Greetings from BMC '97. Your Jewish alumni, parents of Jewish students, Jewish faculty, and staff have been through a year of incredible trauma at Bryn Mawr and Haverford, as a result of decisions, actions and complicit inactions by school administrators as a result of a hostile antisemitic environment on both campuses, in response to the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7. While this recent lawsuit filed by the Deborah Project is against Haverford, Bryn Mawr's complicity is also implicated - allowing an "encampment" and permitting Haverford students who had committed antisemitic acts of violence to come to Bryn Mawr and terrorize the women there. Recently, the BiCo News published an article by a visiting professor, which advocated for armed "revolution" against Israel (i.e., Jews), which contradicts every tenant of Bryn Mawr's Quaker tradition of nonviolence. Yet, when alumni posted a comment in response, her comment was deleted by BiCo editorial staff (twice). These aggressions, overt and micro, are but some recent examples of ongoing an unaddressed trauma and harm, for which there has been no acknowledgement, much less remediation and accountability. As far as I know, you are not a BMC graduate, so while your sentiments here about BMC's history and culture are nice, I was educated there, and have very memories of Bryn Mawr, so much so that I have contributed to the institution in innumerable ways since graduation. Memories that are now tarnished by the betrayal of watching an institution I loved turn on me like a snake, and betray every ideal it espoused in the process - logic, reason, tolerance and respect. Other alumni feel the same. So forgive me if your breezy post about Bryn Mawr's storied past and ice cream socials don't quite land. We look forward to engaging with you on these issues.
"Walking up the steps of Taylor Hall this morning, I had a simultaneous sense of starting anew and coming home. I am aware of the powerful history housed in these buildings, on these grounds, and especially in all of you — a history of which I am not yet a part. Bryn Mawr College is a remarkable institution with a complex history and a focus on academic excellence, access, and inclusion that prepares all of us for lives of meaning and purpose. The college’s mission and the layered ways so many of you are committed to telling its history and building its future are why I am here today."
Read the entirety of the message President Cadge sent to the Bryn Mawr community on her first day in office here: https://mawr.life/kMIN
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1moCongrats!