May 16th, 2018
This morning, Liz Braun announced that she will resign from her position as Dean of Students, effective June 30. This comes exactly one week after the close of O4S’s sit-in in her and Dean Miller’s offices. It also comes 58 days after O4S formally demanded Braun’s resignation. This announcement reflects the depth of Swarthmore’s failures as well as the power the students possess to bring to light those failures and revolutionize a broken system. The College now has the opportunity to re-evaluate its standards for acceptability and work towards developing a new system, rooted in transformative justice. We can do this well.
We celebrate this victory, particularly what it means for survivors and other students who have been mistreated by Dean Braun or as a result of her leadership. Her resignation is an implicit recognition of the severity of harm that she and other administrators have caused. We will not allow the narrative around this moment to be rewritten. This is a result of students’ criticism, organizing, and direct action, and it is the responsibility of every member of Swarthmore’s community to preserve that in our institutional memory.
While we take pride in this advancement, we understand this as one step in the long process of creating a meaningful structure of accountability for Swarthmore’s administration. The determination of students to advocate for a better and more just Swarthmore does not end with this resignation.
We have asked the questions: what is our precedent for acceptability? What will we tolerate from our administrators? Today we continue to answer those questions—the conversation is not over. As we look to fill this vacated role, and as we wait for Nathan Miller and Beth Pitts to submit their resignations, we must stand firm in our conviction that administrators can and should be held to high standards. Our administrators should be responsive, humane, compassionate, and accountable. We will not accept less than this.
To the hundreds of students who have put so much of their emotional and intellectual labor into writing and supporting these demands: thank you. You have modeled the grace, thoughtfulness, and commitment that we have not yet seen from the administration. With you, and drawing on your energy and strength, Organizing for Survivors continues to press the college to meet all of our demands and transform all of the structures that facilitate violence on this campus.
We are still in the process of negotiating the implementation of all our demands with President Smith, and we will continue to provide updates throughout this process. We are excited to continue working with all of the community members who have been invested in order to make the change we know we need.
Coverage in The Associated Press, US News and World Report, and The Philadelphia Inquirer!
“In a statement, Organizing for Survivors said her resignation ‘reflects the depth of Swarthmore’s failures as well as the power the students possess to bring to light those failures and revolutionize a broken system.’
‘We celebrate this victory, particularly what it means for survivors and other students who have been mistreated by Dean Braun or as a result of her leadership,” the statement continues. “Her resignation is an implicit recognition of the severity of harm that she and other administrators have caused. We will not allow the narrative around this moment to be rewritten.'”
“In this thoughtful piece, Liz reflects on the ways in which whiteness is so often ignored and unacknowledged and describes her unfolding process of becoming aware of her own white racial identity.”