The Brown Spectator’s Stephen Beale asks six questions of President Ruth Simmons regarding the University’s steering committee on slavery and justice, formed last year.
Stephen Beale: What were the motives for the creation of the committee? Who participated in the decision? What is the chain of events that led up to the formation of this committee?
Ruth Simmons: There was no chain of events. Issues related to the heritage of slavery—of which the reparations question was the loudest and most visible—had been current for years. I would encounter them from time to time in discussions with alumni and faculty, and it was my sense that there were gaps in the Brown community’s knowledge of its own historical record and that of the Brown family. While the reparations question certainly captured the public’s interest, it urged people to take sides on a narrow legal question, leaving wider areas of racial and social history unexplored. My motive was to create a process whereby Brown’s historical record could be developed and made accessible. In addition, I wanted to create a larger discussion about the ways in which societies have managed to confront troubling and difficult elements of their past, to clear the air and to move on. The Committee’s creation was actually recommended by the deans who correctly saw this as an opportunity to educate students about how to address complex questions.
SB: How were the committee members chosen? Who was responsible for making that decision? Were committee members chosen solely on the basis of their varied expertise or was consideration also given to ensuring that the committee reflected a diversity of social and political philosophies?
RS: The Dean of the College initially recommended committee members based on an understanding of their professional and academic expertise. Included in the group are persons who have some expertise with regard to other historical injustices – the Holocaust, the internment of Japanese-Americans, and South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for example. In my letter to the committee, I wrote:
The steering committee will comprise students and faculty who represent the range of knowledge and perspectives that will be necessary for a thorough historical inquiry into these matters. It will be important to explore comparative and historical contexts that may shed light on the issues of reparations and retrospective justice (for example, the history of the Holocaust, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, apartheid in South Africa, etc.). A wide range of complicated legal questions, moral issues, and historical controversies will need to be examined rigorously and in detail. These are problems about which informed men and women of good will may ultimately disagree; however, the goal of the steering committee will not be to achieve a consensus, but to provide factual information and critical perspectives that will deepen our understanding.
SB: Could you state precisely what the mission of the committee is? I understand that the committee does not possess the authority to implement reparations. Still, there has been some confusion as to what exactly is the purpose of the committee. The New York Times quoted President Simmons in such a way as to suggest to readers that she expected the committee to produce a series of policy proposals regarding reparations. Yet in the Boston Globe President Simmons wrote that the “committee’s work is not about whether or how we should pay reparations.
RS: That was never the intent, nor will the payment of reparations be the outcome. This is an effort designed to involve the campus community in a discovery of the meaning of our past.” Yet surely the committee will not be limited to merely a discussion of the history of slavery? Will it not also examine the idea of reparations even if it does not recommend that Brown University itself pay reparations? Why else call it the committee on “slavery and justice”?
I believe that the purpose of the committee is quite clear, despite whatever people may think about one reporter’s approach to the subject in the New York Times. My earlier charge addressed the mission of the committee:
The charge to the committee will be to organize academic events and activities that might help the nation and the Brown community think deeply, seriously, and rigorously about the questions raised by this controversy. Activities that the steering committee might organize include a scholarly conference with Brown faculty and experts from around the country, publications of various kinds (a volume of papers from the conference, for example, or a collection of essays on the role of slavery within Brown’s history), public lectures and colloquia for the Brown community, undergraduate research projects on the UTRA or GRP models, or special courses on the issues and their historical backgrounds.
My hope is to form a committee of the highest academic quality that will be recognized as broadly inclusive of conflicting perspectives and differing methods of analysis… However, the committee will be chaired by a faculty member, and its primary energy and directions will be generated by its faculty and student membership.
This remains the committee’s charge today. As to whether the committee will consider the idea of reparations, I am sure that it will. My own views on this particular question, however, were made clear in my op-ed in The Boston Globe.
SB: If this is to be a dialogue what steps will be taken to ensure that the dialogue is as broad and diverse as possible and that dissenting voices from all perspectives will be presented to students?
RS: I chose to create a steering committee rather than an ad-hoc committee because the real work will be done in public forums, presentations, discussions and debates. The committee will facilitate that process. I urge both the committee and the campus community to recruit a broad range of perspectives and, above all, to listen with respect and care.
This is how academic communities do their best work. And if you examine the people whom the committee has invited to speak, I believe that you will find that a range of views and perspectives has been presented. I am confident that this effort to obtain a broad array of perspectives will continue as the committee does its work.
SB: How are you applying the lessons of the David Horowitz controversy from the spring of 2001 to this current project? Was that controversy influential in the decision to create this committee? If so, how?
RS: The Horowitz ad that appeared in The Brown Daily Herald dealt only with the narrow legal issue of reparations. The controversy that ensued was largely about the rights and responsibilities of community members and newspaper editors.
SB: Why is it important to discuss this issue now? It seems that America is rapidly becoming a multiracial nation. Shouldn’t we prepare ourselves for the future of race relations instead of dwelling upon events that happened centuries ago? To be sure, history is an important subject of academic study, but why does this topic merit the attention of the whole campus?
RS: I am glad that you recognize that history is an important subject of academic study, and I certainly agree that, as we become a more diverse society, we must prepare ourselves to deal with the challenges that come with this important aspect of our culture.
I do not agree, however, with your premise that the steering committee’s work amounts to “dwelling upon events that happened centuries ago.” Indeed, I would argue that if the committee lives up to its charge—and I fully expect that it will—its report can help us prepare for the future of race relations by learning from our past. That is the essence of an academic exercise like this one.
As to whether this topic merits the attention of the whole campus, I would make two points. First, I am delighted that the Committee on Slavery and Justice is of interest to so many people on our campus and, indeed, around the country. I believe that the committee has received a lot of attention because the topic of its work is of interest.
Second, the committee’s work is certainly not the only interesting and controversial topic that is discussed and debated on our campus. There are many other issues that are of enormous interest to our community-the war against terrorism, the conflict in Iraq, the environment, human rights, civil rights, trade and economics, and others. These important issues receive a great deal of attention at Brown, as they should. And this is one of the many reasons that Brown is such a wonderful institution for people to teach, study, learn, and advance knowledge.
