Dear Voice,
A special thing about the College of Wooster is that you meet people from all over the place. This is a fact that the College is very proud of, as is demonstrated by going to wooster.edu. You are presented here with an image of warm welcome to this community which you and me all belong to. Taking up the majority of the screen is a picture of smiling faces, a sunny day, and a culturally diverse bunch of students in small groups playing some awkward yet charming first-year ice breaker game. In big bold letters, the biggest and boldest on the page, reads “Discover Wooster’s Global Campus.”
And that’s the reality of this school. Our community is international. The flags hanging on the wall on the second floor of Lowry prove it. Relationships here are forged between folks whose homes are a million miles away from each other. We are a community of everywhere.
The College of Wooster has a responsibility to take care of our global community. Our leadership has that responsibility. Our trustees, too.
In 1989, the College recognized that responsibility by divesting from companies associated with apartheid South Africa. They listened to the outcry, both on campus and from around the world, that demanded a blatantly racist and violently oppressive state be recognized as the global pariah it was. The College chose not to tolerate any more blood money from an economy built on the violent oppression of black South Africans.
Today, Israel is engaging in genocide against the Palestinian people. Palestinians are being slaughtered by the tens of thousands, and Israel seems willing to go to war with the entire Middle East to achieve its military goals.
So, The College of Wooster really needs to think about what it means when it calls itself “global.” Does that mean the College stands for something bigger than itself? For global justice? For the international community? If the College really cares, it must act like it and listen to our community.
Dear trustees,
Divest from Israel. Acknowledge genocide. Support a free Palestine.
John Barwick ’25
