Dear fellow Emerson faculty,
Like many of us, I have much I’d like to say in regards to the genocide in Gaza, the college’s handling of that issue, and their treatment of students who are demanding accountability. But after the brutal police treatment of our students on April 25, I feel compelled to ask my fellow faculty to demand the resignation of Jay Bernhardt and his administration and to step up in support of our students as they continue to fight for an end to genocide.
Instead of engaging with these students in good faith, Jay Bernhardt and his Emerson administration have chosen to deflect and dissemble. For those of you who are unaware of the students’ demands, you can find that information from the AP here. In solidarity with students from Columbia and other universities, Emerson students demand that their administration be transparent about funding sources and support, and to end any such relationship that accepts from or contributes to a state actor that is committing genocide. They also demand that Emerson’s president unequivocally denounce genocide and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Before the police brutally cleared the encampment, I had the opportunity to speak with some of the organizers, and they stressed the ideas of disclose, divest, drop, and call. Disclose financial relationships, divest from any relationships that come from or support occupation and genocide, drop charges against Emerson student activists, and call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
These are utterly reasonable demands, and all of us at Emerson should join these students in demanding them of our leadership. We are teaching the values in our classroom that Emerson cites as “inspiring and non-negotiable,” but we need to actually practice them in our community.
Jay Bernhardt and his administration claim they did not have the ability to stop the City of Boston or the Commonwealth from forcefully removing these students, a measure that required and sanctioned state violence against our students. We crossed our fingers or sent our hopes and prayers that the violence would be minimal. We were wrong. Now we can join our voices to support those of these students and demand that Jay Bernhardt and his administration accept that they could have ended the encampment whenever they chose. They had the opportunity to keep our students safe.
They failed.
That failure became zip ties so tight they cut into our students’ flesh. That failure became police batons striking our students’ bodies. That failure became our students pressed into the pavement as police knelt on them. That failure became students being assaulted by police in an Emerson space; a space where they are supposed to be safe; a space where we have a responsibility to keep them safe.
As faculty, we have also failed them. I have heard from my students that I’m one of the only faculty they have that even discusses the situation in my classroom and gives them a space to process what’s going on. My students are responding to me with a desire for acknowledgement; a desire for connection; a desire for validation; a desire to be seen as people. We are failing them when we do not provide these basic needs, particularly in moments when they need them most. We are the adults in the room, and we should be holding ourselves and our leadership accountable to the values we espouse. When students have to place their learning aside and put their bodies on the line to effect that change, we have utterly failed them. When they take that action and we are silent, we become complicit in the traumatic consequences they face at the brutal hands of the state.
Thank you to all of the faculty and staff out there already supporting and fighting for our students. Thank you to all of the faculty and staff who have continuously fought for students long before today. Your example educates and inspires me. I hope it shakes our colleagues’ consciences and inspires them as well.
Emerson has the opportunity to be on the right side of history by providing transparency for all funding and support relations and ceasing any that come from or provide support to states committing genocide. We can, and should, unequivocally condemn genocide and use our voices to call for a ceasefire. Jay Bernhardt and his administration have shown they are unwilling to do these immensely reasonable and just things. They must be replaced with people who uphold Emerson’s values—with people who value all of our students’ safety.
We have a responsibility to use our positions to demand change that will help keep our students safe.
These courageous students are showing us the way. As their faculty, as the adults in the room, we should use all of our available resources to keep them safe while supporting their righteous calls for Emerson to adhere to its own principles of social justice and global responsibility.
With hopes that you’ll join me in supporting our students,
Bradley Bird
Bradley Bird is an adjunct faculty in WLP who has taught at Emerson since spring semester in 2021.
