In the fall, the seminary is expected to welcome its first president who is a person of color, the Rev. Victor Aloyo. DeLoney noted that the arrival of a nonwhite president does not disqualify concerns about racism on campus.
Leo Seyij Allen, vice president of the seminary’s student government association, said in an email, “Several of us are wary that the hiring of Dr. Victor Aloyo is merely cover for the legacy of racism that the administration at CTS has sustained.”
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Allen believes that the administration’s apparent hostility toward people of color could stall progress under Aloyo.
“The key infrastructure that students need to be supported, particularly students of color, appears to be systematically and intentionally unraveling at Columbia,” Allen observed at the news conference.
In June 2020, the seminary’s board of trustees announced a series of racial justice commitments, including fully covering tuition and student fees for Black students accepted into CTS master’s programs. According to a May 2021 admissions brochure, African Americans made up more than 64% of the student body at that time.
White has been an especially supportive figure for many members of the African Heritage Student Association, which currently has approximately 65 members. The Rev. Tisa Watkins, president of the seminary’s second-year class, said at the news conference that Smith was instrumental in her decision to come to CTS to pursue an additional degree.
“I had a lot of reservations about uprooting my life and coming to a place that I didn’t know,” said Watkins, “and Rev. White really took the time to talk to me. He wasn’t pushy, he really sat with me as I made that decision. … To find out that Rev. White has just been ousted, it really hurt my heart.”
This article originally appeared here.
