LETTER TO THE EDITOR BY JULIA RAITE
On April 22, while listening to Maine Public Radio during my commute home from campus, I learned of the recent public statement issued by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). The letter denounces the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.”
Hundreds of university and college presidents across the country have already signed on, including the heads of Colby, Bates, Bowdoin and the University of New England. Conspicuously absent from that list is the name of our own president, Joan Ferrini-Mundi.
I believe it is critically important for the University of Maine to join these institutions in voicing opposition against the coercive tactics currently being employed by the Trump Administration to undermine civil rights and suppress constitutionally protected free speech. Our university has firsthand experience confronting the President’s efforts to force compliance by illegally freezing grant funding that hundreds of researchers, students, faculty and staff rely on.
Our leadership has a responsibility not just to protect our community, but to publicly affirm our values in the face of threats to democracy. As a student, I would take immense pride in seeing my university speak out unequivocally in this moment. That’s why, on April 23, I wrote to President Ferrini-Mundi’s office, urging her to add her name to the AAC&U statement – signatures are still being accepted. I also asked that, if she chooses not to sign, she should explain why.
As of this publication, my request has gone unanswered.
The stakes are as high as they’ve ever been. Silence is not neutrality, it is complicity. I urge our administration to act. Act. Act.
