Students, faculty and administrative staff crowded into the overheated space of John M. Greene Hall on Monday, April 16, for an all-campus meeting called by President Carol Christ to discuss campus tensions following the two racist and homophobic notes anonymously directed to a Parsons House first-year. The notes, delivered on March 12 and April 1, came at a time when Smith, like many other historically elite colleges, is reexamining the meaning of its commitment to social justice and diversity.

The meeting, which began at 4:15 p.m. and lasted until 6 p.m., opened with a greeting from Jennifer Walters, Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life. Like some other speakers, Dean Walters referenced the classist and homophobic incidents of April 2002, commenting, “If I tell myself only how it is getting better, it is harder for me to see where it’s not so good or where it needs to change.”

Both faculty and students that spoke throughout the meeting agreed on this need for change. President Christ, following Dean Walters, apologized for not having reacted to this incident faster.

“I regret that we’ve not come together sooner,” she said.

President Christ continued by reiterating that the college is taking measures to investigate the incident.

“We have conducted a police investigation and we have now brought in a handwriting analyst,” she told the crowd, echoing information supplied by her earlier e-mails. More information, she said, could not be provided at this time due to federal and state privacy clauses for both the victim and the perpetrator.

President Christ’s remarks were followed by speeches from Pamela Nolan Young, Director of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equality and three faculty members: Professors Daphne Lamothe, of the Afro-American studies department; Donna Riley, of the engineering department; and Naomi Miller, of the English department.

“What is it that makes this pattern of April at Smith so durable?” Professor Riley mused, again referencing the incidents of 2002. All three women discussed issues of privilege and called for a greater curricular and campus awareness of and toward matters of diversity and social justice.

Professor Riley mentioned that a class on racial tolerance should be required not only for students who would like to take such a class, “but especially for those not interested in the least.” This statement was met with applause.

“Smith aspires to be more than a supermarket or a warehouse,” said Professor Lamothe. “It aims to be a family…We have to hold ourselves accountable for the community that we are making.”

“I am extremely grateful for Professors Donna Riley, Daphne Lamothe and Naomi Miller,” student organizer Carro Hua ’13 said in an e-mail interview. “They did a comprehensive job contextualizing and explaining our current moment…[T]his is the beginning of very important work that needs to follow in order to change our community in ways that will allow every community member to feel whole and [like] a human being with dignity.”

Though the meeting was scheduled to end at 5:15 p.m., the open comments and questions period that followed the faculty speeches proved so popular that the meeting lasted until six. Current students and alums discussed and questioned college processes such as class planning, financial services and the investigation surrounding the notes.

“The turnout blew me away,” Hua said in her e-mail. “Many of us were really concerned [that] working students [would] not be able to be there [or] faculty/staff with childcare responsibilities [or] dining hall staff who were preparing our meals… I hope in the future, the meeting can be more inclusive and address different barriers that may bar one from coming.”

President Christ ended the meeting with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr., and reminded her audience that other campus events and dialogues will follow. As of this writing, the author of the notes has still not been found.