Wearing Purple to Say No to Hateful Rhetoric and Vandalism on Campus

This blog post demonstrates how colorful clothes can spread good energy and love in response to negativity and hate. In this case, the color purple takes center stage. As you might know, events, campaigns, and movements often use colors to maximize visual awareness of a cause and to encourage group solidarity. Pink reminds us that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Purple has been identified as The National Domestic Violence Awareness Month color. Both organizations use colored ribbons to show support for their causes.

On Wednesday, November 1, people at my university took part in a "Wear Purple" day to visually show that "we stand unified against hateful voices and actions." This event was inspired by UMF student, Mana Mohamed, who reached out to her professors, Linda Beck and Karol Maybury to suggest that UMFers wear purple to visually demonstrate our solidarity.

The banner image above comes from the Wear Purple Wednesday Facebook event page, which provides the following call to action: "Please join us Wednesday in wearing something purple to symbolically express solidarity with members of our community who feel unsafe after acts of vandalism, or rhetoric expressing threatening or hateful prejudice. In light of​ recent anti-Semitic vandalism, and as the law enforcement investigation goes forward, we affirm that we stand unified against hateful voices and actions. We view this as a first, quick response of solidarity. Please help spread the word and invite others."

You are probably wondering what "recent anti-Semitic vandalism" Maybury refers to in her message. To be honest, I do not know what happened. All I know is that President Kate Foster sent out two emails informing the campus community "of an instance of anti­Semitic vandalism on campus." President Foster also informed us "that UMF has formed a new Diversity and Inclusion Action Team, a group of students, staff, faculty and community members to actively engage issues of diversity and inclusion on campus and to make and help implement recommendations to make the campus more diverse, inclusive and welcoming," and that Professor Maybury will chair this team. Foster, and others, have devised this team to ensure that UMF remains true to its "vision for an informed, safe, and convivial campus environment."

Although I do not teach on Wednesdays, I did meet with students, attend a meeting, and sub for a class on that day. As I was sitting in my University Culture Committee meeting of four faculty members, including myself, I realized that three of us were wearing purple! I had to take this picture to document our solidarity and purple awesomeness:

Misty Krueger, Patti Bailie, and Olivia Donaldson

Shari Witham

My colleagues in education and French/International Global Studies, respectively, joined me in wearing purple. As I walked around campus and talked to people, I realized that a lot of people were wearing purple, and I wish that I had taken pictures of all of them. In my morning coffee date with a student, I noticed that she was wearing purple. In a chat with Shari Witham, the Division of Humanities administrative assistant, I realized that she was wearing purple. One of my English colleagues was wearing purple. When I went to the Facebook page I saw posted pictures of people wearing purple!

Surely everyone has some purple to wear, right? Not so fast! Maybury told me that people "reached out to say they had no purple to wear." Noooooo! So she did something really cool. She "bought 2 dozen strands of purple mardi gras beads" and her department administrative assistant, Sandy Yeaton, "made purple ribbons for peoples' lapels."

Yesterday, so many people were wearing one of my favorite colors, and all this was for a good cause--to say that we care about diversity and inclusiveness, and we won't stand for hateful rhetoric against any group of people.

Thank you, UMFers, for reminding me once again of why I love working at this wonderful school.