A letter With more than 2,400 signatures of university professors and university professors are circulating in the United States, calling for institutions to meet and fight against the Trump administration in the midst of “a war that is being developed against Higher United States.”
The letter responds to an investigation into 60 U.S. Education Department institutions to protect Jew students from anti -Semitic discrimination and harassment. More than 1,700 of the signatures are teachers working in the 60 colleges or universities.
Of the 60 institutions being investigatedSix are in Massachusetts – University of Boston, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Tufts University, Emerson College, Harvard University and Wellesley College.
Umass Amherst Sociology Professor Jennifer Lundquist, who signed the letter, said that teachers are in a good position to make the case so that universities are important for society.
“I think it is important for universities to look like: This is not a particular institution; it is a higher education,” said Lundquist.
Lundquist said that institutions should not “obey in advance” by sending -to laws that have not been passed. He added that the Trump administration had been “surprisingly effective” to scare people in various sectors, “even in higher education, which is an area that is not known for being easily dug.”
Lundquist said that the faculties of universities throughout the country, in red states and blue states, have felt a sense of isolation and fear. He said he hopes that the letter will give members of the teaching staff and the institutions to which they belong to something to unite.
Margaret Litvin, a professor at the University of Boston, comparative and comparative literature, who also signed the letter, said that Trump’s administration attacks against colleagues and students will not do anyone else.
“If there is a silver coating to this terrible cloud, we have been reminded what colleges and universities are for, what is our main mission,” Litvin said in a statement to Masslive.
“ It is inspiring to see a large group of teachers from public and private schools who come together to demand the simple right to do our jobs: to expand human knowledge, teach and foster the next generation. Washington attacks on our colleagues and students will not make anyone more safe.They are pure defamation and extortion, and we hope that our administrators will be solid and coordinated as long as they can still. ”
Although the letter acknowledges the importance of title VI research on anti -Semitism and other civil rights violations, the Faculty said that the Trump administration is “weaving these legitimate research as a pretext for an unprecedented federal attack on higher education”.
“In fact, the federal government is using the language of the application of civil rights as coverage for overload and authoritarian attack, dictating what can be said, studying and discussing our institutions. These measures represent a direct assault on the University’s mission as a space for independent thought, free speech and democratic commitment,” says the letter.
MIT and New England College of Optometry are there between More than 50 institutions under Federal Research for alleged racial discrimination.
Harvard is among the 10 colleges of the newly created Task Force to combat anti -Semitism Will visit.
The task force will also meet with Mayors in various large cities, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, to discuss how anti -metic incidents responded to university schools and campuses over the last two years.
In addition to research, the federal administration has it stopped $ 175 million in federal funding at the University of Pensilvania related to allowing transgender athletes to compete in female sports and canceled $ 400 million to Columbia University.
Columbia University later faced an ultimatum From the Federal Government, or complies with a list of requirements that expose or jeopardize their “continuous financial relationship with the United States Government”.
The university later agreed to the demands, despite outrage of community members and the Higher Education Community, which has placed it “on the right way” to regain federal funding, conform In the associated press.
Beyond the breaks for federal funding, the letter raises concern about the repression of diversity, equity and inclusion in school curriculum and the arrested and possible deportations of Columbia university students.
“If you can guide a permanent resident to exercise your rights of first modification, no student or member of their safety teachers can soon be reassured,” the letter said.
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The letter said he acknowledges that the “cost of resistance” to institutions is “bewildering” and that the Government is “taking advantage of its immense power in legally dubious ways to force institutions in compliance.”
However, institutions must fight the administration, according to the letter.
“The moment is urgent. The fact of delaying the concerted action risk of losing the ground that can never be recovered,” says the letter.
Lundquist hopes that the letter will lead to the creation of larger coalitions focused on protecting institutions from higher education.
“I think universities are one of the main foundations of a democracy and see that universities under threat should be very worrying to society,” he said.
The letter comes after several demands against the Trump administration due to the executive order to dismantle the United States Department of Education.
Among them were the Massachusetts Attorney General, Andrea J. Campbell, Who is co-liter one group of another 20 general lawyers and another was that was directed by Massachusetts School Districts and other unions.
Masslive publisher Dave Eisenstadter contributed to this article.