To President Smith, Provost Wicentowski, the Dance Department, and the Campus Community,
As Swarthmore College students, we write to express our concern for the longevity and prioritization of African Diasporic dance at Swarthmore College and urge the school to make the dance department a safe and inclusive space for dancers and faculty. We believe that the decision to terminate Professor Jeannine Osayande’s contract, leaving the future of the African dance program uncertain, was racially motivated and is part of the ongoing colonial legacy of discarding Black and brown bodies when they no longer serve the institution. The termination of Professor Osayande’s contract has broader ramifications throughout the college community, especially in the context of the erasure of art forms, diversity, and voices of marginalized people in our current political climate.
This has been an ongoing issue, as Osayande first had her contract nonrenewed in 2015 due to institutional concerns within the dance department about redundancy with employing more than one professor involved with African Diaspora traditions. Following the 2015 contract nonrenewal, multiple African dance teachers left their positions at the institution, including Osayande, due to disrespectful treatment. These patterns regarding her position in the dance department lead us to question the safety of students and faculty, as well as the true intent behind her contract nonrenewal. It also speaks to Osayande’s character and commitment to the art form and her students that she has returned multiple times to serve the needs of students and create a community, connecting drummers and dancers. Community building such as this is ultimately the point of dance, especially in the African Diaspora. It is where the artistry comes from and is a vital skill to any career in dance and beyond.
The department’s decision affects students, professors, and community members alike who have found a safe, joyous, affirming, and empowering space in Osayande’s class. African dance is intimately connected to a relationship with the environment, dancing barefoot and grounded with awareness of space and the natural world. It creates and strengthens community. It teaches responsibility, reciprocity, and balance, helping dancers develop an embodied sense of their own values, intention, and authenticity.
Furthermore, Osayande’s termination specifically affects dance majors and minors because learning African Dance Traditions is essential for understanding the subject of dance as a whole. This is especially the case since, in the U.S., African dance is considered the mother of many dance forms, and its aesthetics have been incorporated into much of dance today. Such pedagogical influence makes it even more crucial as a course of study in the robust liberal arts education that Swarthmore strives to provide. Continuing to neglect this history and hybridity is doing a disservice to all dance students.
Additionally, hollowing out the academic side of African Diasporic Dance places a burden on student groups such as Rhythm n Motion. It forces them to carry a multitude of forms that are integral to the study of dance without the professor and foundational technique classes that help students maintain integrity to these forms. African dance has created opportunities on campus and in the local community for students to perform and give back to the community that supports them, such as EVS appreciation events involving the Swarthmore Borough community and community events such as soul line dancing.
By writing this letter, we urge the provost and dance department to re-assess the termination of Professor Osayande and consider the value of the African Dance program. Creating inclusive spaces is not something an institution can put in a mission statement without incorporating direct action. This would include investing in dance forms equally, understanding and maintaining integrity to different dance traditions, and respecting the faculty that create inclusive, vital, and educational dance spaces. We hope to impress the deep importance of Professor Osayande’s thoughtful instruction.
In the African Ensemble, the repertory performance class this semester, Professor Osayande asked us to reflect on our last will and testament, asking us to consider our legacies. It was a call to action, empowering students to embody who they want to be in this world and giving them the tools they need for that impact to be made. We now are forced to ask Swarthmore College: as the fate of African Dance in the department remains uncertain, and we face the loss of incredible professors like Jeannine Osayande, what are you leaving this world? This is an opportunity to decide your legacy, and whether it will be one that upholds the values of this institution or actively dismantles them.
Signed,
Sarah Leidecker ’29
Aurora Hill ’29
Nii Tigah ’29
Laine Yu-Jing ’28
Grace Chen ’26
Griffin Moore ’26
Zuyuan Zhou ’29
Rianne Maria Marquez ’29
Sena Forson ’27
Sofia Gavrilova ’29
Joslyn Zhu ’28
Juan David Torres ’29
Alex Wuttig ’26
Perxi Pu ’27
Wilber Valente Gutierrez ’28
Addie Franklin ’27
Serafia Cecil ’27
Lillian Newby ’28
Katerina Krysan ’28
Zoe Zuloaga ’29
Lucas McGarvey ’28
Olivia Seo ’28
Lauren Ghil ’26
Morgan McErlean ’26
Kya Boldizsar ’28
Chloe Lee ’28
Omar Hasiba ’29
Kelan Sato ’29
Ada Reddington ’28
Angely Kelly Maduro ’29
Kloe Victorino ’28
Daniel Suh ’28
Natalie Cortez ’26
Marlowe Jake Klineman ’29
Jeremy Weinstein-Sears ’28
Xinyun Li ’27
Bonji Onuma ’26
Aida Tanglao-Aguas ’28
Shelby Destin ’29
Cheng-Yen Wu ’26
Eve Necaise ’26
Elsa Bishop ’29
Zion Vick ’28
Jingxuan Zhu ’29
Junhyuk Kim ’27
Zuri Eason ’27
Kana Nagata ’26
Shamsa Belgrave ’26
Emma Henderson ’27
Asiya Johnson ’27
Alx Dow ’27
Anya Tang ’26
Gongfu Lyu ’27
Jacob Herbold ’26
Danae Davis ’27
Siyi Ding ’28
Calvin Liu ’28
Noor Ahmed ’26
Evelyn Cooper ’28
Catherine Skibicki ’28
Shuyi Zhang ’29
Stella Forsyth ’28
Yiyang Ma ’29
Jianxin Sun ’28
Nichole Suero Gonzalez ’27
Evelyn Younger ’28
Laila Warrick ’28
Shaalin Gamble-Sarfo ’29
Elizabeth Johnston ’28
Enjalai Baillie ’28
Nicole Karugu ’28
Annie Liu ’28
Jadyn Beckett ’28
Laura Wentzel ’26
Icie Favata ’28
Finn Verdonk ’26
Katherine Wu ’27
Darius Kim ’29
Gabrielle Nash ’26
Ash Abbott ’29
Denyse Nishimwe ’27
Jayden Booker ’26
Emily McClung ’26
Sakura Pavao ’28
Madina Sore ’27
Lauren Wilk ’28
Zhuoyu Zhang ’27
Aishi Debroy ’26
Diane Arias Tejeda ’28
Tiffany Liverpool ’28
Imanie Walters ’28
Anand Bissinger ’27
