POSTED BY HENRY REICHMAN
The following is the text of a letter signed by 114 members of the faculty at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs in response to a campaign appearance at the university by Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump.
July 28, 2016
Dear Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak,
With the pending visit of the Republican nominee for President, Donald J. Trump, to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs on Friday July 29, 2016, the signers of this letter, as faculty of UCCS, feel the need to offer a public response to Mr. Trump’s presence on our campus. This letter does not claim to represent all UCCS faculty or the university, only the individuals who have endorsed its message.
To be clear, UCCS is a public university and, as such, it is an institution that reveres free speech. As university faculty, we not only recognize Mr. Trump’s legal right to speak on our campus, but also embrace the productive dialogue about U.S. and global politics that the event will no doubt inspire. But we as faculty similarly have the right and obligation to express our own professional consciences, especially as it pertains to events occurring at our place of work.
While we recognize Mr. Trump’s right to speak at UCCS and at other public venues, we strongly condemn the content and tone of much of the rhetoric that Mr. Trump has used since announcing his bid for Presidency.
Our issues with Mr. Trump are twofold. First, Mr. Trump has repeatedly made public statements that are either not supported by any reasonable amount of empirical evidence or are reliant on selective samples. For instance, Mr. Trump has repeatedly stated that crime in the United States is rising and that we live in a society that is growing more dangerous. A preponderance of evidence at the nationwide level contradicts that claim; but more importantly, Trump then uses such specious reasoning to fuel fear of certain minority groups.
Second, Mr. Trump’s unsubstantiated statements have been used to impugn entire groups of people, including Muslims, Mexicans, women, and disabled people. We contend that his divisive language prevents the kind of civil discourse that is the life blood of a democratic society. Mr. Trump’s claim that the majority of immigrants from Mexico are criminals, including murderers and rapists, is contradicted by documented evidence. Similarly, Mr. Trump’s call for the use of torture would contravene the United Nations Convention against Torture.
Likewise, UCCS’ stance on diversity and inclusiveness states that we “must be inclusive of everyone” in order to combat “legacies of advantage and disadvantage,” which accords with Article 10 of the University of Colorado’s nondiscrimination policy. We honor the spirit of former CU president George Norlin, who took a courageous stand against racial and religious discrimination based on ideals that our university continues to uphold.
We censure any statement made by Mr. Trump (or any other person) that can be classified in these two ways. As faculty of a university that prides itself on the encouragement of free speech and the productive discourse that can follow, we reject the reckless use of language that supports silencing anyone on our campus—even as we respect the right to speak such words.
Signed,
Jeffrey Scholes, Philosophy Jeffrey Montez de Oca, Sociology
Minnette Church, Anthropology
Tom Huber, Geography
Katherine Mack, English
Paul Harvey, History
Carole Huber, Geography
Rex Welshon, Philosophy
Edin Mujkic, School of Public Affairs
Christopher Bell, Communication
Abby Ferber, Sociology and WEST
Steve Carter, English
Elizabeth Daniels, Psychology
George Cheney, Communication
Allison Monterrosa, Sociology
Patty Witkowsky, Leadership, Research, & Foundations
Nick Lee, Sociology
Crystal Baye Herald, English
Spencer Harris, College of Business
Kristin Samuelson, Psychology
Greg Oman, Mathematics
Brandon Gavett, Psychology
Kimberly Holcomb, WEST
Chlesea Lawson, English
Leal Lauderbaugh, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Daphne Greenwood, Economics
Karen Livesey, Physics
Lissanna Follari, Teaching and Learning
John Adams, Mechanical Engineering
Carlos a. Paz de Araujo, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Lew Pinson, Computer Science – retired
April Lanotte, UCCSTeach
Michael Calvisi, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Dustin Bluhm, Management; College of Business
Carole Woodall, History and WEST
Kotaro Shoji, Trauma, Health, & Hazards Center
Jarred Bultema, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Jane Rigler, VAPA-Music
Liesl H. Eberhardt, Communication
Eric Eberhardt, Pre-Collegiate, Communication, Extended Studies
Alexander Soifer, Inter-Departmental Studies
Evan Engle, Education
Leah Davis Witherow, History
Lori Guasta, Sociology
Brandon Vogt, Geography
Abram Minzer, Music
Nina Ellis Frischmann, History
Zachary Mesyan, Mathematics
Kimbra Smith, Anthropology
Lilika A. Belet, Sociology
Haleh Abghari, VAPA
Robert Larkin, Geography and Environmental Studies
Margaret M. Beranek, College of Business
Jamie May, English
Linda K. Watts, Anthropology
Karenleigh A. Overmann, Center for Cognitive Archaeology
Lauren M. Kinnee, VAPA
Julaine Field, Counseling and Human Services
Michael Kisley, Psychology
Stephany Rose, Women’s Ethnic Studies
Rhonda Williams, Counseling and Human Services
Suzanne P. MacAulay, VAPA
Irina Kopteva, GES
Sarah Treschl, English
Margie Oldham, National Student Exchange Program
Suzanne Cook, Languages and Cultures
Sherry Marshall, Sociology
Michaela Steen, Visual and Performing Arts
Valerie Sievers, Nursing
Cerian Gibbes, Geography
Leslie Rapparlie, English
Lesley Ginsberg, English
Sudhanshu Kumar Semwal, Computer Science
Mary Margaret Alvarado, English
Chris Bairn, History
Anthony Cordova, MOSAIC
Mary France, Languages & Cultures
Joan Ray, Professor Emerita, English,
Stephanie Spratt, Kraemer Family Library
Eileen Skahill, Sociology and Humanities
Don Klingner, School of Public Affairs
Heather Albanesi, Sociology
Elizabeth Cutter, Teaching & Learning
Jefferson M. Spicher, Nursing
Fred Lege, Student Health Center
Christine L. Robinson, English
James Parmenter, Mathematics
Janice Gould, Women’s & Ethnic Studies
Lisa Durrenberger, Biology
Vanessa Howell, Nursing
Ken Pellow, English
Majid M.J. Arjomandi, Communication
Jared Benson, History and Humanities
Robert Carlson, Mathematics
James Daly, Professor Emeritus Mathematics
Roger L. Martinez, History
Radu Cascaval, Mathematics
David Havlick, Geography and Environmental Studies
Maggie Gaddis, Biology
Manuel Gunther, Computer Science
Leilani Feliciano, PhD, Psychology,
Edie Greene, Psychology
Barbara Prinari, Mathematics
Christina Jimenez, History
Glen Whitehead, VAPA
Mary Jane Sullivan, PhD, Visual and Performing Arts,
Anna Kosloski, School of Public Affairs
Christopher V. Hill, History
Benjamin Syn, English
Stephanie Ryon, School of Public Affairs
Pauline Foss, Visual and Performing Arts
Nanna L. Meyer, Nursing
Leslie Grant, Teaching & Learning
Amy Haines, History
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That may net Trump some more votes.
I appreciate your freedom of speech and I hope that you’ll take mine as a grain of salt and in the spirit it’s offered as I have yours. My children attended 4 year Universities and neither of them were able to find work in the field of their major, so they suffered some hard knocks, reinvented themselves and started their own business. Are they great successes? No, not hardly in this current economy, but they do earn enough to support themselves. I have found that the majority of information they acquired was more of an indoctrination of liberal theories (about how life should work according to Garp) than actual useful productive information (about the real world actually does work). Most fortunately for them, their father and I had saved since they were very small (we believed in higher education and are conservatives) and they are not saddled with any loans to pay back. To their credit they also worked while in school or during the summers. They did not attend your school and I’m sure that you are all good people.
Without border controls we fail to be a sovereign nation. We all lock our doors to prevent becoming a victim of crimes, don’t we? I believe in taking care of my own…first. America seems to have lost the ability, the desire or perhaps the moral fiber to do that. Trump may be rough around the edges for the thin skinned. He beat 16 other people running in the primary without spending a fortune on advertisements. (Brilliant) I am voting for Trump because he’s the best person for the job. He will keep us safe and actually that IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE of the President of the United States. It is not singing KUMBAYA while we lapse into anarchy……………
This election is historical because it’s not about the Republicans against the Democrats. That divisive tool is burning in the woodstove. This election is about the people vs. the establishment. The rise of Bernie and Trump is born from the disgust Americans feel from leaving our families too long at the mercy of politicians who have been rich in promises and never deliver.