Last week, Trinity faculty, staff and students gathered by the Magic Stones to mark the “National Day of Action for Higher Education.” Trinity was one of hundreds of campuses around the country where professors, staff, students and citizens used their collective voice to reaffirm the democratic mission of higher education to advance the common good. Recently universities in Texas and beyond have faced unprecedented interference from state and federal authorities, along with political pressure from donors. The Trump administration has rescinded hundreds of millions of essential research and teaching dollars, deported student leaders, demanded curricular changes and revoked international faculty and student visas. The administration says these actions have been to combat anti-semitism or prevent racial prejudices. But this is based on a faulty logic that equates criticism of Israel with anti-semitism and diversity with race bias. In reality, their policies seek to undermine the autonomy of the university, whose very mission endangers the power of a rising autocrat.
The Trinity chapter of the American Association of University Professors was among the organizers of the event, and its executive board was asked to write something for the Trinitonian to explain why. Founded in 1915, the AAUP is a professional organization with chapters on more than 500 U.S. campuses. Its goal is to ensure academic professionals have the freedom to teach and research whatever they see fit, without interference from state or institutional authorities, in order to promote the common good.
As leaders of the Trinity chapter of the AAUP, we mobilize to protect academic freedom because we believe it to be among the most sacred aspects of our jobs. Universities and colleges are the locus of critical thinking and free expression essential to a democratic society. In the classroom, professors strive to give students the tools to think, write and talk critically about ideas that matter. And any idea that truly matters has its detractors. But without the prerogative to explore ideas freely, there is no way for people with different views to investigate their differences together.
Importantly, free speech comes with responsibility to our community. It does not mean allowing speech that incites violence or that scapegoats trans people and immigrants. We do not have to treat every opinion equally, and we do not have to tolerate information that is false. It also does not mean that we avoid controversy. It may mean that we have to hear views that disturb us, or that we have difficult interpersonal exchanges. But if we listen to ideas different from our own, we might decide we were wrong to dismiss them. We might discover something about ourselves or others that we did not know. This is why the open exchange of ideas on university campuses is a threat to those who seek to quash minoritized voices and unpopular opinions. If those voices are heard, they may just change other people’s minds.
Gathering to defend higher education is not only about academic freedom. The Trump administration has been targeting universities individually: first Columbia, now Harvard, and tomorrow maybe Trinity. This is part of an autocratic playbook, going after one organization to scare the others. Historically, picking off a few key targets can assure others retreat into fear and complicity. But the strategy fails when organizations realize that they rise and fall together. When a single institution speaks out, it can be ignored or written off. But when dozens of institutions deliver the same message, there is a collective to reckon with.
One form of collective action has recently come in the form of a letter from the American Association of Colleges and Universities protesting the Trump cuts to higher education. It was signed by over 200 presidents of the country’s most prestigious universities. Trinity University President’s name was, disappointingly, not among them. We hope it might be in the future. So we gather to create proof and compel action. We gather to ask our leaders to pick sides. We gather because it is the best way to make change.
AAUP members are here to defend your right to learn freely, to ask difficult questions and to explore unpopular opinions. Come to our next event and gather with us.
From the Trinity University AAUP Executive Board (in alphabetical order): Enrique Alemán, Jr., Sarah Beth Kaufman, Shannon L. Mariotti, Alfred Montoya, Habiba Noor and Kathryn Vomero Santos
