We, the undersigned students, alumni/ae, faculty, and staff of Vassar College, wish to communicate our total support for Professor of English and Medieval Literature Dorothy Kim. Professor Kim is an innovative scholar and valued educator on this campus. Because of her work and writing resisting the white supremacist appropriation of Medieval Studies and promoting racial justice in the classroom, she has been subject to unprofessional and racialized attacks from fellow academics and white supremacists alike. We add our voices to the International Piers Plowman Society and the Medieval Academy of Arts when we condemn the racist and anti-scholarly behavior of Dr. Kim’s attackers and confirm our complete support for her and her writings.

Dr. Kim, as both a junior faculty member and a scholar of color, is especially vulnerable to white supremacist attacks on her credibility, career, privacy, and personal safety. Indeed, as her tenure review approaches, it is all the more crucial for the Vassar community to stand behind her and in support of her vital scholarly work. Vassar’s values of inclusion, academic independence, and its commitment to a more racially just campus all demand a firm position of support for its faculty of color and vocal resistance to hateful behavior.