Amaya Latuszek
News Editor
On April 7, Campus became dotted with copies of a one-page Petitions of Demands signed by the TIRED. Collective. The TIRED. Collective consists of “artists, athletes, organizers, and plenty of student leaders who all want to see change in their specific parts of campus and across the university as a whole.” Members of the Collective have felt that they haven’t been heard nor have had the power to enact the change they wish to see on campus. In order to protect their identity, The TIRED. Collective declined to interview in person but provided emailed responses.
The Petition of Demands consists of ten demands, the majority of which surround matters of equity, diversity and inclusion. The Collective made demands for hiring more Queer Trans Black Indigenous People of Color (QTBIPOC) and Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) both at the faculty and administrative level. Additionally, The Collective is pushing for students who occupied a presidential, vice presidential, or treasurer position in any QTBIPOC and BIPOC student organization on campus to receive a $200 leadership award per semester to account for emotional labor. There was also a call to hire a Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the athletics department and in the undergraduate Office of Admission. The admission office was also called upon to publish demographics for the classes of 2015 through 2026 and to update it annually. It was also requested that the 2023 HEDS Campus Climate Survey, the 2021 JED Healthy Minds Survey, and the University expenditures were all made public on the University website. The Collective additionally demands that the Associated Students of Willamette University be dissolved and the funding powers be allocated to the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Willamette Events Board and the Community Action Fund for Equity & Sustainability.
The distribution of the petition was explicitly timed for the second Bearcat Day on April 7, an admitted student day that brings many prospective students to campus and is a major event for the Office of Admission. Similarly, the walk-out is also planned on the final Bearcat Day to “get everybody’s attention.” The TIRED. Collective stated that they are “doing what we can to provide both current and incoming students with more information about Willamette than they might otherwise be given.”
The demands seen on the petition were chosen from a “much longer list” that the collective had created during meetings in which they identified common issues within the university and they wished to provide “reasonable solutions that can be used by administrators to address a whole range of problems.” The Collective stated that they have spoken to every administrator listed on the Petition of Demands in regard to these issues but “before now, they’ve come from the standpoints of our own leadership positions.” The Collective felt that now they’ve come together as an anonymous entity, their needs are harder to be brushed aside.
Students may remember hearing of a similar student organization, Students for Transparency, Equity, and Accountability through Mobilization, or The STEAM Collective. The previous collective went“relatively underground” after the Spring of 2019 when most STEAM members graduated. The TIRED. Collective wishes to stay afloat after current members have graduated. Currently, the Collective is focused on the walkout and will be paying close attention to how the event unfolds in order to figure out what their next move will be, while also prioritizing the safety of its members.
As of April 10th, Vice President of Student Affairs, Lisa Landreman, has been in contact with the Collective regarding the Petition of Demands. The Collective is “looking forward to addressing the administration and seeing how they want to move forward with a lovely Collective on their hands.”
The Collegian has reached out to the other administrators named in the Petition of Demands. This is an ongoing story and the investigation will continue.