March 22 Teach-In: Supporting the March for Our Lives

March 19, 2018

Dear students, staff and faculty:

In recent weeks and months, we have been shocked, saddened and outraged by deadly violence in our schools. In response to the shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a remarkable movement has emerged, thanks to high school students demanding action against gun violence. Several members of our community, including me, have organized a teach-in on school violence this Thursday, March 22, which is two days before the national marches scheduled across the country. The goal of this teach-in is to come together as a community in support of students across the nation who are organizing for the right to learn in safety.

• We will raise our voices at a noontime rally at the Campus Center, committing ourselves to ways we can each support this movement and contribute to preventing school violence.
• We will learn from experts at a panel titled “School Shootings, School Violence and the Damage Done: Prevention and Response” at 4:30 p.m. in Weinstein Auditorium. Among the speakers will be Professor Victoria Banyard, University of New Hampshire; Anne Gilligan, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; Senior Lecturer Megan Harding, Smith College School for Social Work; and Dean and Professor Marianne Yoshioka, Smith College School for Social Work.
• We will host a community phone bank in the Campus Center from 1 to 4 p.m. for those who wish to contact legislators about gun violence and school safety.

The college will also provide a bus on Saturday, March 24, for those who wish to join the March for Our Lives in Boston.

Details on all events can be found here.

It is clear that higher education has a role to play in the movement to end violence in our schools. The American Council on Education has launched an initiative on Guns, Campus Safety, and Higher Education Civic Engagement, which will aggregate resources for ongoing activism and teaching.

I hope to see many of you on Thursday.

Sincerely,

Kathleen McCartney
President