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President McCartney Addresses Campus Gathering in Wake of Ferguson Grand Jury Decision

Campus Life

Published November 25, 2014

The steps in front of the Campus Center Tuesday were filled with students, faculty and staff gathered to express their reactions to a grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo. the previous evening.

The panel voted not to indict the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an African American teenager, this summer.

As dean of religious life Jennifer Walters called for some moments of silence in honor of Brown, it grew quiet enough to hear the wind in the trees. Some of those gathered bowed their heads and closed their eyes. Others looked off toward the horizon.

President McCartney had invited the community to a midday gathering to share “the grief and frustration that so many of us are feeling” about the verdict in Ferguson.

“In the face of injustice, let us honor Michael Brown and his family,” McCartney said. And as Brown’s family urged, “let’s not just make noise; let’s make a difference,” she said. (Click herefor the full text of the president’s remarks.)

The microphone was then opened to anyone who wished to speak. Students, faculty and staff stepped forward with comments and suggestions for ways the Smith community can respond to issues underlying events in Ferguson.

Michael Thurston, professor of English language and literature, said it was appropriate to “cry out” about the verdict. This is a “moment of reckoning with a wound,” he said. “I am here to raise my voice for the raising of our voices.”

Lauren Brunet ’16 urged fellow students to “educate yourselves, both about your privilege and the situation for others. Take African American studies classes.”

Albert Mosley, professor of philosophy, described how many African Americans teach their children how to act around police in order to avoid being harmed. “I have had my own encounters with police where I felt threatened,” Mosley said.

Earlier in the day, Marianne Yoshioka, dean of the Smith College School for Social Work, released a statement affirming the school’s 20-year commitment to anti-racism work. Yoshioka called on college community members to engage in “non-violent social and political action to provoke systemic change” for a more equitable society.

At the gathering outside the Campus Center, Walters noted that her office will be organizing other opportunities for the Smith community to take up issues raised by the verdict in Ferguson.

In the meantime, “One thing you can do is talk about this at the Thanksgiving table,” Walters said. “Practice how to talk about these issues.”