Protecting Higher Ed
This Sunday is commencement at Vassar, where I teach. I love participating in this ceremony: celebrating my students and their amazing accomplishments, sitting with my colleagues on the dais, and when the pomp is all over, it is a pleasure to meet parents and family members. Last year, commencement was tough since my faith in higher education leadership was put to the test by how places (including Vassar) responded to students practicing their right to protest and stand up for the Human Rights of Palestinians. This year will be even more challenging since even more universities have taken even more draconian measures to silence, vilify, and harm students who were shining a real and powerful light on the genocide we have all been watching in real time. As a graduate of Columbia University, I wear my blue doctoral robe with little crowns upon it for the ceremony, and given what Columbia has been doing to students as university leaders kowtow to the Madman in Chief, I wish I could dye it another color. At the very least, I will be covering the crowns with stickers.
For the folks criticizing students for standing up for humanity, let’s remember what higher education is supposed to do for young people. Since I don’t measure success by the kind of job you get or how much money you make, I see higher education as the place where young people from all walks of life have the opportunity to learn about themselves and the world, to find their calling, and to be part of creating the world they want to live in.
And, guess what? Protesting is a right. It is an act of conviction. It is a demonstration of one’s beliefs in a better, more just world. More simply, though, it is the manifestation of awareness. (Spare me, oh GOP and right-wing Christian Nationalists, with your “anti-woke” bullshit. Keep living with your head in your self-centered, backward-looking sand while the rest of us try to make a more just and peaceful world). Students go to college to expand their perspectives. To learn to think critically. To gain analytical skills. If that’s what you want to call “woke”, the more woke the better.
As a first-generation college student, I can say that my entire life changed by attending a private college in another state. I phrase it that way because a) leaving New Jersey was a necessary part of my learning and growth, b) attending a private school with students from all socio-economic backgrounds from all over the world (including the extraordinarily wealthy and working-class people like me) was eye-opening, and c) my coursework and professors opened my eyes to so much more than what my K-12 education ever taught me.
Higher education is in trouble. (t)Rump and his band of non-thinkers are doing all they can to intimidate university students, faculty, and leaders. Our government is actually “disappearing” students! Faculty members are being silenced and targeted. We’ve seen this before. Go check your history books and see what happens when the intellectuals, academics, and educators are censored. I’m grateful to Harvard and other places that are pushing back. An educated citizenry is necessary to disarm fascism.
And, I’ll add, that universities should never ever be investing in weapons of war, surveillance, and destruction. If any university’s mission statement says anything at all about creating citizens of the future or supporting the critical development of young people, or providing engaging global experiences, or leading a purposeful life, then for the love of all that is holy, LISTEN TO YOUR STUDENTS. They may be the moral compass you need.
