I am writing to let you know why I will not be attending my 45th reunion at
Macalester this weekend. Briefly, I am upset with the decision to administer
harsh retribution to current students seeking divestment from Wells Fargo Bank.
It may be important for you to understand a certain perspective, so I am going
to take the liberty of telling my own story.
I never planned on attending Macalester when I graduated from a suburban Kansas
City high school in 1964. I had already been accepted and been offered
generous scholarships to Grinnell, Earlham and Antioch. However, part of my
high school experience was chaffing under the residential segregation of that
time; the closest African-American families lived perhaps eight miles from my
house and not one student of color attended my school of 2,300 students. I
tried to break this barrier a bit by attempting weeklong exchanges with local
high schools including predominately African-American students. So when a Mac
recruiter mentioned that Macalester had an exchange program with a traditional
Black college in the South, my guidance counselor called me out of class. A
talk, a visit to St. Paul, an interview with the Board of Trustees, and I
became a Macalester student.
It was a good choice and left some amazing memories. I didnât participate in
the exchange program that first attracted me, but did spend my sophomore year
at the University of Kinshasa in Central Africa. There were Wednesday
lunchtime meeting of the Student Action for Human Rights group, which I chaired
for a time. There were Thursday noon-hour vigils on Grand against the war
against Vietnam. There were occasional road trips in rental or drive-away cars
to antiwar marches in New York and Washington, an amazing trip to Selma for
that historic march with Dr. King, an Interim teaching at a street academy in
Harlem during the day and attending shows at the Apollo theater at night, an
arrest in front of Applebaumâs grocery on Snelling (for passing out leaflets
against napalm-maker Dow Chemical), sign-making in the office of assistant
chaplain Al Currier, conversations with Sen. Walter Mondale about the war,
campaigning for Eugene McCarthy in five states on weekends and school breaks,
and even running for student body president (I lost to Tim OâBrien, who has
written probably the very best fiction about the Vietnam experience).
Somehow, amid all this activism, I managed to graduate with distinction, going
on to a 41-year teaching career in Central Africa, West Africa, Puerto Rico,
Native American schools in Minneapolis, Spanish immersion programs in St. Paul,
as well as Montessori teaching in Michigan and South Texas. My life has
included the common threads of joy and sadness, marriage, children, and
grandchildren, honors and death. But life after Macalester was characterized
by activism as well, including further conversations about Walter Mondale (this
time as a Kucinich delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Boston),
more bus trips against more wars, vigils at the School of the Americas in
Georgia, starting a Congressional campaign (for Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer) in my
living room, giving surrogate speeches for a U.S. Senate candidate, even
running for Minneapolis city council.
This may sound like ego as I tell my story, but it is the story of many of us
who were attracted to Macalester and still resonate deeply with the school
reputation for social justice concerns. Harvey Rice, your predecessor as
president, used to famously cite Macalester as âthe Harvard of the Midwestâ
(although I believe his goal was something closer to the elitism and privilege
of Princeton). Other colleges actually do a better job of serving the academic
and economic elite of the region. The special niche for Macalester for
generations has been its reputation of rigorous challenge of the status quo,
its encouragement of sincere and profound work to make the world a better
place.
During this last year, you have been experiencing just such a challenge as a
group of current Macalester students attempted to get the college to divest
from Wells Fargo Bank. That bank has played a central part in the epidemic of
foreclosures in the past few years, and those foreclosures have been central in
a massive assault on the middle class. We are seeing a huge restructuring of
the American class system, with a hollowing-out of the middle class that has
historically been so instrumental in allowing class mobility and maintaining
stability in our democratic political system. In spite of nearly a year in
bringing you information regarding Wells Fargo, you have decided to continue
collaborating with that bank. The students responded to that decision with a
non-violent sit-in in which no property was damaged and no people harmed in any
way.
And now comes the retribution: These students, acting out of conscience, have
received a harsh and vengeful punishment of being put on probation. As I
understand, they are not allowed to participate in any abroad programs or, in
fact, any extracurricular activities at all. They are being treated as if they
were a group of slackers with failing grades. (You may note that those
restrictions include most of the activities that I remember most fondly from my
own Macalester years.)
This puts me at a loss into trying to understand your motivation. Do you
really intend to support Wells Fargo while punishing your own students? Do you
somehow fail to see the honor and conscience behind the studentsâ actions? Do
you wish to extinguish the long tradition that Macalester students have for
political and social activism, wishing instead to morph Macalester into yet
another high-priced finishing school? Do you feel somehow bullied by the
studentsâ sit-in and seek to make your point by yourself bullying with more
efficiency?
It is my sincere hope that you will reconsider this recent draconian action
against these students, but I fear that I simply do not have the time to engage
with you at length on this question. The conscience of these students and
Macalesterâs reputation for activism are the very best resources that the
college has had. If you have decided to throw away those priceless assets,
then I have no more time for you. I will not be attending the reunion this
weekend. The theme, as I understand, is âMy lifeâs next chapter.â Sadly,
Macalester will not be in it.
Sincerely,
Charley Underwood, Class of 1968