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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

Admissions Policies
  • As part of its "Toward Racial Justice Strategic Plan," Smith has created an updated (February 2023) list of its many initiatives which includes the following: "Support Admission in its continuous improvement in recruiting of diverse student body, both in outreach efforts and on-campus programming involving staff, faculty, students, and alumnae volunteers."
  • As part of its "Toward Racial Justice Strategic Plan," Smith will "[c]onduct anti-bias training for admission and financial aid staff."
  • On June 29, 2023, Smith's President and President Elect issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action, which reads in part as follows: "We will comply with the Court’s decision. At the same time, the college will continue to work to ensure that our student body remains diverse. Our admissions process is a holistic one that considers various aspects of an applicant’s background and experiences—including grades, curriculum, extracurricular activities, work experience, geography, socioeconomic background and more—so that each applicant’s unique voice and perspective are fully appreciated."
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.”
  • As part of its "Toward Racial Justice Strategic Plan," Smith will "[c]onduct anti-bias training for admission and financial aid staff."
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".
Political Actions and Support for Anti-Racism
  • As part of its "Toward Racial Justice Strategic Plan," Smith has created an updated (February 2023) list of its many initiatives which includes the following: "Create Antiracist Learning Community for Faculty and Staff Who Teach."
  • On June 5, 2023, Smith News published an article titled "How Are We Ever Going to Leave This Place?", in which the author asks the college's President about Smith's role concerning issues of racial justice. The President answered in part by stating, "Many members of our community—students, staff, and faculty—are activists who are working hard to identify solutions" and that "we developed a three-phase plan where we get educated, reflect on the history of racial injustice, and engage in action planning, with the goal of ensuring that everyone has a sense of being welcome and belonging at Smith."
Re-Imagining Policing
  • As part of its "Toward Racial Justice Strategic Plan," Smith has created an updated (February 2023) list of its many initiatives which includes the following: "Continue training Campus Safety Department in approaches to mitigating bias and performing deescalation [sic]."
  • As part of its "Toward Racial Justice Strategic Plan," Smith has created an updated (February 2023) list of its many initiatives which includes the following campus safety initiative: "Stop identifying the perceived 'race' of suspicious persons on campus."
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.
  • The Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College examines "gender, race, class and sexuality as important and simultaneous aspects of social worlds and human lives" and the "construction and operation of power relations, social inequalities and resistances to them in national, transnational, cultural, historical and political contexts."
  • As part of its "Toward Racial Justice Strategic Plan," Smith has "[convened] a student, staff, and faculty group to propose the best way to require a course on race and racism." The proposal is currently under consideration.
  • The Inclusion Council at Smith "works with the vice president for equity and inclusion to promote and achieve Smith’s diversity and social justice goals" and is comprised of "faculty, staff and students from key constituencies on campus."
  • The Bias Response Team at Smith is "not a mechanism for investigative or disciplinary action" but rather "enables the College to track bias incidents, collect aggregate data, identify educational responses, and connect individuals affected by bias incidents with supportive resources."
  • On October 13, 2023, Smith's student-run newspaper, "The Sophian," published an article titled "With Affirmative Action Overturned, Smith Grapples with Next Steps." The article details a September 18th event in which the college "welcomed students, faculty and staff to a panel intended to detail specific steps taken by Smith to ensure applicants of color receive fair consideration."
  • On June 17, 2023, the Smith College School for Social Work hosted a talk featuring Prentis Hemphill who "served as the Healing Justice Director of Black Lives Matter Global Network from 2016 to 2019." At the event, Prentis spoke "particularly to how Black freedom movements have always worked through the technology of the felt sense and why Black healing is necessary for the liberation of all peoples."
  • The school has an employee handbook for DEI, which discusses principles and goals for DEI.
Symbolic Actions
  • As part of its "Toward Racial Justice Strategic Plan," Smith has created an updated (February 2023) list of its many initiatives including the following: "Develop principles for reviewing symbols at the college, including building names, and consider possible change."
Last updated October 30th, 2024
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