EXCLUSIVE: Student Paper Only Accepting Submissions From ‘Students of Color’

ashley.rae | April 11, 2017
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Haverford College’s student newspaper is currently only accepting submissions from “students of color” in collaboration with a college-wide program that “prioritizes” the voices of minority students.

In a post on Facebook, the Haverford Clerk’s editorial staff wrote the paper will be accepting submissions from students who “weren’t able to attend” and “didn’t want to share in a room full of strangers” at the annual “WeSpeak” program.

The editorial staff added, “Those that would like to remain anonymity [sic] may request so upon submission. Only students of color may submit.”

The editor-in-chief for the Clerk, Maurice Rippel, clarified to MRCTV the call for submission exclusively for “students of color” was in connection with the college's “WeSpeak” event. Originally, the Facebook post did not reference any connection between the event and a larger school program. The post has been updated since MRCTV's inquiry.

In 2016, the Clerk described “WeSpeak” as a “Quaker style open forum for students of color at Haverford to express their thoughts and experiences in a context that prioritizes their voices.”

A blog post by the Office of Multicultural Affairs from 2016 states “WeSpeak” is “an annual event hosted at Haverford College where students of color are allowed to speak openly and uninterrupted in front of an audience of their peers about issues they have faced related to race on campus.”

Rippel told MRCTV, “The inquiry for submissions was for students that attended WeSpeak but as the post suggests, did not get to share. We garner posts for the online forum we provide students after the annual discussion.”

Previous responses to the Clerk’s call for submission include students talking about “light skin privilege,” not feeling “black enough,” microaggressions, and how “f**king painful” it is to read “Trump 2016” on campus.

According to the College Board, Haverford College is 59 percent white, 10 percent Asian, 9 percent non-resident alien, 8 percent Hispanic or Latino, 7 percent black or African American, 4 percent two or more races, and 2 percent “ethnicity unknown.”

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