Yale divinity students forced to read from witch’s ‘spell’ at orientation

Yale’s Divinity School coerced students to read from a “spell” written by a “witch” as part of its Before the Fall Orientation.

The three-day orientation between Aug. 21 to 23 saw a series of talks and activities preparing incoming students for the year ahead, interspersed with small group discussions.

One of these small group periods was the first activity of orientation. Participating as an incoming student in one of these circles, I saw how the discussion opened with a set of “Restorative Circle Rules.” These rules boiled down to a warning to be open minded: all viewpoints were expected to be heard, that you only have to take what you want from the circle and participate as wanted – at least nominally.

After this show of inclusion, we as students were led to read aloud, line by line and one by one, from Adrienne Brown’s “Radical Gratitude Spell.”

Brown (pictured) has been described by Meeting of Minds as a “mixed-race Black queer American writer, community organizer, facilitator, witch and- may I say- goddess.”

Continued below.