The president of Smith College denied claims that there is a hostile environment for white employees at the women’s college in a letter Monday, after a staff member resigned while claiming in her own public letter that she had experienced discrimination as a white person.
President Kathleen McCartney told the Smith community that the allegations were untrue and that the employee who resigned Friday had “demanded payment of an exceptionally large sum in exchange for dropping a threatened legal claim and agreeing to standard confidentiality provisions.”
McCartney did not identify the former employee by name, but her letter appeared to refer to Jodi Shaw, who was still listed Monday night as a student support coordinator on the Smith College website. A Smith spokeswoman confirmed that Shaw was a college employee until Friday.
Shaw could not be reached for comment. A resignation letter attributed to her was published Friday on a Substack newsletter by Bari Weiss, a former New York Times opinion writer.
An online fund-raising page for Shaw’s legal and living expenses, which had raised more than $200,000 by Monday night, also identifies her as the letter’s author.
The resignation letter, which runs more than 1,600 words, says Shaw is a proud Smith alumna and was initially “over the moon” to work there, but the climate on campus changed after a 2018 incident in which a white staff member called campus police on a Black student who was eating lunch in a common area.
That’s when, according to the letter, “the culture war arrived at our campus.”
The letter says Shaw was pressured at work to talk about issues of race that made her uncomfortable and was humiliated by a workshop facilitator who suggested reluctance to discuss race “is a symptom of ‘white fragility.’” In one instance, according to the letter, Shaw was told she could not deliver a library orientation program because she had planned to perform it as a rap, and her supervisor said it could be seen as “cultural appropriation.”
McCartney denied a claim in the published letter that Smith tried to buy Shaw’s silence and said the college is “committed to continuous learning in support of the humanity, worth, and dignity of every member of our community.”
McCartney wrote that “Smith College remains unyielding in its commitment to advancing racial justice, a commitment that includes and benefits every member of our community.”
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox.
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