I came to this school because I wanted to make an impact on society through my future engineering career. I thought that this was a community of people that cared about doing good in the world. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve met lots of people like that here. But Olin College’s leadership, like Gilda, Al, and Donna, the people who seem to be calling all the real shots, aren’t those people.
I’m going to be honest, my time here has been stressful. Courses, clubs, halfhearted attempts to socialize with the little energy I have left, and caring about this college and about a planet that’s burning in front of our eyes is mentally and emotionally draining. But it might be bearable if this place felt like a place where I could actually make a difference. I’m frustrated and tired by screaming into the void, trying to communicate what we want and getting ignored every single time. All those meetings, trying to bring up my concerns, taking notes, ignoring the many problematic ways that Al interacts with or describes people who aren’t white cisgender men… only to have our concerns completely ignored. Why do they even pretend to care about what we have to say anymore?
Sometimes, to find a bit of escape and entertainment, I imagine Gilda, Al, Donna, and the board huddled together in smoke-filled back rooms, spinning a roulette wheel where each number is some aspect of student life or the campus community’s well-being that they want to get rid of. I picture them grinning, rubbing their hands together as they count the thousands of dollars they’ll save with this “inevitable” cost-saving measure.
I know they’re not like this in real life; they aren’t monsters purposely trying to make life horrible for all 350 (soon to be 600) of us. But they are out of touch with the community. They don’t value our time, our well-being, our culture, or people who have been here long enough to understand Olin – anything that isn’t dollars, really. And they don’t live by our values. They don’t respect us, aren’t open to new ideas, and they don’t act with integrity or have our best interests in mind.
In some ways, I can understand the way they got to this place. Maybe they came with some grand ideas of how to change this place for the better, and found out that real change is hard. But in the face of that reality, rather than listening to us and understanding what we needed beyond “financial sustainability”, they decided to put their own interests, their jobs, their public image, and their own ways of doing things (read: from much bigger and more traditional schools) before all of that. Olin is a college that prides itself on training its students to do good in the world and make “engineering for everyone”, but it’s led by leaders who aren’t good role models of those things, and who don’t understand or live out our values.
Let me start by highlighting some of the many out-of-touch things that our leadership has said. You can find these quotes from Gilda’s “Key Speeches, Writings + Appearances” page.
“We will continue to value equity, inclusion, and diversity, and we will continue to be a strong and vital institution if we live by these values.” It doesn’t take much time to learn to pronounce people’s names correctly, or to learn and use their pronouns. Why can’t our leadership even invest that little effort to live by these values, while calling on us to be “inclusive” by packing us into increasingly cramped living spaces or bringing Babson students into our dorms?
“The students, faculty and community partners in Technology, Accessibility, and Design who work together to design a technology that enhances accessibility for users with disabilities.” So our students and faculty are doing amazing work in accessibility, while our facilities staff (which leadership could easily hire more of if they just cut a high-paid, “crucial” admin position) are stretched so thin that half of our automatic doors don’t work and people regularly get trapped in elevators. Got it.
“Joy is a choice, and making the choice to approach even stressful experiences from an attitude of joy is an investment in our well-being.” Oh right, choosing joy is what I was missing from my well-being. That’s all I need to ignore the fact that the world is on fire, that a literal fascist is running for president for the third time, that you slashed our scholarship by over 60% while continuing to raise our tuition far beyond inflation, or that you housed Babson students in our dorms after we repeatedly told you no.
“We will continue to strive to provide a safe environment that supports freedom of inquiry, protects diversity, and fosters a sense of health and well-being among all Oliners…” Right, that’s why we have things like the protest policy, smaller suite lounges, tons of triples, and heavy restrictions on our ability to email the class.
“…I know many of you, particularly our students, will be moved by this decision and will be driven to advocate for change. I urge you to do so peacefully and with respect for all viewpoints, because even amid upheaval, respect for others must remain a core value of both our campus community, and our national one.” Then why do you keep putting restrictions on our peaceful advocacy for change? Because you “respect us?” Or does “respect for others” only mean “students respect the administration?”
“As we move forward towards realizing our vision of College as a Living Lab, we are springing to action in inspiring new ways, coalescing around execution in service of our vision and society.” Can anyone on the leadership team explain what College as a Living Lab means or what it actually looks like? Does “coalescing around execution” mean “the leadership ignores the committees, decides whatever it wants and then forces the rest of the community to do its bidding?” What even is the vision, beyond revenue at the cost of all well-being?
And now, let me go through the Honor Code values, as defined on the college website, and talk about how leadership has repeatedly failed to live up to these values.
“Integrity: I will represent myself accurately and completely in my work, my words, and my actions in academic and in non-academic affairs.” I’ve heard leadership constantly misquote us, only getting input from their favorite few students or cherry-picking quotes from us and then representing it as “the students’ opinion” to support any point they want to make. But of course, they never want to put anything in writing themselves. Maybe they’re afraid of being misquoted.
“Respect for Others: I will be patient with and understanding of fellow community members, and considerate of their inherent dignity and personal property. I will care for community resources and facilities so others may effectively use them.” I’ve already talked about how leadership doesn’t listen to our input, doesn’t respect trans and nonbinary identities, and doesn’t care for our college facilities. There’s just no money for these things, but they’re very important, sure. I’m especially sad that they don’t respect our faculty and staff, who work hard and care for our well-being despite being short-staffed. So much so that we are currently experiencing a great resignation of the people who run the day-to-day of this place. How can our leadership possibly say they respect others and live with themselves?
“Passion for the Welfare of Olin College: I will be a steward for the welfare of Olin College through a spirit of cooperation, concern for others, and responsibility for the reputation of Olin College.” After reading all of this, do you really think that our leadership cares about anything except the financials of this college? The community is a big reason I came here, and it’s built on the work of the students, faculty, and staff before me who understood Olin well and collaboratively designed systems that work. They’ve destroyed so much of that community, taking away suite walls, packing us into dorm rooms like sardines, cutting off our ability to email the student body, and suppressing a lot of open honest discussion.
“Openness to Change: I will be receptive to change, supportive of innovation, and willing to take risks for the benefit of the community.” Leadership has constantly ignored our ideas, failed to work with us on anything except their own ideas, and they’ve consistently tried to make us “more like other colleges,” showing that they aren’t interested in taking any real risks for the benefit of the community. Instead, they want to fall back on boring ideas from their time at schools that were much bigger than Olin will ever be.
“Do Something: I will strive to be an active advocate for the well-being of my community. I will seek to understand, and then act on, issues I perceive around me that are specific to both Olin and beyond. I will engage in open, self-reflective discussion with my peers and support them in their efforts to do the same.” Honestly, this article is getting long enough as it is, but I think it’s clear that college leadership doesn’t listen to us and doesn’t act with our best interests in mind. Any changes they make aren’t solving issues that we actually have with Olin, and the only discussion they have is just for show so they can say that they talked about their ideas with us before implementing them.
I’ll end by saying that I don’t think all hope is lost. Like I said, our leadership aren’t monsters, but they’ve been heading in the wrong direction for a long time, and they aren’t listening to us. So to students, faculty, staff, and the board: we need to do something. I hope that you’ll stand with me in saying that we won’t let our leadership continue to destroy this place for a few more dollars. If they’re not willing to change their ways, or if all they’ll commit to are empty promises like “holding a community forum to discuss our thoughts,” or showing up to serve cupcakes as a PR stunt, then frankly, they need to step down and we need to have leadership that actually cares about the spirit and welfare of this college. But if they’re willing to commit to real change, like empowering elected groups of students, faculty, and staff with real decision-making power, then maybe there’s still hope.
If any of this resonated with you, I encourage you to support this effort and share your own stories about why you’re concerned about our leadership. You can fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/YTcy7Pd6ZvKXbEuYA
