To the Williams Community:

We write to add our voices to those of students who have objected to the Colleges decision to
honor former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. A core mission of Williams is welcoming and
supporting in the College community people from all segments of our increasingly diverse
society. We the undersigned strongly affirm this mission. But rather than making our whole
community feel welcome and celebrated at commencement, the selection of Mr. Bloomberg as
an honorary degree recipient has highlighted divisions in the community and worked against
the Colleges inclusion of all students, faculty, and staff on equal terms.

We strongly emphasize that we do not contest former Mayor Bloombergs right to speak at
Williams; in fact, we would appreciate the opportunity to engage in dialogue with him as an
invited speaker on campus. We do object, however, to the Colleges choice to award him an
honorary degree at Commencementa moment the entire community regards as the
culmination and celebration of our students Williams experience. As Mayor of New York, Mr.
Bloomberg came to stand for policing practices that unjustly target people of color and
economic policies that contribute to increasing inequality in the city, which has searing meaning
for some members of our community.

We urge participants in the ceremony to join in honoring our entire graduating class. We
especially express our strong support for the students whose voices have been so crucial in
helping to shape the Williams of the twenty-first century, too often at great personal cost.

Members of the faculty and staff of Williams College

Laylah Ali (Art)
Bilal Ansari (Chaplains Office)
Gene Bell-Villada (Romance Languages)
Magnus Bernhardsson (History)
Leslie Brown (History)
Sandra Burton (Dance)
Ondine Chavoya (Art)
Cassandra Cleghorn (English)
Margaux Cowden (English)
Ronadh Cox (Geosciences)
Sam Crane (Political Science)
Annelle Curulla (Romance Languages)
Helga Druxes (German)
Sarah Dubow (History)
Holly Edwards (Art)
Laura Ephraim (Political Science)
David Eppel (Theatre)
Ed Epping (Art)
Amal Eqeiq (Arabic)
Jessica Fisher (English)
Antonia Foias (Anthropology and Sociology)
Joyce Foster (Academic Resources)
Jennifer French (Romance Languages)
Steve Gerrard (Philosophy)
Jesus Hernandez (Latina/o Studies)
Kiaran Honderich (Womens, Gender and Sexuality Studies)
Jeffrey Israel (Religion)
Andy Jaffe (Music)
Joy James (Humanities)
Liza Johnson (Art)
Walter Johnston (English)
Aparna Kapadia (History)
Rose Kelanic (Political Science)
Katie Kent (English)
Roger Kittleson (History)
Eric Knibbs (History)
Sherron Knopp (English)
Pia Kohler (Environmental Studies)
Anjuli Raza Kolb (English)
Gretchen Long (History)
Peter Low (Art)
Chip Lovett (Chemistry)
Jim Mahon (Political Science)
Gage McWeeny (English)
Bojana Mladenovic (Philosophy)
Nicole Mellow (Political Science)
Gregory Mitchell (Womens, Gender and Sexuality Studies)
Ngonidzashe Munemo (Political Science)
Gail Newman (German and Russian)
Nimu Njoya (Political Science)
Jay Pasachoff (Astronomy)
Kashia Pieprzak (Romance Languages)
Christopher Pye (English)
Maurita Poole (Williams College Museum of Art)
Mark Reinhardt (Political Science)
Bernie Rhie (English)
Neil Roberts (Africana Studies)
Shawn Rosenheim (English)
Mrida Ra (American Studies)
Jana Sawicki (Philosophy)
Lucie Schmidt (Economics)
Llerena Searle (Anthropology and Sociology)
Cheryl Shanks (Political Science)
Avery Sharpe (Music)
Olga Shevchenko (Anthropology and Sociology)
Shanti Singham (History)
David Lionel Smith (English)
Laura Sokol (Psychology)
Anita Sokolsky (English)
Stefanie Solum (Art)
Karen Swann (English)
Rebecca Taurog (Chemistry)
Christian Thorne (English)
Stephen Tifft (English)
Tony Truran (Chemistry)
Amanda Turner (Computer Science)
Janneke van de Stadt (German and Russian)
Armando Vargas (Arabic)
Dorothy Wang (American Studies)
Carmen Whalen (Latina/o Studies)
Alan White (Philosophy)
Scott Wong (History)
Kasumi Yamamoto (Asian Studies)
Li Yu (Asian Studies)
Betty Zimmerberg (Psychology)