FACULTY IN SOLIDARITY WITH WHOSE DIVERSITY?

September 25, 2015

On February 9, 2015, members and supporters of Whose Diversity? occupied Morrill Hall in an attempt to restore a sense of justice to marginalized students and members of aggrieved communities beyond the University of Minnesota. A primary goal of the takeover was to advance a number of demands about concrete steps that the administration could take to support diversity on campus.

As a result of their participation in the occupation of Morrill Hall, thirteen students were arrested, jailed, and sanctioned by the University of Minnesota Police Department and the Hennepin County Sheriff. On the advice of their attorney, the students accepted an offer from the City Attorney of one-year’s probation, with charges to be dropped if they do not commit additional offenses during the probationary period. Despite the students having been arrested, jailed, and arraigned in court, the University administration has persisted in pursuing additional disciplinary charges against them. On March 3, 2015, the students received disciplinary letters from the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (OSCAI) for violating Subd. 4 (Refusal to Identify and Comply) and Subd 9 (Disorderly Conduct) of the Student Conduct Code.

Three of the students decided to contest these charges: Jesús Estrada-Perez, Rahsaan Mahadeo, and David Melendez. (Jesús passed away over the summer and the students and faculty who worked alongside him have been mourning his loss.) Unfortunately, the OSCAI refused to drop the charges and instead has turned the matter over to the Student Behavior Committee (CCSB), which has the authority to determine whether students violated the Student Conduct Code and if so, to impose sanctions on them.

It is clear to us as faculty that the University community owes a great deal to student activists who have been in the leadership on issues of diversity, equity, and social justice. That leadership and those struggles are—and need to be—“disruptive.” We urge the administration to err on the side of supporting critically engaged students and upholding freedom of speech and assembly, even at the cost of the temporary inconveniencing of business as usual. Disciplinary actions are, as much as anything, about sending messages—about how students are expected to behave, about what the University values, about the meaning of an education, about the limits of acceptable protest, about what matters most to us as a community. As faculty we take seriously our responsibility for playing a central role in crafting those messages, and we are troubled by the substantive content of the messages being sent by the disciplinary proceedings.

For these reasons, we urge the OSCAI to drop the charges against the thirteen students.

Signatures as of 9:30pm on September 29

1. Teri Caraway, Professor, Political Science

2. Naomi Scheman, Professor, Philosophy and Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies

3. Michael Goldman, Professor, Sociology

4. Meredith Gill, Senior Lecturer, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

5. Eva von Dassow, Associate Professor, Classical and Near Eastern Studies

6. Irene Duranczyk, Associate Professor, Postsecondary Teaching and Learning

7. Sonali Pahwa, Assistant Professor, Theatre Arts and Dance

8. Bruce Braun, Professor, Department of Geography, Environment & Society

9. Carl Elliott, Professor, Center for Bioethics

10. Jimmy Patiño, Assistant Professor, Department of Chicano and Latino Studies

11. David Valentine, Associate Professor, Department/program: Department of Antropology

12. Bianet Castellanos, Associate Professor, American Studies

13. Richard Lee, Professor, Department of Psychology

14. Yuichiro Onishi, Associate Professor, Department of African American and African Studies

15. Jane Blocker, Professor and Chair, Department of Art History

16. Doug Hartmann, Professor, Department of Sociology

17. Teresa Swartz, Associate Professor/Director, Department of Sociology/Asian American Studies

18. Ann Meier, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

19. Rachel Schurman, Professor, Department of Sociology and Institute for Global Studies

20. Sonja Kuftinec, Professor and Associate Chair, Theatre Arts and Dance

21. William Beeman, Professor and Chair Department of Anthropology

22. Enid Logan, Associate Professor, Sociology

23. Joan Tronto, Professor, Political Science

24. Lisa Hilbink, Associate Professor, Political Science

25. Nancy Luxon, Associate Professor, Political Science

26. Cesare Casarino, Professor and Chair, Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

27. Michal Kobialka, Professor, Theatre Arts & Dance

28. Christine Marran, Associate Professor, Asian Languages and Literatures

29. Keya Ganguly, Professor, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

30. Matt Hadley, Lecturer, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

31. Timothy Brennan, Professor, Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature; and English

32. Robert Nichols, Assistant Professor, Political Science

33. Tabitha Grier-Reed, Associate Professor, Postsecondary Teaching & Learning

34. Thomas Pepper, Associate Professor, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

35. Keith Mayes, Associate Professor, African American & African Studies

36. Vichet Chhuon, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction/ Culture and Teaching Program

37. Amy Lee, Professor, Postsecondary Teaching and Learning

38. Martin Gwinup, Associate Professor, Theatre Arts and Dance

39. Bill Healey, Lighting Supervisor, Theater Arts and Dance

40. Lorena Munoz, Assistant Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

41. Jack DeWaard, Assistant Professor, Sociology

42. Carolyn Liebler, Associate Professor, Sociology

43. Alejandro Baer, Associate Professor, Sociology

44. Richa Nagar, Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies/CLA Interdisciplinary Initiatives

45. Joshua Page, Associate Professor, Sociology

46. Sumanth Gopinath, Associate Professor of Music Theory, School of Music

47. Maggie Hennefeld, Assistant Professor, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

48. Elizabeth Boyle, Professor, Sociology

49. Carl Flink,Nadine Jette Sween Professor of Dance, Theatre Arts & Dance

50. Jeffrey Broadbent, Professor, Sociology

51. Susan Craddock, Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies/ Institute for Global Studies

52. George Henderson, Professor, Geography

53. Lorenzo Fabbri, Assistant Professor, French and Italian

54. Vinay Gidwani, Associate Professor, Geography, Environment & Society and Institute for Global Studies

55. Teresa Gowan, Associate Professor, Sociology

56. Nathan Whittaker, Associate Academic Adviser / Instructor, TRIO Student Support Services, CEHD

57. Cawo Abdi, Associate Professor, Sociology

58. Larasati,Associate Professor, Dance

59. montana Johnson, sound and media coordinator, theater arts and dance

60. Jeylan Mortimer, Professor, Sociology

61. C. Daniel Myers, Assistant Professor, Political Science

62. Barbara Frey, Director, Human Rights Program, Institute for Global Studies

63. Joyce Bell, Associate Professor, Sociology

64. ajay skaria, Professor, History

65. Kathleen Hull, Associate Professor, Sociology

66. Leigh Turner, Associate Professor, Center for Bioethics

67. JB Shank, Associate Professor, History

68. Ron Aminzade, Professor, Sociology

69. Jigna Desai, Chair and Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

70. Thomas C. Wolfe, Associate Professor, History

71. Ragui Assaad, Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs

72. Lisa Channer, Associate Professor, Theatre Arts and Dance

73. Arun Saldanha, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Environment & Society

74. Joseph Gerteis, Associate Professor, Sociology

75. Laurie Ouellette, Associate Professor, Communication

76. Catherine R. Squires, Professor, Communication Studies & RIGS

77. Annie Hill, Assistant Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

78. Janet. Stottlemyer,Senior Teaching Specialist, Postsecondary Teaching and Learning

79. Erin Trapp, Lecturer, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

80. Lisa Albrecht, Associate Professor, Social Justice Minor

81. Lena Palacios, Assistant Professor, Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies/Chicano Latino Studies

82. Michael Gaudio, Associate Professor, Art History

83. Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Anthropology

84. Deborah Levison, Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs

85. Joe Soss, Cowles Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs

86. James Ron, Associate Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Political Science

87. Timothy Lensmire, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction

88. Barbara Crosby, Associate Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs

89. Greta Friedemann-Friedemann, Associate Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs

90. Dr. Michelle Lekas, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

91. David Walsh, Associate Professor, Director of Opera, School of Music

92. August H. Nimtz, Professor, Department of Political Science and African American and African

Studies

93. Daniel Kelliher, Associate Professor, Political Science

94. Victor Reiner, Professor, School of Mathematics

95. Michelle Hamilton, Professor, Spanish & Portuguese

96. Travis Workman, Assistant Professor, Asian Languages and Literatures

97. Ana Forcinito, Professor, Spanish and Portuguese Studies

98. Tony Brown, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature

99. Sarah Parkinson, Assistant Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs

100. Rose Brewer, Professor, AAAS

101. Maria Damon, Professor Emerita, English

102. Cynthia Lewis, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction

103. Margaret Werry, Associate Professor, Theater Arts and Dance

104. Dennis A. Hejhal, Professor, Mathematics

105. Julia W Robinson, Professor, School of Architecture

106. Siobhan Craig, Associate professor, English

107. Cindy Garcia, Associate Professor, Theatre Arts and Dance

108. Kristi Rudelius-Palmer, Adjunct Associate Professor of Law

109. Ameeta Kelekar, Associate Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

110. William Messing, Professor, Mathematics

111. Emi Ito, Professor, ESCI

112. Jennifer Pierce, Professor, American Studies

113. Allen Isaacman, Regents Professor, History

114. Graeme Stout, Senior Lecturer and Film Studies Coordinator, CSCL/MIMS

115. J.B. Mayo, Jr., Associate Professor, Curriculum & Instruction

116. Helena Pohlandt-McCormick, Associate Professor, History

117. Diane Willow, Associate Professor,Art

118. Valerie Tiberius, Professor, Philosophy

119. susanna ferlito, associate professor, french and italian

120. Karen-Sue Taussig, Associate Professor, Anthropology

121. Kevin Murphy, Associate Professor, History

122. Peter Hanks, Associate Professor, Philosophy

123. Mark Pedelty, Professor, Communication Studies

124. Aren Aizura, Assistant Professor, Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies

125. Jennifer Alexander, Associate Professor, History of Science and Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

126. Guillermo De Paz, Assistant to the Chair, Department of Psychology

127. Hoon Song, Associate Professor, Anthropology

128. MJ Maynes, Professor, History

129. Richard Leppert, Regents Professor, Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature

130. Alan Love, Associate Professor, Philosophy

131. Zenzele Isoke, Associate Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

132. Jean O'Brien, Professor, History

133. Katherine C. Harrison, Teaching Specialist, Postsecondary Teaching and Learning

134. Douglas Lewis, Professor Emeritus, Philosophy

135. Kate Derickson, Assistant Professor, Geography

136. Martha Bigelow, Professor, Curriculum and Instruction

137. Rick McCormick, Professor, German, Scandinavian, and Dutch

138. Suvadip Sinha, Assistant Professor, Asian Languages and Literatures

139. Josephine Lee, Professor, English

140. Dr. Elliott Powell, American Studies

141. Joseph R. Farag, Assistant Professor, Asian Languages and Literatures

142. Michael B. Kac, Professor, Philosophy and Linguistics

143. Frances Vavrus, Professor, Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development

144. David Chang, Associate Professor, History

145. Roy T Cook, Professor, Philosophy

146. Torry Bend, Assistant Professor, Theater Arts and Dance

147. Lisa Norling, Associate Professor, History

148. Jason McGrath, Associate Professor, Asian Languages and Literatures

149. Maria Brewer, Associate Professor, French and Italian

150. Betsy Kerr, Associate Professor, French and Italian

151. Jennifer Jane Marshall, Associate Professor, Art History

152. Catherine Asher, Professor, Art History

153. Paula Rabinowitz, Professor, English

154. Raul Marrero-Fente, Professor of Spanish and Law, Spanish and Portuguese Studies

155. Riv-Ellen Prell, Professor, American Studies

156. Carol Chomsky, Professor, Law

157. Michelle Phelps, Assistant Professor, Sociology

**Departmental affiliation is provided for identification purposes only and is not intended to reflect the opinion of the University of Minnesota. (to be added w/ list of signatures to comply w/ U policy)