WGSS Jessica Pabón Resigns Following Career of Resistance

Assistant professor Jessica N. Pabón of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) department announced her resignation from SUNY New Paltz after over 10 years of employment.

Officers arrested Pabón alongside over 130 other demonstrators on May 2, which she discussed in her resignation letter. “I suppose being ripped from my student’s arms and dragged off campus in cuffs by state police dressed in riot gear as fellow faculty members watched from the sidelines is a fitting end to my time at this university,” she wrote.

Since then, Pabón has been on medical leave, initially waiting to return. 

In her resignation email explaining her decision to ultimately leave campus, she pointed to what she sees as a continuous undermining of student efforts by the administration. This ultimately informed her decision to leave campus. For Pabón, returning was no longer an option.

“If I’m saying I’m not going to put up with this anymore, I’m not going to comply [sic]. I’m not going to participate in the system anymore. I’m not given the resources or the peer support to continue doing what I’m doing. It’s just not worth it,” she said.

Pabón was hired back in 2014, after finishing her Ph.D in 2013 at New York University Abu Dhabi. As a Puerto Rican from Boston, she found herself returning to the mountains of the Hudson Valley in pursuit of a career in academia. Though Pabón had a performance studies doctorate, feminist studies is a field she has always been invested in.

“I call it feminist studies because, to me, feminist studies encapsulates what I do,” Pabón said. “I do women’s studies, I do gender studies, I do sexuality studies, but I also do ethnic studies, and I also do decolonial studies. All those things for me fall under feminist studies … Ultimately, I always say that feminism saved my life … ” 

As the years went on, Pabón began to recognize many challenges facing her and her colleagues of color. She cited issues surrounding the handling of COVID-19, diminishing faculty support and racial insensitivity. These issues continued to grow larger and larger, reaching a breaking point last May.

“I witnessed our students come together and build the kind of community that you dream of as a feminist, right?” Pabón said when recalling the May 2024 pro-Palestine encampment. “We do a lot of deconstructing work, and these students were constructing something different. They built a little circle where mutual aid wasn’t just theorized. It was practiced.”

Throughout her tenure as a full-time faculty member, Pabón taught classes across the department, published several articles in journals such as Women & Performance, Drama Review and La Verdad and spoke about female graffiti artists in her own Tedx Talk. In 2018, Pabón published “Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora,” a book that “reconsiders the intersections of feminism, hip hop, and youth performance and establishes graffiti art as a game that anyone can play.”

Chair of the WGSS department Heather Hewitt said, “[Pabón] was a remarkable colleague. She was incredibly gifted and well trained, committed, very clear about the challenges faced by students, faculty and staff in this institution.” 

“Working with her was always an experience where I learned something and … was often energizing. She often pushed us in good ways,” she said.

Hewitt stated Pabón’s teaching, scholarship and activism have been, “all organically linked. I think that one of the strengths of the discipline is that kind of synergy between activism and being in the world … I think [Pabón] exemplified that.”

In response to the letter and the nature of Pabón’s resignation, university spokesperson Andrew Bruso wrote in an email, “The safety of our campus community is paramount. We will always adhere to our content-neutral policy to protect freedom of expression in line with our time, place and manner requirements. The University does not comment on personnel matters,” he wrote.

When looking toward the future, Pabón has goals, passions and hobbies lined up for herself. “I’m just gigging. I’m an author. I have a book coming out. I will edit things for people. I’m still baking. I’m more present for my child. I’ve built a lot more ties with my community than the campus community,” she said.

For students of the WGSS department, Pabón’s resignation leaves a significant gap in full-time faculty for the department. Hewitt acknowledged that challenge, searching for younger candidates that could help stabilize and bolster the department.

“It is about the students and what the students need, and I am very cognizant of that,” Hewitt said. Though there are concerns beyond the institution in terms of the political sphere for the department, Hewitt remains optimistic in filling this position and creating a safer space for faculty and students.

In her letter to faculty and staff, Pabón hoped for those who would continue to teach to “find each other, hold on to each other — things are going to get a lot worse in the days and months to come.”

As for Pabón, though she has no plans of returning to SUNY New Paltz, she still looks to empower students in their activism moving forward.

“I want students to stand in their power and understand that when you learn about the history of social movements … we teach you that stuff so that you can understand what’s possible when you stand your ground,” she said.

“We have power in numbers. We have strength in numbers,” Pabón said. “The university does not exist without students, and if they’re going to treat it like a business, then students need to act like consumers and complain to the manager.”

Closing out her resignation letter, Pabón left her colleagues with one final message: “Free Palestine. Free Puerto Rico. And may our efforts toward liberation begin with accountability, transparency and solidarity. Pa’ Lante, Siempre Pa’Lante!”