September 26, 2023

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

As you know, I am committed to reflecting on the College’s history with honesty and intentionality in order to grasp more fully the complex present in which we live. As part of our 2020 Anti-Racism Plan, we launched work on a broad and deep historical study of the College’s ties to slaveholding and capital accumulation connected with slaveholding. While we have learned much about the College’s ties to the slaveholding economy, there is still more to be learned on this topic and regarding the College’s involvement in racial discrimination in the many decades after the Civil War.

I’m writing today to announce that this work will be continued and expanded under the aegis of the newly constituted Steering Committee on Reckoning with the Racial History of Amherst College. I am charging this new committee with advancing and coordinating campus initiatives to research and commemorate the history of Amherst College, particularly the Black and Indigenous histories of the College and the land that the College occupies. In addition to supervising ongoing research, the committee will consider what it means to reckon with what we are learning. This will entail consideration of forms of public commemoration of the Black and Indigenous histories of the College, including such things as campus signage, commemorative exhibits, and the names of campus buildings and spaces. The committee will also explore partnerships with local community efforts to commemorate and repair histories of racial violence and may sponsor public programming related to these initiatives. The steering committee will be charged for a period of three years, at which point I will reevaluate its structure and purpose.

Committee Membership

  • Lisa Brooks, Henry S. Poler ’59 Presidential Teaching Professor of English and American Studies
  • Julia Carroll, Racial History of Amherst College Research Fellow
  • Michael A. Elliott, President, ex-officio
  • Catherine Epstein, Provost and Dean of the Faculty; Henry Steele Commager Professor of History
  • Martin Garnar, Director of the Library (co-chair)
  • Allen Hart, The Manwell Family Professor of Life Sciences (Psychology); Special Assistant to the President (co-chair)
  • Elizabeth Herbin-Triant, Associate Professor of Black Studies and History
  • Mike Kelly, Head of Archives & Special Collections
  • Sheree Ohen, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer
  • Kate Salop, Chief Strategy Officer

An important aspect of the committee’s work will be ensuring that relevant stakeholders are consulted in the ongoing process of historical research and commemoration. A “listening tour” will soon be convened, inviting the participation of students and other community members. I urge all of you to participate as we strive to understand and reckon with our history.

Sincerely,
Michael A. Elliott
President