Great moments in academia: College president regrets writing “All lives matter”

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:14 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

Great moments in academia: College president regrets writing “All lives matter” 2015-03-13T16:14:23-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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Smith College President Kathleen McCartney led a vigil attended by 130 people Monday afternoon three days after she apologized for her original wording in an email she sent to the campus community in reaction to the recent police killings of three blacks.

McCartney sent two emails Friday, which were obtained by the Gazette from a Smith faculty member. The first, with a subject line reading “All Lives Matter,” was sent by McCartney to Smith students, faculty and staff with a list of actions that would taken on campus to heal those in pain, to “teach, learn and share what we know” and to “work for equity and justice.”

Nearly six hours later Friday evening, McCartney sent a second email expressing regret that she was unaware the phrase “all lives mater” was used by some on social media as a counter to the “#BlackLivesMatter” movement protesting the grand jury decisions not to indict police officers in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

In the first email, McCartney described the deaths of Brown and Garner as resulting from “excessive force” by police. She added that the video of Garner’s death “spoke for itself—or should have.”

She continued by explaining that she had been listening to the discouragement, fury and sorrow of students at Smith. “We are united in our insistence that all lives matter,” McCartney closed the email.

In her follow-up email, McCartney said that numerous students had contacted her objecting to her use of the phrase “all lives matter.” She cited two students’ emails, including one that explained that while all lives matter, it is not the value of all lives that is being called into question, it is specifically black lives.

“It minimizes the anti-blackness of this the current situation; yes, all lives matter, but not all lives are being targeted for police brutality,” wrote another student.

McCartney closed her email acknowledging her mistakes, “despite my best intentions,” and thanking those who shared their “wisdom and wise counsel” with her.

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There’s more on the subject and the controversy here.

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