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Smith College

Undergraduate School

Mailing Address
10 Elm Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01063
Phone
(413) 584-2700
Email address
admission@smith.edu
School Information
"Founded in 1871, Smith College opened in 1875 with 14 students. Today, Smith is among the largest women’s colleges in the United States, with students from 48 states and 68 countries. An independent, nondenominational college, Smith remains strongly committed to the education of women at the undergraduate level, but admits both men and women as graduate students." The college enrolls over 2,400 students, has a 9:1 student-faculty ratio, and has over 1,000 courses in over 50 areas of study. (Source: https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/smith-glance)
General Information
Smith College has offered a course entitled "White Supremacy in the Age of Trump", which will explore critical race theory themes, such as the relationship between race and American politics. Additionally, following an incident in 2018, Smith College created a series of mandatory trainings for faculty and staff. No mandatory Critical Race Training sessions are yet required of students. However, see developments below:

Actions Taken

Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • Following an incident in 2018, "the college immediately issued a public apology to the student, placed the employee on leave, and announced its intention to create new initiatives, committees, workshops, trainings, and policies aimed at combating 'systemic racism' on campus."
  • Jodi Shaw, Student Support Coordinator, was forced to attend a "mandatory Residence Life staff retreat focused on racial issues," where facilitators "asked each member of the department to respond to various personal questions about race and racial identity."
  • "Smith College’s solution to [alleged racism on campus] was to create initiatives; programs; committees; councils; and, especially, dialogs and discussions and training programs…that Staff are expected, and in some cases, mandated to attend," said Jodi Shaw, Student Support Coordinator at Smith College, in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
  • The Office for Equity and Inclusion offers training and education to students, faculty, and staff in topics such as social justice, anti-racism, accountability for white people, bias, microaggressions, power and privilege, and allyship.
  • As part of the college’s strategic plan to advance anti-racism work, Unlearning Racism Groups of weekly white accountability student-led meetings were created especially for white students who “benefit from white privilege.”
Disciplinary Measures
  • After filing an internal complaint to Smith College, Student Support Coordinator Jodi Shaw faced "retaliatory behavior". Jodi Shaw resigned from her role as a Student Support Coordinator due to a "Racially Hostile Environment".
Resources
  • Smith College has offered a course entitled "White Supremacy in the Age of Trump", which will explore critical race theory themes, such as the relationship between race and American politics.
  • The Smith College Libraries provides a guide to anti-racism resources and anti-oppressive initiatives with a commitment to dismantle racist structures and use non-oppressive, non-racist language.
Last updated July 26th, 2022
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