Response to Reports of Reports of Discriminatory Harassment

April 29, 2022

Dear Members of the Kenyon community,

We greatly appreciate Ms. Hughes and the Title IX Office for bringing the recent reports of discriminatory harassment against senior staff members to the attention of the community and focusing their efforts on addressing this behavior. We encourage all members of K-SWOC and the community as a whole to report any evidence of these actions or further instances of this behavior to the relevant offices.

The members of the Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee strongly condemn any individual engaging in racially discriminatory and offensive behavior in support of our cause. The use of racial slurs and other offensive language has no place at Kenyon and no place in our union. One of the first democratic decisions K-SWOC made collectively was to identify with the anti-racist tradition within the labor movement and commit to anti-racist principles. Anyone claiming to support a union for student workers who also practices racial harassment and discrimination should know they cannot do both. If any student—who works or doesn’t work; is a member of K-SWOC or not—supports this kind of behavior directed toward any Kenyon community member, they should resign their K-SWOC union membership immediately if they have one, cease any and all participation in K-SWOC activities, and know they are not welcome into our union ever again. 

We would like to echo Ms. Hughes and encourage those who have experienced harassment of any kind to report to the Office of Civil Rights. As always, we encourage all community members to offer any and all feedback, questions, or concerns they may have about K-SWOC through our anonymous feedback form or by contacting union@kswoc.org. Additionally, concerns related to safety and discrimination should be reported to the Title IX Office to be handled with the appropriate resources by trained professional staff.

Sincerely,

Members of the Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee