The Miscellany News

We, the Vassar Baseball team, have come to realize that aspects of our culture have perpetuated racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other prejudices. We sincerely apologize to anyone who has felt uncomfortable or unsafe as a result of this environment. We want every member of the Vassar community to feel safe and comfortable in their own identity on campus and beyond. After assessing ourselves, we recognize that we have fallen short of promoting that ideal when it comes to individuals who do not identify in the same ways as us, and we are committed to doing better in that respect. Below are some steps that we plan to take in order to educate ourselves and promote equity and inclusion within our team and the broader campus environment.

Our team plans to foster relationships with campus resources like the ALANA Center, the LGBTQ Center, and the Women’s Center that focus on enhancing the experiences of and making our campus a safer and more inclusive place for marginalized groups. We are in the process of reaching out to these centers to coordinate workshops and educational opportunities for team members. Paired with reflection, these partnerships will help us to better understand our privileges and dismantle our biases. We also intend to be active participants in a department-wide initiative to promote education and conversation regarding issues of racial justice. In addition, members of our team are in the process of drafting a social contract that will enumerate certain behaviors not permissible on our team and outline the courses of action to be pursued should a violation of that contract occur. We acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do, and we commit ourselves to doing our part to create a welcoming and inclusive community.