Director of Student Life posts harsh words about student activists on Facebook
UVM’s Director of Student life cursed out a group of students on her Facebook account Friday after they emailed her and other UVM administrators a list of demands.
Four hours after receiving an email from a coalition of student activists Director of Student Life Daphne Wells stated in a Facebook post that the students were “tone deaf.”
The email, sent at 3:16 p.m. Friday, held a list of demands she was asked to meet by the following Tuesday at 8 p.m..
“See, this is the problem with tone deaf, wanna be Social Justice warriors,” Wells stated. “Muh’fuggas so damn ‘woke’ they sleep deprived. Lay yo asses down and take a damn nap.”
In a June 21 email to the Cynic, Wells stated she will no longer be giving interviews or comment to the Cynic and declined to comment on this specific post.
The students that wrote the initial letter to Wells said in a collective statement they never meant to single out any single person at UVM, it was a message sent to multiple administrators.
“We recognize the confusion, and feelings expressed by both members of the University and students involved in the drafting of the demands/letter, and it was never our intention to single out any specific individual, as we had sent the letter to multiple members of administration, the Board of Trustees, the Student Government Association, and the Student Union,” The June 21 letter to the Cynic states. “With that said, we want to recognize the enormous faculty support, on-campus student organizational support, and local and state government support that the letter and demands themselves have garnered.
The crux of the letter/demands are to help create a more restorative and preventive model of security on our campus, and we hope that this stays the focal point of the conversation moving forward. The individuals and organizations involved in the drafting of the demands/letter intend to engage with the administration and work together to create meaningful dialogue and action plans for our campus and community.”
According to the Department of Student Life’s mission, the office has a strong commitment to social justice and removing barriers for students.
“As allies to UVM students and as leaders in our community we strive to identify and remove barriers to student growth, education, and involvement,” the mission states.
The mission also states the office works to engage in dialogue, provide training, and develop programs that support our commitment to creating an active, inclusive and just student body.
When asked if UVM supports the actions of Director Wells UVM spokesperson Enrique Corredera stated UVM doesn’t comment on specific staff members.
“The university takes the conduct of its employees seriously and pursues the appropriate steps, but does not comment on individual employees,” Corredera stated.
In the post, Wells stated she was upset that students had reached out on Juneteenth, a statewide holiday in Vermont.
“DON’T EVER FIX YOUR FUCKING KEYBOARD TO SEND MY BLACK ASS A LIST OF DEMANDS ON JUNETEENTH!” Wells stated in all capital letters.
Wells’ Facebook post received over 200 comments as of June 21 at 3:36 p.m..
(She/her)
Kate Vanni is a senior Communications Design major with minors in Applied Design and Studio Art. Before becoming the Editor-in-Chief, Kate...
Nyj • Jun 22, 2020 at 10:08 am
Thank you for staying neutral on this article! This teacher was completely out of wack and SHE DID curse students out for sending a list of demands on Juneteenth, a weekday and work day. I hope the administration handles her and she apologizes to students. If she felt disrespected (in whatever crazy way) she should have reached out to those students personally, not post on Facebook about them in a rant. That’s completely unprofessional and inexcusable. The people in the comments trying to flip this article and say it’s racist or insensitive are the same people who were in her Facebook comments defending her and mocking student activists. Actions like this will never be tolerated in the professional world. She’s insane for thinking that post would bring positivity.
Ted Cohen • Jun 22, 2020 at 5:03 am
Great piece of journalism.
Mel Wilson • Jun 21, 2020 at 8:16 pm
This is inflammatory at best, and also the copy and paste committee didn’t include all the post! As a “news/media” outlet please ensure you are being a trustworthy reporting agency…
Sadly the students upset int eh post, are deflecting from their own”list of demands” and gas lighting themselves…
Ruth • Jun 21, 2020 at 7:51 pm
I realize that a lot of work went into reporting this article. However, publicizing this Facebook post in this manner is not okay. A Black women was upset because she is fighting for her own civil rights and, while I cannot assume to know the feelings of another person, she probably feels that the letter was worded in a way that made her sound like part of the problem. POC are often depicted as being angry for “no reason,” (and there is plenty of reason for POC to be angry) and publicizing a post like this without any context from the poster’s POV contributes to that caricature. The caricature was created in the first place to dismiss arguments by POC. I’m sure it wasn’t your intention but this comes off as a racist article. You need to take this down or heavily amend it.