Hundreds of students at Claremont McKenna College signed an open letter over the weekend saying they "do not condone" many aspects of the recent on-campus protests sparked by a photo of racially insensitive Halloween costumes.
The letter was sent to several media outlets, including The Huffington Post, and was signed by close to 300 CMC students, according to Nathaniel Tsai, a junior who organized the letter. Tsai did not share the names of those who signed the letter, saying the students have asked not to be publicly identified, partly because they don't want to alienate their friends who are involved in the protests.
"The main reason I organized this letter was because of the inability of a large portion of the student body to question the actions of the 'movement' on campus without facing repercussions," Tsai told HuffPost in an email. "With the amount of political correctness required in any kind of statement in the college safety-bubble, there are few students who are willing to publicly speak out."
Last week, Mary Spellman, dean of students at CMC, resigned under pressure from activists. Students were protesting after Casey Garcelon, a student at CMC, posted a photo to Facebook showing students wearing Halloween costumes that referenced offensive stereotypes about Mexican culture. The photo prompted other students to share their stories of experiencing casual racism at the Southern California school.
As the issue gained momentum, student activists held a demonstration in protest of what they described as the marginalization of certain groups at CMC. Some activists staged brief hunger strikes calling on Spellman to resign.
The students in the photo have since reached out to Garcelon and apologized, but Garcelon denied their requests to take the picture down. HuffPost was unable to reach Garcelon for comment.
The letter organized by Tsai does not name Garcelon specifically, but it chastises students who have been active in the recent protests, claiming they have "humiliated" the school and "silenced" other points of view.
"While we do not condone the costumes and cultural insensitivity that the girls in costumes displayed, it is not permissible to publicly humiliate and essentially cyber bully girls that have repeatedly apologized," the letter reads. "We are young and we make mistakes. Though that does not excuse actions, it warrants forgiveness and understanding that we learn from our mistakes."
The letter argues that CMC has never been more divided, and has never "been more humiliated on national television with profanities being yelled at the only college president who will come out and let you berate him for 3 hours."
CMC President Hiram Chodosh spoke at a campus rally on Nov. 11, where students laid out a number of their concerns. At the rally, students also challenged Spellman for an email she'd sent to a Latina student in October, where in asking to meet with the student to talk about campus diversity, Spellman wrote that school staff are "working on how we can better serve students, especially those who don't fit our CMC mold." Spellman has since apologized and called the email "poorly worded."
"Regardless of how you interpreted the former Dean’s email, it was extremely inappropriate to hunger strike for Mary Spellman's resignation," Tsai's letter reads. "A hunger strike implies that you are willing to die for the cause you strike for. Were Mary Spellman’s offenses so great that you would die for her resignation? You ask what the alternative is? It sits in front of you, a petition, a civil and democratic tool."
A second letter was posted online Monday that also criticized the pressure on Spellman to quit. According to CMC senior Rachel Doehr, who is helping organize the second letter, students are collecting messages of support for Spellman that they hope will help the former dean in her job search.
Tyler Kingkade covers higher education and is based in New York. You can contact him at tyler.kingkade@huffingtonpost.com, or on Twitter: @tylerkingkade.
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