Connecticut College Students Refuse to Perform INTO THE WOODS in Protest; Demand President Resigns

Students at Connecticut College in New London have been occupying Fanning Hall on campus since Sunday evening in response to a canceled fundraising trip by college president Katherine Bergeron to the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, Florida. The club "has been accused of racist and antisemitic actions" reports CT Public.

Following the protests, the cast and crew of the College's production of Into The Woods say they will refuse to perform March 3rd through 5th unless demands from The Student Voices for Equity (SVE) are met.

The demands from the SVE include:

1. The resignation of Connecticut College President, Katherine Bergeron.

2. Conduct a transparent Presidential search immediately, along with the restructuring of the review and appointment process for Presidents.

3. Strengthen DIEI by guaranteeing salaried pay for all full-time professional staffers and increasing its staffing/programming budget to competitively hire and compensate additional qualified personnel, prioritizing transparency and the implementation of effective institutional spending reviews.

4. Immediate prioritization of hiring more BIPOC faculty and staff throughout all offices with the inclusion of mandatory DIEI sensitivity, mediation, and equity training.

5. Establish greater and distinct resources for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, undocumented, international, first-gen, Disabled, and low-income students.

6. DIEI offices and affiliated identity-based spaces should be ADA-accessible and fully equipped to support the populations they serve.

7. The maintenance of a consistent curriculum and retention of the courses necessary to complete an education within Africana Studies, East Asian Studies, Hispanic Studies, Global Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, and Arabic Studies.

8. The implementation of SVE as a lasting body comprised of student representatives in communication with administration and the Board of Trustees to ensure the implementation of current and future institutional equity and inclusion needs.

In a collective statement, the theater students wrote "However, there comes a point where art can no longer be prioritized, regardless of how much energy has been poured into it. The Into the Woods company, with the support of the Connecticut College Theater Department, recognizes that this means our performances, planned for March 3-5, will not take place as planned until your conscious and active support of our demands as a study body are made clear."

In a statement to The College Voice, the president wrote for students to "consider the significant legal, financial, and institutional complexity of the demands that have been put before the College, demands that the administration and the Board are working to resolve at this very moment..." and urged the cast to find "other meaningful ways you can support Student Voices for Equity without canceling the production...I hope you will consider them and let your work have its lights this weekend."