a statement to
The Spectator
, Inzer reiterated that the decision to reallocate resources from Posse Boston to other diversity initiatives was “part of a broader reallocation of resources to grow the opportunities for the recruitment and support of students from diverse populations.” Inzer emphasized that “Hamilton is deeply committed to attracting students from different racial, ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and to fostering an inclusive community and resources to support them.”
Breland, whose responsibilities have included supporting Posse Scholars at Hamilton, agrees that the College has been committed to diversity initiatives and supporting Scholars. “My role has been to support Posse Scholars in whatever way I could, and with whatever resources were available to me. I have shared loss, fear, success, and joy that keeps me working on behalf of students regardless of the challenges, for almost 20 years. I have been witness to progress that needs to be shouted from the rooftops, and never have I been denied the ability to help any student with any issue affecting their personal or academic success. In fact, I have been given tremendous resources and flexibility that demonstrates to me this institution’s commitment to all of its students,” Breland told
The Spectator
.
At the SA meeting, Ruiz requested that the administration release a public statement — rejecting the one made at the spring 2019 Town Hall by President Wippman — and also demanded an apology from President Wippman, Dean of Students Terry Martinez, and Inzer, alleging that the three administrators had “personally disrespected” Scholars. SA President Tommy Keith ’22 told Scholars that he and SA Vice President Bryce Febres ’22, a Posse Miami Scholar, would bring up the topic of Posse Boston to President Wippman and Dean Martinez.
Some Scholars have suggested conversation rather than demands as a way to move forward. Gianni Hill ’21, a Posse Boston Scholar, is studying abroad and was not present for the most recent PPR, but stated to
The Spectator
: “I was hoping that last year’s Town hall would put a rest to all of the rumors regarding the removal of Boston Posse. However, I am disheartened by some of the rumors that transpired at the Posse Plus Retreat this year. Posse’s President & Founder will be visiting campus later this month to meet with Posse Scholars and administrators; I look forward to seeing what comes of that meeting.”
Inzer and Breland both believe the best way to move forward is to work together to achieve understanding. Inzer empathized with some Scholars’ frustrations, stating: “Of course I understand why some students are disappointed with Hamilton’s decision. It is my hope that we can celebrate the impact Boston Posse has had on our campus, and move forward together to build on our many diversity initiatives and to strengthen the culture of inclusivity on Hamilton’s campus.”
Breland similarly expressed empathy, telling
The Spectator
: “I believe this to be a complex and involved situation, where no portion or question presented stands alone. While I understand the questions, I also understand the context to be that of ‘change.’ I do know that change while advantageous can be very difficult, and can take time to prove beneficial for everyone. I also know that where matters of the heart and passion are involved, that our hearing or understanding of the issues becomes jaded and personal, making it even more difficult to see the big picture.”
When asked about how to best move forward, Breland emphasized understanding. “I think beginning with acceptance that things do change. I believe that while everyone is entitled to their feelings, we don’t have the right to change the potential or experience for others. We can’t move forward if we don’t understand all of the good that has been done, and use that as a base for continued growth.”
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NOTE: This story has been updated as of 2/19/20 to include the following additional information:
- Academic performance had been rumored to be a reason behind the Posse Boston decision since the announcement of the decision.
- Posse Scholars state that members of the administration have explicitly denied the rumors regarding academic performance.
We hope that this additional information provides greater context for readers and apologize for its omission from the original printed article.
