The Save Whittier College campaign was created to share information about the leadership crisis at the College. We have actively supported efforts to rebuild since the removal of the former president. We have helped to restore the Men’s Lacrosse program and ensured new leadership of the Alumni Association with the election of Rachel H. Rice ’96. We encouraged the appointment of Ken M. Woods ’84 as Vice President of Strategic Enrollment Management and supported the selection of Dr. Kristine E. Dillon ’73 as Whittier’s 16th president.
However, all news is not positive. The College has retained sal johnston, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Cynthia Joseph, Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. These two individuals are culpable for the crisis that engulfed the College. And since July 2023, the Board of Trustees has elected only four Trustees to join its ranks, all former Board members: Vincent Daigneault ’85, Peter Feinberg ’82, Joyce Mullenbach ’77, and James Parks. While these are each quality individuals, their selection reveals the Board’s inability or unwillingness to engage new leadership.
Especially distressing for many of us is the appalling offering of a new “special topics” course this fall semester, “Palestine in Context: Apartheid.” This course is by design set to produce anti-Israel advocates and to create a hostile educational environment for Jewish students. The two tenured faculty teaching the course are providing certification from Amnesty International (widely know for its anti-Israel bias) for completion of the class. This isn’t an issue of academic freedom. This isn’t about free speech. This isn’t the result of a broken course approvals process. Sadly, this is part of an ongoing pattern of shameful actions that foment hate at the college and beyond.
The Whittier College Board of Trustees voted in 2022 to cancel the Feinberg Lecture Series and return its endowment. This series was established in 1988 by the late Sheldon Feinberg, a former trustee of Whittier College, and his wife, Betty, in order to invite major scholars to the College to discuss broad historic, religious, and political issues encompassed by Judaism and its role in a changing world. The Feinbergs intentionally anchored the endowment in three academic departments (History, Religion, and Political Science) because they knew the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the topic. The former president discontinued the lecture series out of spite and hate, and the Board approved the return of the endowment to the Feinberg family.
When Dr. Dillon and the Board were asked to respond to the growing hostility toward Jews at Whittier College, they declined to comment publicly claiming to do so would potentially stifle open dialogue. If you are concerned by this latest leadership failure, please write to members of the Board.
UPDATE: Whittier College issued a statement on September 4, 2024 at 9:50 am. Read here.
Questions? Contact us at: savewhittiercollege@gmail.com