This year, for what may be first time in four decades, officials at the Evergreen State College canceled the Day of Absence.
Traditionally on the Day of Absence, students, faculty, and staff of color leave campus and convene elsewhere to attend workshops on issues of race and privilege while white students stay on campus and do the same. Later, they reconvene and have discussions. While this is not the sort of tradition you’d see at most college campuses in the United States, Evergreen isn’t like most colleges. Founded in 1967 as an experiment in higher education, students at Evergreen receive narrative evaluations instead of grades and there is little of the hierarchy you see elsewhere in higher education.
The official cancellation of the Day of Absence wasn’t entirely unexpected: One year ago, the Day of Absence threw the school—and one professor in particular—into a drama that would briefly capture national attention.
