The fallout from the racially insensitive comment made by a trustee at the recent Student Development meeting continued this week. Two statements were released following a letter signed by 22 faculty members of color, which called for the College to respond.
The first was a letter from President Sarah Bolton and Chair of the Board of Trustees Bill Longbrake, emailed to the community from the Office of the Secretary at 3:06 p.m. on Wed., Oct. 26. The statement reaffirmed the College’s commitment to faculty diversity, and general strategic plans for hiring faculty of color. The statement also explained that The College’s Board of Trustees will schedule cultural competency training for its next meeting in March.
The second was a statement of apology from Doon Foster, the trustee who made the comment, addressed to the Wooster community and sent to the The Wooster Voice by President Bolton. The statement in full reads as follows:
To the Wooster community,
At the meeting of the Student Development Committee during the recent Board of Trustees meeting, I made a thoughtless and extremely regrettable comment that does not reflect what I believe about The College of Wooster and our faculty.
I am deeply sorry for what I said and the harm it has caused. To be clear, I believe that Wooster’s faculty of color are a critical part of our community. They are excellent teachers, scholars and mentors, in and outside the classroom.
I am fully committed, as are my colleagues on the Board, to the work ahead: examining our own cultural biases and creating the diverse, equitable and inclusive community we all want at the College.
Sincerely,
Doon Foster
