BREAKING: Mary Spellman Resigns as Dean of Students (Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA)

The Forum ^ | November 12, 2015 | Staff

[abb]

At 12:02 p.m. on Thursday, November 12, Mary Spellman resigned as Dean of Students following calls for her resignation after students of color articulated concerns about the Dean of Students office being unsupportive towards students of marginalized identities, and two students yesterday began hunger strikes calling for her resignation. Additional coverage coming later — find Spellman’s email to the CMC community below.

Dear CMC Community:

Since 2010 I have been privileged to serve as Dean of Students at Claremont McKenna College. Today I am submitting my letter of resignation, effective immediately. I do so with sadness beyond words, because these nearly six years have been the most rewarding and fulfilling of my life, but also with the conviction that it is the right thing to do for the school and the students I care about so deeply.

I have been grateful for the support of the Administration and the heartening encouragement I have received from so many of my students, former students and colleagues. Among the calls, texts and emails I have received is a student who wrote:

“You’ve inspired me in my time at CMC. Please stay strong and realize students like me need you to stay here…I will always be honored to consider you a mentor, a role model, and above all, friend.”

And a faculty member who wrote:

“I also recognize how much you have worked to make our community more inclusive… I know I join many fellow faculty members and students in expressing my full support and confidence in you as Dean of Students here at CMC.”

To all who have been so supportive, please know how sorry I am if my decision disappoints you. I believe it is the best way to gain closure of a controversy that has divided the student body and disrupted the mission of this fine institution. Most important, I hope this will help enable a truly thoughtful, civil and productive discussion about the very real issues of diversity and inclusion facing Claremont McKenna, higher education and other institutions across our society.

Sincerely,

Mary

[Gator113]

Considering the damage that this nonsense causes, “real” leaders would already be putting a stop to it.

I am getting tired of just shaking my head. ;>)

[combat_boots]

Black appointment in 3, 2, 1...

[Gator113]

Thomas Jefferson had the right idea...send ‘em back.

[terycarl]

and the idiocy continues’’’’oh well..

[SE Mom]

No adults in view.

[EvilCapitalist]

That is a man in the black dress on the left, isn’t it?

[mumblypeg]

Actually, isn’t Claremont over by Piedmont and the Berkeley hills?
Upscale and too-too trendy, white and wealthy, IIRC.

[Steve_Seattle]

What did Spellman do or not do that put her in the crosshairs?

[tioga]

They are turning on their own. Gotta love it.

[mumblypeg]

Oops, no, my bad.
It’s in Southern California. But demographics are 54% white, 4% black.

[mumblypeg]

The pre-emptive “Sorry!” was a nice touch.
Obviously, right from the get-go, those students were lampooning the PC crowd and the bootlickers who surrender to them.

[kingu]

Actually, worse, that was someone doing a Justin Bieber costume for the song ‘Sorry’ - Canadians are going to be up in arms next over the unfair portrayal of Canadian life.

[tanknetter]

I’m starting to wonder whether all of these quick resignations are a variation of what’s being done with consent decrees.

Deliberately take a fall, a planned fall, in order to advance the agenda.

These resignations, and the tactics (like hunger strikes) influencing them, are setting all sorts of expectations and precedents that will make resistance to future demands for such that much harder. Or even impossible.

[Carry_Okie]

If they can get enough of this happening, then the support for forgiving student loans gets a boost, because of the failure of institutions themselves. .... follow the money.

With the amount of shaky student loans out there, this could be the beginnings of a programmed gambit to crash the financial system, again.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Is that how Soros made his billions? Follow the money.

[Carry_Okie]

Is that how Soros made his billions?

Yes, he has been crashing economies with which to make money on the currencies in the process. The only one who beat him badly so far was Malathir in Malaysia when he instituted rules on minimum hold periods for currency trading. Soros admitted he lost over a billion on that one and that was back around 1990.

You'd have thought we might have learned something from it, but no, he gives money to Democrats. So when the market crashed in 2007 he made a bucket-load, IIRC playing gasoline futures.