Friday, Jan. 17, 2025: On Inclusive Excellence at Whitman in the New Year

Dear Whitman Students and Colleagues,

Welcome to the spring semester! I hope that your winter holidays were good ones and that you are having a good start to 2025. 

I’m writing today to reaffirm our strong commitment to inclusive excellence in the Whitman community. The diversity of identities, nationalities, cultures, and experiences on our campus is crucial to our mission of learning. Every person in this community has the right to an excellent and equitable experience of true welcome, safety, and belonging.  These are central values for our college, and we will continue to work to fully realize them. 

Whitman College’s non-discrimination policy makes clear that the College stands against discrimination in all its forms. And, it lays out specifically that the college does not tolerate discrimination on the basis of  “race, color, sex (including pregnancy and parenting status), gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, sexual orientation, religion, age, marital status, national origin, shared ancestry, disability or veteran status”. Recently, there have been concerns about whether Federal law will continue to protect individuals from discrimination on the basis of all of these dimensions of identity. I want to be clear that, regardless of any change in Federal protections, our college has authority over our own non-discrimination policy, and we will continue to uphold the full range of protections from discrimination for all members of the Whitman community. 

As we enter a time of possible changes to US Immigration policies and practices, we also want to take special care to support those members of our community who are most affected by those policies—especially those who do not hold US citizenship or who are concerned about family members who do not hold US citizenship. We have been in touch with international and undocumented students to provide information and resources, and have also reached out with supportive resources for those who may be concerned about family members. As a reminder, representatives from Colectiva Legal del Pueblo will be on campus February 21st to provide our community with information about their rights and help us enhance institutional support strategies. We will continue to provide new resources and information as they become available. 

International and undocumented members of our community may have special needs or concerns in the coming months, and we want to be sure that you have the support and resources that are most helpful to you. For undocumented students or students concerned about undocumented family members, Dean Kazi Joshua will serve as a point person. Because we don’t share information about undocumented status with anyone on campus, students should reach out directly to Dean Joshua if they’d like to talk about these concerns. For international students and scholars, the point person will be Susan Holme, Senior Director, Off-Campus Studies & International Student and Scholar Services. Employees who are concerned about family members who are undocumented can talk with Erika Cerda, Associate Vice President of Human Resources.  

Finally, we remind all of the campus community to be attentive to privacy of personal information and the rights of all persons under the law. In particular, we will maintain our current practice of ensuring the confidentiality of all student and employee records and will not provide private information about Whitman students or employees to any external group without a valid warrant or court order. Anyone who is asked by an external person for information about a student or employee should be referred to the Office of the Dean of Students (for students) or to the Office of Human Resources (for employees). If there is a need for assistance after hours, or a request that appears to be coming from police, please reach out to the Director of Campus Security, Greg Powell (509-527-5777). The staff in all of these offices are prepared to assess such requests and to determine the appropriate course of action to protect individual privacy and uphold the law.  

I am looking forward very much to the semester, and to the ways we will work and learn together. As we do so, I am grateful to each of you for your steadfast commitment to creating a Whitman where all can thrive and flourish.

Sincerely,

Sarah Bolton