The following documents are intended to represent the history of protests and student actions surrounding the OAR Report of 1997 on the campus of Sarah Lawrence College.
Given the large number of documents housed in the College Archives on various student actions (approximately 5,000), the representation here is not comprehensive. To learn more about a specific student action and the SLC community’s response, please reach out to the Archives.
This online collection contains the original actions, demands, and various community responses to add historical context to the events and to make many of the documents more accessible. The documents are arranged chronologically in ascending order within each protest. The majority of the documents are from the Protest and Activism Collection, but there are others from the various collections within the College Archives. The collection from which the document came is noted in the metadata record for the item. To access finding aids for collections, such as the Protest and Activism Collection, see the Archives website. For additional information on the history of diversity at the College, see the Diversity Timeline.
NOTE: To protect the privacy of individuals, names have been redacted in the documents.
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[Invitation to Student Senate dinner, May 7, 1997]
Student Senate, Sarah Lawrence College
Invitation to the Student Senate dinner discussion of the College's commitment to a diverse faculty and curriculum.
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[Letter to the Community, May 7, 1997]
[Unknown]
Letter from various administrators and staff summarizing events of the Student Senate annual dinner at the President's House during which students submitted demands regarding a commitment to diversity on campus. The letter outlines the establishment of a student and faculty committee to research and develop strategies for expanding race and class diversity on campus.
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[Preliminary list for discussion at Senate administration dinner, May 7, 1997]
Student Senate, Sarah Lawrence College
List written by the Student Senate of preliminary topics to discuss during the Student Senate/Administration dinner relevant to diversity in the faculty and curriculum at the College.
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[Signed notice from students about the President's House walk-in, May 8, 1997]
[Unknown]
Document signed by 43 students summarizing events leading up to and the outcomes of the student organized President's House walk-in.
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[An Interim Report to the Community from the Faculty and Administrative Members of General Committee, May 12, 1997]
General Committee, Sarah Lawrence College
Brief report from General Committee to the Community outlining the initiatives committees are taking to answer the demands to increase diversity on campus.
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[Message to students, circa May 13, 1997]
[Redacted]
Faculty message expressing concern and support of student efforts and reactions to the President's House walk-in.
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[The OAR (Organized Against Racism) Report, The Issue of Racial Diversity at Sarah Lawrence College, July 1997]
Organized Against Racism, Sarah Lawrence College
The campus group of faculty, staff, and students, Organized Against Racism, shared this report on the findings of surveys and research aimed to determine "whether racism exists here [at Sarah Lawrence] -- and if so, how it works and how it can be changed." Provides statistics and analysis on student enrollment, faculty, staff and curriculum and includes transcripts of interviews and personal statements from students, alumni, faculty, and senior administration.
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[Report to the Community on the Diversity Agenda at Sarah Lawrence, January 22, 1998]
Alice Stone Ilchman and General Committee, Sarah Lawrence College
An interim report by President Alice Ilchman and the General Committee on the progress of General Committee's charge to address the diversity agenda on campus. The report touches on racial diversity within the faculty, curriculum, the student body, and the cultural awareness and diversity and international programs.