By Sofia Montoya-Deck
President Andrea Chapdelaine’s move to Connecticut College (Conn) takes place following protests from Conn’s community regarding DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) controversies.
Located in the city of New London, Conn is a 4-year, private institution. Similar to Hood, it is a small liberal arts college, recording an undergraduate population of 1,995 in fall 2023.
The college’s previous president, Katherine Bergerson, resigned March 24, 2023, after serving as Conn’s 11th president for nine years.
Bergerson’s departure followed calls for her resignation due to controversy over the venue choice for a fundraiser in Florida. According to CT Insider, the fundraiser was scheduled at the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, which has a decades-long history of racism and antisemitism. Despite the eventual cancellation of the event, the Conn community was still upset.
“Certainly the road has not always been easy,” Bergerson said in her resignation announcement. “The past several weeks have proven particularly challenging and as president, I fully accept my share of responsibility for the circumstances that have led us to this moment.”
During Bergerson’s tenure, Conn continuously struggled with DEI issues; the most recent dean of institutional equity and inclusion, Rodmon King, resigned Feb. 27, 2023. In a letter to Conn’s board of trustees, King accused Bergerson of bullying behavior that resulted in a “toxic administrative culture of fear and intimidation.”
In a February 2023 University Business article, one student noted that in their time at Conn, King was the third dean to have assumed and resigned from the position. Since King’s resignation over a year ago, Conn has failed to hire a permanent replacement.
Soon after King’s departure, students began a campus-wide movement to protest for Bergerson’s resignation. Conn’s student newspaper, The College Voice, reported that on Feb. 26, students occupied Conn’s Fanning Hall, where Bergerson’s office is located, to protest the administration’s handling of King’s resignation.
On March 1, the Conn community once again took to Fanning Hall in protest, this time with the presence of faculty and staff. “The general sentiment of the faculty was steeped in career-long frustration and exhaustion, culminating in a desperate plea for change,” The College Voice wrote. “Professor Suzuko Knott stated that ‘I can’t be at this institution any longer if we don’t have substantive change.’”
Another professor, Afshan Jafar, commented: “For nine years, we have put up with an administration that has dismissed our concerns. For nine years, we have witnessed our colleagues leave while the president stays. And so now we say enough. Nine years is long enough.”
At Hood, Chapdelaine has been largely successful in prioritizing DEI initiatives. During her tenure, Hood hired its first vice president for community and inclusivity, Tammi Simpson, in 2021 and recently hired a director of inclusive excellence, Akeem Todman, in January 2024.
In October 2019, Hood faced multiple incidents of racially motivated attacks on campus in the form of graffiti, the distribution of white supremacist stickers and obscene language being written on dorm white boards.
“When these acts were reported, the first priority was to make sure the students who were involved were okay,” Chapdelaine said at the time of the incidents. She also urged students to take a stand against the offensive acts. “Use your voice and place in the community to make a change,” she said. “You are a part of the solution. We shouldn’t let people who hate win.”
In addition to DEI issues, Conn has struggled with administrative vacancies. The positions of vice president for college advancement, dean of equity and inclusion, vice president for finance and vice president for administration are all currently held by interim administrators.
Conn’s search for a new president began soon after the notice of Bergerson’s departure. According to Adrien Landon, a student at Conn and co-editor of The College Voice, the college received 97 applications for the position.
“Our Presidential Search Committee was made up of 15 people,” Landon explained. “During the process, it was decided that additional community input was desired and 23 additional people applied and were accepted to be ‘invited interviewers’ to assist in the interview process for the four final candidates.”
The college also hired WittKiefer, a professional executive search firm, to assist in the presidential search. According to Conn’s vice president for marketing and communications, John Cramer, the selection of Chapdelaine as the 12th president was the culmination of a nine-month national search.
“President-elect Chapdelaine was selected because she is a proven higher education leader and administrator with a passion for and commitment to the mission of liberal arts colleges,” Cramer said. “In this pivotal moment for Conn and for higher education broadly, she inspires enthusiasm for what our college can do. She is a strategic leader and compassionate community builder, and a national leader in higher education who is ready to serve our college on day one.”
In Bergerson’s absence, Leslie E. Wong was appointed as the college’s interim president. A member of Conn’s board of trustees since 2019, Wong assumed his interim role July 1, 2023 and will maintain it until Chapdelaine’s first day July 1, 2024.
“I feel as though I have developed a positive relationship with our interim president,” Landon said. “I hope that the sort of relationship he has been able to make with the community can be sustained with the presidential position even after he leaves and we transition to Chapdelaine.”
Landon added that Conn students have mixed emotions about welcoming a new president. “[Conn] had a rough history with our previous president and I would venture to say that, as a community, we are wary of our new president, though that is in no way related to Chapdelaine in particular,” she said. “I am excited and apprehensive to see what comes out of her transition and long-term presidency.”
In an announcement on March 28, Wong commented on the news of Chapdelaine’s hiring. “She will bring an attitude and approach that will excite the campus and continue to build our confidence for the future,” he said. “The college could not find nor seek a better person for the job.”
According to Conn, Chapdelaine’s first official visit to the campus will take place April 24.
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