Demands​ ​for​ ​Justice​ ​and​ ​Healing​ ​at​ ​Middlebury​ ​in​ ​Response​ ​to​ ​Racial​ ​Profiling

by on November 6, 2017

Posted in: News

This piece has been re-posted, with permission, from Beyond the Green.

Dear President Patton,

Demands for Justice and Healing at Middlebury in Response to Racial Profiling

  1. We demand a public apology from Laurie Patton to Addis Fouche-Channer, Black students and students of color, and the entire Middlebury community for racial profiling. We also demand acknowledgment of the administration’s clearly unjust and inconsistent judicial system and Title IX investigation that have declared Fouche-Channer both innocent and guilty as described in The Campus article “Accused Student Alleges Racial Profiling” published on September 27th.
  2.  We demand that the College take concrete steps to remedy and prevent this kind of issue from reoccurring. These steps include:
    1. Recalibration of judicial system towards a restorative justice model.
      1. By the end of the 2017-18 academic school year, the CJB should be receiving training in restorative justice with a firm goal of full implementation of this system beginning in the 2018-19 academic year.
      2. Funding should be reallocated from savings for future infrastructure projects and/or revenue from Middlebury’s soon-to-be carbon price to finance training and legal fees associated with this transition.
    2. Mandatory diversity training for all staff and faculty and de-escalation training for all security personnel who work on campus, including Public Safety and Green Mountain Security.
      1. Full transparency is expected for content and required attendance must be upheld since cultural sensitivity and awareness are critical skills for all employees to have.
      2. De-escalation trainings should be updated, expanded, and transparent with the student body to ensure that public safety officers and other security personnel have more resources to de-escalate potentially confrontational scenarios without the use of force.
      3. The administration should clearly delineate that the role of public safety officers is not to serve as a police force or as informants, but to “deliver services that enhance and protect the college community.”
    3. Fire VP of Communications and Chief Marketing Officer, Bill Burger.
      1. Bill Burger committed a hit and run as described by an article published in Middbeat on March 4, 2017, “Middlebury Students: College Administrator and Staff Assault Students, Endanger Lives After Murray Protest.”
      2. According to Vermont law, “The operator of a motor vehicle who has caused or is involved in an accident resulting in injury to any person other than the operator, or in damage to any property other than the vehicle then under his or her control shall immediately stop and render any assistance reasonably necessary. The operator shall give his or her name, residence, license number, and the name of the owner of the motor vehicle to any person who is injured or whose property is damaged and to any enforcement officer. A person who violates this section shall be fined not more than $2,000.00 or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.”
  3. These demands are necessary to achieve Middlebury College’s new strategic framework recently ratified by the Board of Trustees. More specifically, without fulfilling these demands, the administration will continue to violate our community’s goals of “intercultural competency, effective communication and influential expression, full participation in diverse communities, making intentional choices in pursuit of our vision, and place based experiential learning.” We look forward to committing time and space to facilitate our collective goals for the long run.

We expect the public apology by Laurie Patton to Addis Fouche-Channer and the entire Middlebury Community by noon next Friday, November 10. Along with this apology, we expect a recognition of our other demands.

Sincerely,

Anonymous Students of Middlebury College

2 Responses to “Demands​ ​for​ ​Justice​ ​and​ ​Healing​ ​at​ ​Middlebury​ ​in​ ​Response​ ​to​ ​Racial​ ​Profiling”

  1. cam says:

    big o pat is a coward factory for real this tim. i dont care what any1 has to say.

  2. max says:

    down with middlebury colege

Leave a Reply to max