Clark University is adding its voice to national calls for restraint and adherence to due process as the federal government implements unprecedented policy changes affecting higher education, because, as President David Fithian recently shared, “this is a time to stand up for what is right.”
On Wednesday, April 23, Kristen Williams, professor of political science, organized and led a “Knowledge is Power” rally outside Worcester City Hall that drew students, faculty, and staff from Clark and other Worcester colleges, as well as members of the public who protested grant-funding freezes and the revocation of international students’ visas.
According to a story in The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, speakers at the rally noted that the administration’s actions will curtail essential scientific research and impede the colleges’ critical role as community cores and economic engines for Worcester.
On April 22, Clark President David Fithian joined more than 200 college presidents to sign a letter organized through the American Association of Colleges and Universities speaking out against “government intrusion” into higher education.
“As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the letter states. “We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.
“American institutions of higher learning have in common the essential freedom to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom,” the letter continues. “Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.”
The federal government recently terminated the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS) status of 13 international students at Clark. Two weeks ago, the University joined 85 higher education institutions and organizations across the country to sign an amicus brief in AAUP v. Rubio, supporting a motion to enjoin the federal government’s policy of revoking the visas of and arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty exercising their free speech and association rights. According to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, the injunction is an essential stop gap pending resolution of a legal challenge filed March 25 by the American Association of University Professors and several of its chapters, as well as the Middle East Studies Association.