SGA Shares Demands, Including Cutting Ties with Poughkeepsie Police

The Student Government Association (SGA) shared a letter from Student Body President Roda Mohamed ‘21 on Sunday, outlining five specific demands. 

“As the red fox nation, we stand united against systemic racism that continues to perpetuate hate, inequities, and inequalities in our country and elsewhere,” Mohamed said. “As a Marist community, we can do better, and we must do better.” 

Mohamed addressed recent killings, systemic racism and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people of color. The letter to the “greater Marist community” detailed five primary calls to action: a reevaluation of curriculum, updated fall orientation, separation from Poughkeepsie Police, increased diversity and further education. 

Mohamed called on Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Academic Programs John Ritschdorff for the reevaluation of curriculum, highlighting the First Year Seminars in particular. 

“This requires the Marist institution to treat these existential issues as a priority as opposed to an elective that students will skip over,” Mohamed said.

In her second demand, Mohamed said that the college’s fall orientation “must cultivate spaces for unlearning harmful prejudices and biases to truly create global agents of change as our mission statement requires.” 

Mohamed described the historical biases associated with whiteness and blackness, and asked the Office of Safety and Security “cut ties with the Poughkeepsie Police Department that has continued to oppress Black people.” 

Last year, a Poughkeepsie police officer appeared to throw a 15-year-old Black woman to the ground, captured in a viral video. Members of the Marist Black Student Union (BSU) joined the Vassar College BSU at Vassar College last November for a Black Lives Matter event. The University of Minnesota scaled back partnerships with the Minneapolis Police Department following George Floyd’s killing, and colleges like Columbia University and Northwestern University expressed similar demands.

“Instead, SGA demands that we re-invest in our mental health efforts, students of color, specifically Black students, and provide adequate resources to fulfill our purpose to all of our community,” Mohamed said. “The office of Safety & Security must collaborate with clubs from underrepresented groups and participate in student-led workshops to reimagine public safety.” 

SGA called for increased diversity in the student population as well as the professoriate and administration. 

“As various parts of a collective, we must be able to hold faculty and leadership accountable for expressing and harming the success of students of color, specifically Black students. SGA is prepared to work with appropriate groups to ensure that this demand is properly tended to,” Mohamed said.

Lastly, Mohamed urged the college to further education about “diversity, inclusion, and the ongoing systemic oppression” by inviting diversity experts and coaches to campus. 

Mohamed shared the Marist SGA Fighting Racism Form and welcomed feedback. SGA provided a list of places to donate as well as suggested reading, including “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander, who visited campus in 2018. 

The letter also included a list of posed questions to readers, including “How has your Marist experience supported and challenged your understanding of the world today?” 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included the First Year Program instead of First Year Seminars. Marist SGA informed the Circle that this was an error in the original letter.