18 November 2016
Dear GCWS communities,
We, the representatives of the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality (GCWS) at MIT, are committed to the practices of academic freedom and social justice. We stand in solidarity with our faculty, staff, and student communities across our member institutions and with all people whose dignity and rights have been increasingly threatened by forces that seek to destroy the values of equity, justice, and freedom. In alignment with our mission, we continue our active, collective academic labor of countering all the forms of hate that are flourishing in the present political, social context.
We are committed in all our endeavors to providing welcome and safety to all members of our community who are targeted by practices of hate and bigotry. In keeping, we pledge to continue to denounce all forms of discrimination: religious, racial, gender, sexual, age, class, ability, nationality, documentation, citizenship, and others. We ask our member institutions to join us in highlighting these commitments.
As a collective, we draw on our shared expertise, wisdom, and vision to educate, learn, and struggle toward a more just and equitable future for all people.
In solidarity,
Sabina Vaught
GCWS Board Co-Chair
Associate Professor and Chair of Education, and Director of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Tufts University
Jo Trigilio
GCWS Board Co-Chair
Director of Gender and Cultural Studies, Simmons College
Sandy Alexandre
GCWS Representative for MIT
Associate Professor of Literature, MIT
Caroline Bicks
GCWS Representative for Boston College
Associate Professor of English, Boston College
Chris Bobel
GCWS Representative for UMass Boston
Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, UMass Boston
Genevieve Clutario
GCWS Representative for Harvard University
Assistant Professor of History and History and Literature, Harvard University
Catherine Connell
GCWS Representative for Boston University
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Boston University
Karen V. Hansen
GCWS Representative for Brandeis University
Professor of Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University
Berna Turam
GCWS Representative for Northeastern University
Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, Northeastern University
Andi Sutton
GCWS Program Manager
Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 14N-211
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: 617-324-2085