Photo by Richard Howard

At the end of last semester, a large group of students marched on the president’s office, both in solidarity with students at the University of Missouri and other institutions and to express their concern about issues of race, inclusion, and equity at Wellesley. Wearing black and chanting “Black Lives Matter,” they met with senior administrators and shared their own experiences of feeling excluded and marginalized. They called for increased recruitment and retention of both faculty and students of African descent, better mental-health resources, and the establishment of a racial and ethnic sensitivity curriculum.

“Recent events around the country and on our own campus have made clear that more work remains to be done if we are going to serve our students in the best possible way—a way that ensures that they all feel respected, valued, and included as members of our community,” President H. Kim Bottomly told the faculty not long after the march. At press time, Bottomly and Interim Dean of Students Adele Wolfson were planning to meet with students early in the spring semester to discuss how they can address these issues together.