At its Friday meeting, the Lehigh Faculty Senate passed a resolution to endorse the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ petition opposing government intervention in higher education. This followed President Joseph Helble stating he would not sign the petition.
The members of the Faculty Senate expressed their support for the petition by passing a motion to propose a resolution as soon as possible.They also agreed to continue discussions on taking more specific and proactive measures.
According to the AAC&U website, 601 institutions have signed onto the “A Call for Constructive Engagement” petition, which was last updated today at 3:30 p.m. Lehigh is not among these institutions.
Peter Zeitler, the chair of the Faculty senate and a professor of Earth and environmental sciences, said many faculty members, students, staff, prospective students and educators have expressed concern over Lehigh’s decision to not sign the petition.
The Brown and White addressed these concerns and called for the university to sign the petition or explain its stance on the situation in an editorial titled “Unsigned, Lehigh’s silence speaks volumes,” which was published on April 24. In response, Helble submitted a letter to the editor to The Brown and White, which was published on Tuesday.
In his letter, Helble said he does not plan to sign the AAC&U petition, as he doesn’t see signing open public letters as an effective way to support the university and its community. He also wrote that a lack of signature on a public petition shouldn’t be conflated with a lack of engagement with this issue.
“If the senate takes no action, it’s going to be viewed as an action,” Zeitler said.
He said he and Jenna Lay, an associate professor of English, met with Helble in the morning, during which Helble reaffirmed that he would not sign the petition.
Zeitler also said Helble explained his reasons for not signing in response to The Brown and White’s editorial, stating that he prefers to take concrete actions over making symbolic gestures.
Lay said the government policies addressed in the petition pose an existential threat to higher education, and the senate has an urgency to speak up.
She said she and Zeitler have heard concerns from faculty colleagues and college chairs ranging from specific issues affecting international students and faculty to broader challenges facing Lehigh as a research institution, including the loss of active grants.
“The longer you stay silent, the harder and harder it is to find your voice,” Lay said.
According to the language of the resolution, the “A Call for Constructive Engagement” petition makes a clear case for the importance of academic freedom and the perils of government coercion into the free pursuit of teaching and scholarship.
The resolution states the petition amounts to a moderate statement, which at its core calls for constructive engagement while claiming that not all universities are perfect and leaves open a role for government oversight.
“Currently, as of Thursday, 592 institutions have signed onto the petition, and many of them are the peers by which Lehigh benchmarks itself and with whom we compete for students,” the resolution stated.
According to the resolution, the statement is important not only for its content but for how it represents a banding together of peers that collectively have more impact than when acting alone or responding only when threatened.
The resolution acknowledges that some may argue against endorsing the petition in favor of focusing solely on institution-specific actions, but asserts that this a false choice as it’s not only possible to do both, it’s critically important to do so.
In light of threats that may arise to research funding, visa status or endowments, the resolution stated that it’s crucial the Lehigh community feels passionately supported in its core mission “to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others.”
The approved language of the resolution by the senate affirmed strong support for the Lehigh community and academic institutions nationwide.
The resolution included a formal endorsement of the “A Call for Constructive Engagement” petition, a call for ongoing and transparent dialogue about how the university will actively uphold its core mission for all campus groups, and a pledge to defend through all available means the fundamental principles of academic freedom, inclusive education and open inquiry.
Senators also suggested next steps going forward, which may include incorporating a petition that speaks to the broader community, whether it be directed at faculty or towards the Board of Trustees who hold a large governing power at Lehigh.
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