#disrupthighered

I wanted to post this the minute Decolonize Media Collective (DMC), a student group at Hampshire College, shared it on Facebook, but this is the first time I’m getting a chance to sit down in front of a computer.

On November 13, 2015, DMC posted the following message on their Facebook page:

“It has been a long time coming.

Many of you have read the announcement today (November 13th 2015) which declared Hampshire College is including private prisons, private security, and surveillance companies in their policy on Environmental, Social and Governance investing. This announcement comes at a particularly volatile time, considering Black students all over the country are demanding colleges and universities respect their dignity and humanity. Our comrades at the University of Missouri have grabbed the nation’s attention by forcing the president of their college to resign. The Black students at the University of Missouri understand that “without struggle, there is no progress.” Without sacrifice, hard work, and collective action, the needs of Black people will not be heard by predominantly white institutions.

Decolonize Media Collective (DMC) understands this too.

For the last two years, DMC has unapologetically demanded that Hampshire College divest from private prisons. Although the email includes no mention of the students responsible for this monumental change in policy, we want everyone to know that from Mizzou to Hampshire College, student organizing will always force the hand of the institution to do the right thing. Abolishing oppressive institutions and loosening the grip of poverty, anti-Black violence, and trauma on Black communities is always the right thing to do and we will continue to push action at Hampshire and beyond towards a radical understanding of the world we live in.

Since Spring 2014, Decolonize Media Collective has tirelessly worked to ensure Hampshire College does not financially support the mass genocide, in the form of the prison system, against Black and Brown people in the United States. After countless emails, meetings, and being confidently assured that Hampshire College is not invested in the private prison industry, DMC was outraged, but not shocked, to find out Hampshire was unaware of more than 25% of their financial portfolio due to the use of hedge funds. The college also did not include private prison, private security, or surveillance companies in their list of companies to not invest in. We knew both of these facts were unacceptable and urged to the institution to recognize their method of investment is incompatible with Hampshire’s anti-racist mission.

The Prison Industrial Complex's history of facilitating the exploitation of Black and Brown people for their labor, by relying on the criminalization of Blackness in order to make a profit reinforces the understanding that the institution of slavery was never truly abolished in the United States, but was legalized in the form of punishment for a crime by the 13th Amendment.

DMC is celebrating the inclusion of private prisons, private security, and surveillance companies in the investment policy. We understand this is a tremendous step towards the anti-racist mission of our college. Hampshire College was the first college in the nation to divest from South Africa during Apartheid and we are moving towards divesting from our generation’s biggest domestic injustice: private prisons.

We want to thank Hampshire for their acceptance of our demands and changing the policy accordingly. Change is never easy but with an open-mind and compassion, anything is possible. We also want to remind Hampshire, we are still using non-transparent hedge funds to make money which makes it impossible to know whether we are invested in prisons, fossil fuels, or any other industry listed as not favorable in our policy on socially responsible investing. Our struggle against the financial investment in Black death will not be complete until the hedge funds are picked apart and analyzed. DMC looks forward to continuing our close working relationship with the administration for many years to come.

Finally, we want to thank all those who have supported us for their love and solidarity. Without your support, we would have not gained this victory.

The struggle continues.

‘It is our duty to fight for our freedom.

It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.’ Assata Shakur”

Hampshire College’s official statement was released via email on November 13th as well and reads as follows:

“To the Hampshire College community: At its meeting today the Hampshire College Board of Trustees voted to create and publish a list of specific examples of industries in which we will not invest. This list includes private prison, private security, and surveillance companies; weapons manufacturers; and fossil fuels. The Board also voted to strengthen the language of the policy to disfavor companies that "Practice oppression or discrimination based on race, gender, ethnic origin, sexual preference, or disability, or promote or profit therefrom." The Board also endorsed the Investment Committee's efforts to create the greatest possible transparency regarding Hampshire College's investments, which will include quarterly reporting on holdings and explicit review of holdings relative to the list of disfavored industries. The revised policy will be posted next week.”

So at Hampy Hamp (pretty sure I’m literally the only person who has ever called Hampshire Hampy Hamp….) we have this thing called the Daily Digest. It’s an email that appears in your Hampshire webmail account every week day and features information on all these cool events happening on and around campus. Well this week I was able to attend an amazing dance workshop, and I heard about it via the Daily Digest. (Also, shout out to one of my best friends from high school, Celine, who goes to Smith College and forwarded me an email about it, too!)

Below is the description that appears in the Daily Digest:

“The Olimpias present: Asylum: Movement Hollows. A Social Somatic. The Asylum Project draws on the personal histories of poet/dancer Stephanie Heit’s experience as a psychiatric system survivor, and performance artist Petra Kuppers’ experience with art practice as a mode of inquiry in disability culture. In this workshop, we will taste some flavors of the Asylum Project, an international disability culture workshop series. Our Asylum collaborative inquiry explores multiple meanings of “asylum:” from asylum seekers and the limits of Empire, to psychiatric asylums and queer sanctuary space, to temporary places of security and refuge. In this experimental community arts project, we invite participants to use movement and writing to investigate how bodyminds inhabit, touch and intersect asylum space.”

Now, I’m not a dancer. You can probably tell that by looking at me, and if not by looking at me, then by watching me play soccer. I have a tendency to stumble over my own feet. Even bruised my own ribs one time before of it. What fun I am. However, even not being a dancer, I have taken a dance class at Hampshire. My Division II chair, Junko Oba, convinced me I should take a dance course with Daphne Lowell and she was right. I’m totally happy I did. (I’ll let you in on a secret: Junko’s usually right about everything. If she suggests you try something, try it. 98% chance you won’t regret it.) So I took this modern dance with Daphne in Fall 2014 and it was incredible. We explored space and our bodies and just letting go and getting out of your head.

Then, a year later, along came this workshop sponsored by the Five College Dance Department.  And it was totally incredible. As you may know by now, I’m studying disability rights and discourse, so combining dance and disability was a fascinating way to explore that to me. When we got to the space, Petra and Stephanie made it very clear that it would be a completely accessible space. They checked in with folks on what their needs were and every move we did involving another person involved asking consent. We were encouraged to explore what our bodies and minds were telling us, and if we spoke to ourselves more than whatever directions were given to us at the time, to listen to ourselves.