Sent on behalf of those concerned
Dear President Clark,
We, the undersigned, recently engaged in an email discussion on our faculty list-serve, denouncing President Trump’s Executive Order suspending all immigration from Syria, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Somalia along with the indefinite suspension of the resettlement of Syrian refugees. This ban has disrupted the lives of hundreds of refugees, scholars, and professionals as well as alienated our allies in the world. The Executive Order has violated our core American values by discriminating against certain groups based on their national origins and religion while making ourselves more vulnerable to outside threats.
We wish to go on record as vociferously resisting any and all policies, orders, regulations and laws that sow discrimination, prejudice, and hatred seeking to divide us. When the human rights and dignity of our students, colleagues, and community members come into conflict with these policies, orders, and laws, we will choose to stand with our students, colleagues, and community members. The EO has heightened anxieties especially among vulnerable members of our BSU community and their families–some included here, as well as allies. We wish to thank you for your letter of
The EO has heightened anxieties especially among vulnerable members of our BSU community and their families–some included here, as well as allies. We wish to thank you for your letter of 1/30/17, and to take this opportunity to formally register our dissent for this order as anathema to BSU, recognized in our statement of values.
In the days, weeks and semesters to come, we will work to offer caring support and education to our students and fellow colleagues through campus events and, where possible, classroom discussions emphasizing the principles of justice embedded in our U.S. Constitution.
We recognize that beyond the EO, other members of our community also feel increasingly at risk through the recent actions of the current US administration. President Trump’s move to alienate Mexicans has increased anxiety among many Mexicans, Mexican-Americans and immigrant groups in general; his disregard of Jews’ particular experience of the Holocaust on Holocaust Remembrance Day and the significant influence of Bannon, who ran a white supremacist news organization, in his administration has alarmed many in the Jewish community and beyond; threats of rolling back the rights of LGBTQ individuals, and of overturning women’s reproductive rights have raised fears among thousands, as other millions worry about their loss of health care.
These threats and more, including the denial of the scientific fact of climate change, have contributed to feelings of heightened anxiety for many of us, but also, and notably, a deepened commitment to protecting the well-being of our BSU community that extends beyond our campuses. We know that you are aware that many of us are deeply worried about unfolding events, and we appreciate the support you have extended of university services through your letter, as well as the staking out of your own personal position.
This letter was written on February 1, 2017
