One hundred and ten college and university presidents have issued a joint letter to President-elect Donald Trump urging him to forcefully “condemn and work to prevent the harassment, hate and acts of violence that are being perpetrated across our nation, sometimes in your name, which is now synonymous with our nation’s highest office.”
This action is needed, the presidents write, because of the incidents taking place nationwide, including many on college campuses. “In our schools, on job sites and college campuses, on public streets and in coffee shops, members of our communities, our children, our families, our neighbors, our students and our employees are facing very real threats, and are frightened.”
The full text of the letter and the signatories may be found at the end of this article. News coverage of some of the incidents on college campuses may be found here and here and here.
Mariko Silver, president of Bennington College, led the effort to organize the letter. In an interview, she said the letter came out of discussions she had with fellow presidents, concerned that “our students who have overcome extraordinary adversity” were “feeling anxiety and uncertainty” because of the incidents on campuses.
Silver said students need to hear “from the future leadership of the country” that there is a commitment that they should feel safe from harassment.
Bennington has not experienced the kind of incidents that prompted the letter, Silver said, but she and others are concerned about trends well beyond their campuses.
Trump’s transition office did not respond to a request from Inside Higher Ed to comment on the letter.
In an interview on 60 Minutes shortly after his election, Trump was asked about the incidents of harassment of Muslims, Latinos and others, to which he replied, “I am so saddened to hear that. And I say, ‘Stop it.’ If it -- if it helps. I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: ‘Stop it.’”
Silver said that comment was positive, but that Trump still needs to truly disavow what has been occurring. She said the message needs to come directly from him.
“One of the roles of leaders is to protect and empower the most vulnerable,” the letter says. “As president-elect, this responsibility rests heavily on you. Let this be a mark of your leadership.”
The vast majority of those who signed the letter lead private institutions, not public ones. Liberal arts college presidents make up most of the signers. Seven presidents lead historically black colleges. One president leads a Canadian university.
Silver said she believed many leaders of public colleges and universities were equally concerned but that they may need to consult with more constituencies before putting their names to such a letter. She stressed that the letter was not an attempt to align the presidents with any political view, and noted that all of the presidents likely have students, alumni and employees who backed different candidates for the presidency.
The text of the letter follows, and the list of signatories follows that.
Letter From Presidents to President-Elect Trump
Dear President-elect Trump,
As do you, we “seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict.” In order to maintain the trust required for such productive engagement, it is essential that we immediately reaffirm the core values of our democratic nation: human decency, equal rights, freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination. As college and university presidents, we commit ourselves to promoting these values on our campuses and in our communities, and we stand alongside the business, nonprofit, religious and civic leaders who are doing the same in organizations large and small.
In light of your pledge to be “President for all Americans,” we urge you to condemn and work to prevent the harassment, hate and acts of violence that are being perpetrated across our nation, sometimes in your name, which is now synonymous with our nation’s highest office. In our schools, on job sites and college campuses, on public streets and in coffee shops, members of our communities, our children, our families, our neighbors, our students and our employees are facing very real threats, and are frightened.
One of the roles of leaders is to protect and empower the most vulnerable. As president-elect, this responsibility rests heavily on you. Let this be a mark of your leadership.
Presidents and Chancellors Who Signed (alphabetical by institution)
Raymond E. Crossman, Adler University
Mauri Ditzler, Albion College
Mark Zupan, Alfred University
Jeff Abernathy, Alma College
Biddy Martin, Amherst College
William R. Groves, Antioch University
John M. Sullivan, Art Academy of Cincinnati
Paul C. Pribbenow, Augsburg College
Steven Bahls, Augustana College
Marjorie Hass, Austin College
Leon Botstein, Bard College
Mac Powell, Bastyr University
Scott Bierman, Beloit College
Mariko Silver, Bennington College
David C. Joyce, Brevard College
Kimberly Wright Cassidy, Bryn Mawr College
Nancy Blattner, Caldwell University
Donald J. Laackman, Champlain College
Frank G. Pogue, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania (interim president)
David McInally, Coe College
Brian W. Casey, Colgate University
Helen J. Streubert, College of Saint Elizabeth
Reverend Philip L. Boroughs, College of the Holy Cross
Jonathan Brand, Cornell College
Jann Weitzel, Cottey College
Carol Quillen, Davidson College
Mark McCoy, DePauw University
Walter M. Kimbrough, Dillard University
MaryAnn Baenninger, Drew University
Donald Eastman, Eckerd College
Carl J. Strikwerda, Elizabethtown College
Jake B. Schrum, Emory & Henry College
James A. Anderson, Fayetteville State University
J. Michael Pressimone, Fontbonne University
Daniel Porterfield, Franklin & Marshall College
Elizabeth Davis, Furman University
Janet Morgan Riggs, Gettysburg College
Robert Kenny, Goddard College
Mark Scheinberg, Goodwin College
Jose Antonio Bowen, Goucher College
Raynard S. Kington, Grinnell College
Jane K. Fernandes, Guilford College
Rebecca M. Bergman, Gustavus Adolphus College
John J. "Ski" Sygielski, HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College
Margaret L. Drugovich, Hartwick College
Kimberly Benston, Haverford College
Lori Varlotta, Hiram College
Mark D. Gearan, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Andrea Chapdelaine, Hood College
Shirley A. Mullen, Houghton College
Lisa A. Rossbacher, Humboldt State University
Alison Byerly, Lafayette College
Dan McAlexander, LaGrange College
Michael B. Alexander, Lasell College
Mark Burstein, Lawrence University
Barry Glassner, Lewis & Clark College
Richard Green, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania
Reverend Brian F. Linnane, Loyola University Maryland
Kenneth R. Garren, Lynchburg College
Brian Rosenberg, Macalester College
Stuart Kestenbaum, Maine College of Art
James Gandre, Manhattan School of Music
Kevin F. F. Quigley, Marlboro College
Kerry Walk, Marymount Manhattan College
Laurie Patton, Middlebury College
Bryon Grigsby, Moravian College
John Silvanus Wilson Jr., Morehouse College
David Wilson, Morgan State University
Stanley J. Pritchett Sr., Morris Brown College
Sonya Stephens, Mount Holyoke College (acting president)
Timothy E. Trainor, Mount St. Mary's University
John I. Williams Jr., Muhlenberg College
Kent Devereaux, New Hampshire Institute of Art
Richard Helldobler, Northeastern Illinois University (interim president)
Lawrence Schall, Oglethorpe University
David W. Oxtoby, Pomona College
Debbie Sydow, Richard Bland College
Allan Cahoon, Royal Roads University
Rachel Schreiber, San Francisco Art Institute (interim president)
Karen R. Lawrence, Sarah Lawrence College
Tracy Fitzsimmons, Shenandoah University
Susan E. Henking, Shimer College
Peg Albert, Siena Heights University
Joe Bertolino, Southern Connecticut State University
David Rees Evans, Southern Vermont College
Edward B. Burger, Southwestern University
John A. Pieper, St. Louis College of Pharmacy
Kevin J. Manning, Stevenson University
Valerie Smith, Swarthmore College
Susan C. Scrimshaw, the Sage Colleges
John M. McCardell Jr., the University of the South
Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Trinity College (Connecticut)
Stephen C. Ainlay, Union College (New York)
Thomas W. Keefe, University of Dallas
Quint Thurman, University of the Southwest
Jonathan Chenette, Vassar College (interim president)
Thomas Christopher Greene, Vermont College of Fine Arts
Scott D. Miller, Virginia Wesleyan College
Weymouth Spence, Washington Adventist University
Joseph Kline, Watkins College
Jonathan Gibralter, Wells College
Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan University
Dennis Hanno, Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
David J. Chard, Wheelock College
Sharon Herzberger, Whittier College
Stephen E. Thorsett, Willamette University
Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, William Jewell College
Adam Falk, Williams College
Barbara K. Mistick, Wilson College
2016 Election
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