Wellesley students protest Alumnae Achievement Award recipient for stances on climate change, Gaza War
Wellesley College’s YDSA chapter recently organized a protest against an Alumnae Achievement Award recipient for her company’s stance on climate change and ties to Israel.
The award was given to Susan L. Wagner, co-founder of BlackRock, who the protesters accuse of supporting ‘eco-destruction’ and ‘genocide.’
Socialist students at a Massachusetts school recently demonstrated against an alumnae award recipient for her company’s stances on climate change and the Gaza war.
Wellesley College’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter organized a protest against Susan L. Wagner, co-founder of BlackRock and this year’s recipient of the Alumnae Achievement Award. Wagner also serves as a member of the Board of Directors at Apple Inc., according to the school’s website.
Prior to the protest, the group held a “We say Boo! To Sue Wagner, Do You?” event on October 16, during which attendees penned letters of opposition “telling administration and the alumnae association why Sue Wagner wouldn’t be honored at this year’s alumni achievement awards.”
The group also distributed leaflets to dorm room doors about a week later with a QR code linked to an open letter and a petition. The pamphlets, titled “Congratulations, Sue Wagner … FOR FINANCING ECO-DESTRUCTION, MILITARIES, & GENOCIDE,” blasted Wagner and BlackRock for “Investments in Surveillance, Military Technology & Genocide.”
On the day of the award ceremony, the organization hosted an “Alum Achievement Award Counter-Space,” which saw several individuals speak out against Wagner.
One such speaker was Massachusetts House Representative Erica Uyterhoeven, who remarked, “There’s so many elected officials and leaders who are afraid to speak up. My question to them is if [you] cannot speak up when there’s a genocide and a clear apartheid, when are you going to speak up?”
Following the “counter-space,” the protesters marched to Alumnae Hall with signs and continued demonstrating. Protesters shouted, “Wagner’s legacy you can’t hide, BlackRock is funding genocide” and “Wagner profits, people die, we won’t stand and watch them lie.”
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The Alumnae Office responded to one complainant by email, writing, “Sue Wagner has done much to earn the award. Beyond her many achievements as a business leader and trailblazer, she has mentored generations of Wellesley students and alumnae in finance and business.”
The school also noted that despite financial gifts not being considered as part of the selection process, “Sue’s gifts to the College have made it possible for every student to have a career advisor and her vision also enabled the creation of the Wagner Centers for Wellesley in the World, which supports faculty so that their research will have a greater impact, and engages students and the community in ways that are felt beyond our campus.”
For her part, Wagner credited her success to the education she received at the all-women’s institution, saying, “I remain a firm believer in the liberal arts, and in the effect an educated woman can have on society. What better place to support women’s education and opportunity than right here?”
All relevant parties have been contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
