SMITH Stories
Smith Alums Share
What Smith alums are saying about Smith College . . .
I remember my Smith experience fondly and am so saddened to see the path the school has taken. As a girl from rural Ohio, I joined a diverse community filled with a free and open exchange of ideas. Smith’s pivot away from liberalism is disheartening and dangerous. I expect the Smith community to be an example of an a academic community that cultivates a home for diversity of thought not a safe space for the social contagions of cancel culture and empowerment by victimization. My saddest moment as a Smith alumna came when I had to come to terms with the fact that Smith is not the college community where I would want my daughter to even consider spending her college years. Wokeism is not liberalism and Smith should be better. I cannot help but hold out hope for an institution I loved so dearly.
-Martha Richardson, Class of 1997
I stand with you and am happy that you’re calling this out. I graduated from Smith in 2017 and it took me 2.5 years to recover from my indoctrination there. It always pained me how people treated the staff, especially when the staff was always the most welcoming and homely to me. Please let me know if you need to talk or anything. This craziness must be stopped! You and I are NOT our skin color!
There really is a disease of entitlement at Smith, and unfortunately, many of the students of color have it predominantly and project what they are themselves onto white students/faculty. I know for myself I had an experience where I did just that, and I’ve since healed from it and realized my own fault in the situation. Again, kudos to you . . . this needs to get out to more [people and Smith needs to be exposed for the psychological warfare it’s waging on its students and faculty]. God bless!
-Sidni Standard, class of 2017
As a Smith alum, I was disappointed but not surprised when I first heard your story. I graduated in the early 2012, shortly before the woke explosion and since I was so focused on paying off my loans, I never really looked back. My Smith education was such a gift, and it changed my life for the better in so many ways. To see it now become a place to saturated in this toxic ideology that it treats its staff like this, and even has racially segregated housing . . . I can’t just sit back and let it fall. I’m writing to the college, but if there is another way I can get involved. I’m on board. You courage is contagious, and I think we have something worth saving. Thank you for speaking up.”
–Smith alum, class of 2012
Attending Smith in the mid- to late-80s was an amazing experience for a young woman from upstate NY whose parents, while middle class, had not themselves graduated from college. Smith was so tight-knit in those days. Not in a cookie-cutter way. Far from it. But in the way faculty, staff, and students formed a lively community that educated and looked after each other. I believe the radicalization of the faculty (with the tacit encouragement of successive administrations) first endangered the health of this ecosystem, followed by the politicization of every phase of student life. Where does this leave staff, I wonder? Well, your videos and testimony (and that of other brave employees) have revealed the truth, and it is shocking. Alums cannot possibly look away while the college we love undergoes a full-fledged cultural revolution, with devastating impacts that threaten to extend far beyond Northampton. That is why I fully support your actions, and urge other concerned alums to add their voices to your cause.
–Kelli Kobor, Class of 1988
Five College Alums
Five College alums also have something to say
Hi Jodi,
I just wanted to share that I am sorry that you have been put through this experience by Smith and I really appreciate the lengths you have gone through to bring greater awareness of this issue in academia with respect to the implementation of CRT policies. I am not a Smith alum, but I did recently graduate from one of the other 5 colleges, so I am somewhat familiar with this cycle of student outrage: activism/protests – demands for change – administration capitulations – more student demands, etc etc. and the collateral damage that follows. Although I’m not all that surprised by the damage of CRT has wrought in higher education, it is not any less appalling to hear of the emotional abuse and persecution that students and administration enact on the *staff* of the highly privileged institutions that allow this in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion. One would think that staff members, people who work behind the scenes, with minimal compensation and appreciation, to allow students and faculty to pursue ‘high-level’ intellectual pursuits, would be part of the class for which social justice advocates – unfortunately, that advocacy is only bestowed upon those who fall in line with the larger narrative of this worldview.
All to say: thank you for your videos about your experiences and although I’m all that optimistic about the future of academia, I really hope you are able to do good with your work and change things for the better..
-Five College Graduate, ’19
stories from around the world
I am from INDIA. I am going to apply for a PhD in the US after my Masters. But watching all this makes my heart very sad. Crushing dissent and blaming everything on the colour of the skin seems so Germany post WW1. I know you guys are not allowed to use this analogy of Germany due to selective outrage. Keep fighting for the future of your country so that a place of freedom remain open for an aspiring student like me to go to the US and legally become a citizen. Nothing speaks AMERICA when I saw today’s news the political candidate wrote letters to boot many news channels that don’t align with their narrative (please save my dream place)