Recently, we have witnessed online targeted harassment of fellow medievalist and activist Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm, as well as attacks of several fellow scholars who signed a public petition in her support. The elected members of the Transitional Governance Committee of the International Society for the Study of Medievalism declare our collective condemnation of these attacks and our resolve to resist racism and white supremacy in all its forms. We further resolve to continue to defend the rights of contingent and untenured faculty, especially those from marginalized populations. To this end, we have sent a collective letter of support to the universities of those who are being targeted.
We urge you to write yourself and to encourage your organizations to write as well.
Here is a suggestion for what to write, although of course you can say other things or adapt it:
Dear Dr. Syme,
I write to express my strong support for Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm. Dr Rambaran-Olm has recently been the target of unconscionable attacks on social media and elsewhere, as I believe you are aware. The recent, sustained harassment is part of a much longer campaign against her because of her anti-racist scholarship and activism. I consider her work to be exemplary, and crucial to forging a positive future for medieval studies and the academy. These attacks have widened recently, such that her parents, husband and child have also been targeted.
I value Dr. Rambaran-Olm as a member of the scholarly community for her scholarship, courage and integrity, and consider her a role model for all scholars, and a positive representative of your institution. I utterly condemn the vicious and baseless attacks against her. They have no place in academia, or in society generally.
I urge you to do everything possible to support her at this difficult time, both privately and publicly.
[your name and affiliation]
