he Elizabethtown College Faculty Assembly crafted a decisive statement about acts of bias on campus, April 9. The group edited and ratified a universal statement that expresses their moral stance on these issues. The motion to confirm the statement was approved by a majority vote of 57 to 4.

“Whereas, the free exchange of ideas on which a good college education depends presupposes a civil environment, we, the faculty of Elizabethtown College, condemn, reject and denounce in the strongest possible terms the appalling acts of bigotry that have been committed in our community this semester,” the Faculty Assembly wrote.

This statement developed during a meeting of the Faculty Assembly on March 26. During that session, the group collectively decided that it needed to officially address the incidents in a united fashion. According to faculty assembly president Dr. Jeffery Long, “There was a very strong sentiment expressed by faculty members that the recent acts of bigotry on campus had gone far beyond anything that was acceptable in our community and that we needed to make some kind of formal, unified statement about it.” Long said that faculty members do not factor into the creation or enforcement of campus policies for residence halls. “Our area is the curriculum: what we teach and what goes on in the classroom, or connected with our classes,” Long said. “Being a behavioral issue, the incidents of bigotry fell outside of what we would normally, as professors, handle. But we felt so strongly that these acts cut so much to the heart of who and what we are — ‘we’ now meaning not just the faculty, but the entire campus community — that we had a moral responsibility to do something about it.”

While there was widespread support for a unified statement, the Faculty Assembly concluded their March 26 meeting without a finalized document. In preparation forApril 9 meeting, Long drafted a statement for the group to contemplate. “Believing, based on my experience, that having a group of people compose a statement is much easier to do if there is a rough draft to work with, rather than trying to do it from scratch, I took it upon myself to draft a statement on the bias incidents and circulate it to the faculty by email in advance of the April 9 meeting,” Long said.

Originally, the draft was specific, even addressing possible solutions. The overall goal of the draft was to prompt dialogue about the issues, and motivate the refinement of the final response. “My assumption was that this document would provoke discussion and the final result would probably be a very brief and concise statement, summarizing the faculty’s best thinking and shared feelings on this issue,” Long said.

“After discussing several aspects of my original drafts, Professor Douglas Bomberger, of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, proposed that we simply take the first paragraph of my draft, alter the wording slightly and have that be our public statement,” Long said. “After a little more discussion about wording, the faculty voted on the revised version of my statement, as amended by Dr. Bomberger, and it passed by an overwhelming majority.”

Long said voting was anonymous, and it is not clear why four faculty members voted against the motion. “I do not believe that ‘no’ votes should be taken as evidence of approval of the bias incidents,” Long said. “I think it is most likely that they felt that statement should be stronger or more in depth, or perhaps that there was no point in the faculty putting out a statement on something over which we have no direct policy-making control.”

This statement makes a clear and sincere declaration to all students. It displays that campus educators support a safe and nurturing learning environment and they will not tolerate bigotry.

“I believe it simply shows that the faculty support any measures that administration is willing to take to ensure that such incidents do not happen again, and that Elizabethtown College becomes and remains a safe community in which students can learn, grow and challenge themselves without fear of being harassed or attacked just for being who they are,” Long said.