Demonstrators protest in response to the recent death of George Floyd on May 31, 2020 in Boston
“We deserve better than this litany of platitudes,” tweeted a black Harvard graduate student on Saturday evening shortly after Harvard President Lawrence Bacow posted what he billed as “a message to the Harvard community about the killing of George Floyd.”
Titled “What I Believe,” Bacow’s 567-word letter has one sentence about the “senseless killing” of Floyd, whom Bacow describes as “yet another black person.” He notes that “leaders who should be bringing us together seem incapable of doing so.” Then he segues to his personal memories of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy when Bacow was a junior in high school. The rest of the text talks about Bacow’s hope and belief that “America should be a beacon of light to the world.”
“If you’re going to send a letter about values, take a meaningful stand or delve into the complexity we face,” says another tweet about Bacow’s letter. “This statement, sadly, says nothing,” tweeted a third critic.
By contrast, last Wednesday, University of Minnesota president Joan Gabel took the dramatic step of announcing that the school would no longer contract with the Minneapolis police department for large events like football games and concerts. In a letter to students, faculty and staff, she wrote: “As a community we are outraged and grief stricken. I do not have the words to fully express my pain and anger. . . . This will not stand.”
Floyd, who was 46 and unarmed, was killed by on May 25 by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin who was investigating Floyd for allegedly paying for cigarettes at a deli with a counterfeit $20 bill.
As protests spread to more than 40 cities, college leaders have been speaking out. Just before midnight on Saturday, 37 UCLA campus leaders posted a letter expressing solidarity with protesters who are demonstrating against racial injustice. They address the recent police killings of two other unarmed black Americans, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, and describe the killing of Floyd as “chilling,” noting officer Chauvin’s “relaxed demeanor” and how he was “kneeling on the neck of a fellow human being, indifferent to his cries of pain and the fear for his life.”
On Sunday, Georgetown President John DeGioia posted a lengthy essay entitled “Confronting Racism,” that started with a description of the coronavirus pandemic’s effects and then addressed the broader context that led to the protests. Writes DeGioia: “In the midst of this devastating experience, the original fault line of our republic has been exposed once again for the nation.” He describes “the enduring legacy of slavery and segregation in America,” and calls it an “imperative” for all Americans to address. His letter also references Georgetown’s own ties to slavery. Last October it announced it that it would raise $400,000 a year to benefit the descendants of 272 enslaved people who were sold to bolster Georgetown’s finances 200 years ago.
Other prominent university presidents have posted statements about the protests. Yale President Peter Salovey wrote a letter on Sunday that mentions George Floyd’s death and the “pattern of racial injustice that has become too familiar in our country and that amounts to a national emergency.” At Brown, 21 campus leaders and executives signed a letter today expressing “deep sadness, but also anger, regarding the racist incidents that continue to cut short the lives of black people every day.” And Princeton president Christopher Eisgruber issued a statement today that is drawn from his virtual commencement address. He describes how “this nation’s long legacy of racism continues to damage and destroy the lives of black people,” and points to the killing of Floyd, Taylor and Arbery.
Harvard’s Bacow was not the only university president to draw criticism. Yesterday University of Virginia president Jim Ryan posted a statement on Twitter that condemned the George Floyd killing and added, “I know that violence is never the answer and we know that violent protests both backfire and often injure those who are already victims.”
UVA media studies professor Meredith Clark gave a statement to the university’s student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, that criticized Ryan’s failure to address reports that police have instigated violence against peaceful protesters. Zyahna Bryant, a second-year UVA student, resigned from a committee convened by President Ryan to address community relations.
This morning, more than 380 mostly black UVA students and 50 student organizations signed a letter criticizing Ryan’s statement, calling on him not to be complacent when addressing racism: “Despite being built by enslaved African Americans, founded by a slave owner, and home to Eugenics, the University has not taken the necessary steps to properly acknowledge its racist foundation.”
