Freedom for the Thought That We Hate
April 21, 2024
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., wrote the thought above in his dissent in a Supreme Court case in 1929. United States v. Schwimmer, 279 U.S. 644 (1929) was about a Hungarian woman who wanted to become a U.S. citizen but she refused to take the oath of allegiance because, as a self-declared pacifist, she would not take up arms to defend the United States. She lost the case, but Holmes made his point.
I keep thinking of Holmes’ words as I watch and read about the fierce protests underway at Columbia University, the cancellation of the valedictorian’s speech at USC, and the growing unrest on many other campuses since the start of the Israeli-Hamas war and the horrific destruction of Gaza resulting in an appalling death toll. The protests at Columbia have evoked incredibly hateful and dangerous rhetoric — the threats against Jewish students at Columbia are outrageous and demand forceful action. At the same time, the repression of legitimate non-violent protest by pro-Palestinian students is shocking. The cancellation of speeches because they might provoke protests seems completely contrary to the purpose of a university.
A university, is, or should be, a place of free and open expression, broad perspectives and often-loud debates. Our job is to encourage our students and faculty to seek the truth, and the process is often messy, chaotic and loaded with controversy and challenge to conventional wisdom. We have to hear the ideas before we know whether we agree or disagree with them; and disagreement is not license to ban speech at all, but rather, to add another point of view to the conversation. To repress speech is to stifle ideas, to limit knowledge, to snuff out the very life of intellectual expansion and discovery.
We have to allow the expression of the “thought that we hate” in order to be true to the purpose of the university. Allowing expression does NOT mean that we agree with the statement, but rather, that we uphold the value of freedom of thought and speech. That’s what we do as universities — or what we are supposed to do.
Are some thoughts so hateful that we have to prevent their expression? Yes. Even Justice Holmes famously said, in another case, that “shouting ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater” was not protected speech, Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919). To threaten physical violence against any person is not protected speech. To advocate for the genocide of Jews or Palestinians or any people is not protected speech. On a university campus, to disrupt operations to the point where students and faculty cannot attend class or go about their lives in safety and peace is potentially not protected expression. But in all cases, the facts matter very much.
I have not been to Columbia, I do not know what it’s like to be on that campus right now, and I cannot possibly know what President Minouche Shafik and her administrative team knew about the pro-Palestinian students camped out on the lawn in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment that made the administration decide to call the New York City Police on Friday; hundreds of arrests ensued. I have to believe they had information about dangers and threats not revealed publicly.
What I do know, however, from long experience as a college president, is that administrative actions that prevent speech quite often backfire, inflaming many onlookers who might otherwise have remained neutral. The issue moves quickly from the question of whether someone is pro-Palestine or pro-Israel to the issue of the fundamental right of speech and expression. Few actions bring campuses together more quickly than administrative repression of free speech.
I also know this: members of Congress, starting with North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx who chairs the House Committee on Education, seem focused on humiliating American higher education, and Foxx and her allies have singled-out four of the most elite private universities in the nation for extreme bullying and manipulation. Sure, the four institutions — Harvard, MIT, Penn and now Columbia — have the wealth and intellectual resources to carry on even though they have been badly wounded by their puzzling performances before the committee. But the rest of us — thousands of other colleges and universities that are not so famous or wealthy or elite — must now bear the burden of the fallout from this stunning abuse of Congressional authority. Foxx and her allies shamefully used antisemitism as a strawperson to berate and bully the elite institutions. The presidents who testified seemed out-smarted (out-Foxxed?) by the interrogations and their answers were disappointing at best — too weak and compromising in the case of the first three (Harvard, MIT, Penn), and then, more recently, completely co-opted by the authoritarian impulse in the case of Columbia’s president who failed to stand up for her faculty and moved against her students soon after the hearing.
In a further shameful abuse of Congressional power to bully a private university, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Rep. Foxx and others went to Columbia’s campus on Wednesday and demanded the resignation of President Shafik. As Professors William LeoGrande and Scott Bass point out in an excellent essay in Insidehighered.com, rightwing politicians are using anti-semitism as a “convenient excuse” to pursue their war on higher education, something that’s been going on for far longer than the Israeli-Gaza conflict.
They write, “The House hearings on antisemitism were designed from the outset to be a political show trial with higher education in the dock. In a private Zoom call, committee member Representative Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana, revealed the Republicans’ real agenda—to defund elite institutions of higher education that MAGA Republicans consider “woke” by cutting off their federal student loan funding and taxing their endowments.”
And they continue in pointing out the real purpose of the attack on higher education: “The assault on higher education is a key front in the Republican right’s campaign to undermine the institutional pillars of democracy. Attacks on the press, the judiciary, the civil service (aka the “deep state”) and elections have gotten more attention, but colleges and universities are no less essential to sustaining a democratic polity.”
What does this moment mean for all of us at Trinity? A few key points:
First, freedom of speech, thought and belief is central to our teaching, our community and our ability to uphold the values of social justice that animate our lives at Trinity. We must listen, respect, and welcome all points of view as much as possible.
Second, we cannot and will not tolerate hate, threats, bullying or intimidation. Saying this does not undermine our commitment to free speech, but does stress our commitment to sustaining a community rooted in respect for each and every person here — respect for human dignity is the first tenet of social justice. Anti-semitism is evil and intolerable. So is hatred expressed toward Palestinians, or Muslims, or immigrants or other persons based on who they are or what they believe.
Third, we are at our best as a learning community if we are able to be in dialogue together about the issues, even those that are difficult, even those that seem divisive. We are near the end of the Spring 2024 semester but as we look ahead to the Fall 2024 semester, I hope that we will find more ways to come together to discuss the profound issues at stake in Gaza, in the Israel-Hamas war, in the American political response, in the Ukraine war and in our own struggles in this country to achieve genuine racial justice.
Fourth, for the faculty: your academic freedom at Trinity is paramount. I urge you to use this freedom to address the critical issues of our times with the deep research, creative pedagogies and passionate commitment you always bring to teaching your students well.
Finally, for Trinity: we were founded 125 years ago by courageous women who were not afraid of the difficult conversations, who had their own moments of disruptive conversations and occasional chaos as they gave Trinity life and purpose. We honor them each day as we move this great mission forward to be witnesses for peace and justice in a world that knows too little of those values. Let’s always remember our purpose to be a community of hope and change for those who need us. We cannot be that community in silence; we must speak up and out, and we must listen to each other as we try to discern the ways in which we can change the world.
Continue reading →Read comments (0) Add CommentEnd the Gaza Horror. Now!
April 7, 2024
(view of Gaza ruins, photo credit)
Six months ago, on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists committed horrific attacks on Israeli people, resulting in about 1200 Israeli deaths. Among other murderous acts, the attacks included bombs from drones and terrorists on motorcycles shooting Israelis at a music festival. Hamas also took hostages, many of whom continue to be held in unknown places, possibly in deep underground tunnels.
Declaring its right to defend itself, Israel launched an immediate military offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, home to several million Palestinians. As an ally of Israel since the formation of that nation after World War II, the United States declared support for Israel, and many Americans (including me) also declared support for our ally that also is the spiritual home of the Jewish people who have suffered so much oppression and real devastation across the millennia. Palestinians and their supporters were outraged by the U.S. support for Israel, and protests continue to this day on college campuses, in cities, at major events, even at the Oscars.
Now, six months later, the appalling toll of Israel’s war in Gaza has become a moral catastrophe. Gaza is in ruins. Hospitals destroyed, homes obliterated, cities reduced to rubble. More than 30,000 Palestinians are dead, and the threat of famine and disease rises each day. Last week, in what it said was a “mistake,” Israel killed 7 members of the World Central Kitchen humanitarian food relief effort. (Read Chef Jose Andres powerful essay on the tragedy.)
Modern warfare has the intelligence and tools to avoid such a “mistake” if the leaders care enough about protecting civilians to exercise prudence. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demonstrates each day a stunning disregard for civilians and utter contempt for the idea of proportionality in pursuing his vengeful campaign in Gaza.
“Just war” is a moral concept found in many faith teachings and even in military rules. What is going on in Gaza has gone well beyond any conceivable notion of a “just war.” At the beginning Israel had a right to defend itself, but its leadership has allowed the war to become a global scandal of revenge and retribution against tens of thousands of innocent people. It does not diminish our concern for the oppression and devastation the Jewish people have suffered across the millennia to say that Palestinians, too, have suffered oppression and horrific violence. The ancient “eye for an eye” philosophy of vengeance has resulted in oceans of blood and sorrow with little permanent resolution in sight.
President Biden and the United States must do more to stop the bloodshed, including ending financial and weapons support for Israel. Our leaders should stop thinking about political calculus in this election year and instead focus on the core moral concerns about a war that has gone out of control. Pope Francis has called for an immediate cease fire and he is right. We cannot possibly say we want Netanyahu to move toward peace when we send him more bombs. Our actions must back up the rhetoric of seeking peace.
Statement of World Central Kitchen
Timeline of Key Moments in the Israel-Gaza War (Washington Post)
Continue reading →Read comments (0) Add CommentHappy Spring Break!
March 6, 2024Even if Florida is not in your Spring Break plans, you can enjoy a bit of the Everglades with this 90 second video of some of the beautiful wild things there….
I was on a business trip to Florida at the end of February, meeting with alumnae and going to a board meeting. I did manage to escape into the Everglades with my camera for about three hours one day and the wild things did not disappoint! Enjoy!!
PS — on a more serious note, this essay about the death of the owl Flaco in New York City and the perils of human interaction with wildlife is a beautiful read and makes some very important points about the limits of development in wild habitat. Florida is a case study in how human intervention in the wild landscape has created so many environmental problems for the wild creatures and humans alike.
Continue reading →Read comments (0) Add CommentWhat’s On The Menu?
February 26, 2024
Who knew that deli sandwiches could generate so much controversy? I’m not talking about the regional hoagie v. sub v. grinder, or the ever present debate on mayo-mustard-olive oil. The controversy in question was not really about food at all, although a Black History Month menu from Dining Services triggered the difficult, fascinating, honest discussion of racial and ethnic cultural mis-appropriation, stereotypes, microaggressions and respect for those who work hard to nourish the rest of us. I put the controversy on the agenda for last week’s Campus Conversations and the discussion was honest, courageous, and, for some, vexing.
At a time when Black history is being eradicated by governors and state legislatures all over the country, we should work harder to get it right at Trinity. I wanted to have the discussion on Campus Conversations so that we could lift up our concerns, differences of opinion, and issues that sometime stay repressed when we have to be more open about them. We have an obligation to live our mission in social justice honestly and authentically, and when a concern arises about racial equity and justice, we need to address it.
Jumping to the end, what I heard loud and clear is that we should be more intentional, authentic and pro-active about providing a context for any and all activities we promote for Black History Month or any and all of the other “Month” observances — Women’s History, Hispanic Heritage, LGBTQ+, and others. Going forward, I would like to invite members of the campus community to engage in processes to plan the programs, menus, communications and all relevant dimensions of such observances.
Back to the beginning. While I don’t want to re-ignite the controversy, this image of the menu is important for the subsequent discussion:
While the Deli Sandwiches are clearly out of place — Director of Dining Services Gilles Syglowski later explained that the sandwiches are part of the regular weekly menu and probably should not have appeared on this “special” menu — the rest of the menu appeared as delicious and even ambitious. Chef Renee Fitzgerald created the menu based on her own experience with Southern and Black cuisine, and she is proud of her work. We are all very grateful to Chef Renee and her team in the kitchen for their hard work every single day!
As the conversation unfolded during Campus Conversations, it became clear that the controversy was not really about the food at all — students in particular commented about how much they enjoyed it — but rather, about how we tell the story, who has the right and responsibility to tell the story, what is the story we are trying to tell and what racial/ethnic/cultural symbols and experiences do we use to “celebrate” or observe a heritage that is rife with pain and suffering and pride and triumph.
The menu was not really the problem at all, but rather, we failed to tell the story about what the menu represented. We failed to be good teachers in a moment that cries out for courageous instruction. We did not educate our students and campus community about the importance and symbolism of food as a vital dimension of the Black community’s response to centuries of oppression. We missed a “teachable moment” but created another one that is even more valuable in the long run.
Annette Coram, executive director of Conference Services, sent out the menu on behalf of Metz Dining Services and she was stunned by some of the criticism that ensued. Annette gave a statement during Campus Conversations that was excellent —- the missing context for the menu! With her permission, I am sharing her statement here because it is a powerful explanation of the menu, and a great example of how we should be more intentional and authentic as we plan our future heritage observances:
Statement of Annette Coram on the Black History Month Menu
Good afternoon- I am Annette Coram, author of said email about the Black History menu offered by Metz dining services.
I would be remiss if I didn’t add my comments to this upsetting and troubling discussion.
I have to start out by saying I am both disappointed and confused at the response to the email about a Black History Month Menu.
For those unaware, the menu shared with all Trinity was curated by our dining hall chef, Renee Fitzgerald—an African American native from North Carolina who was raised in Washington, DC. The menu presented featured food offerings such as Ribs, Potato Salad, Green Beans & Yams, Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes Gravy & Sweet Peas, Roast Beef, Wild Rice, Roasted Carrots & Cabbage Beef Ribs, Collard Greens Potato Salad & Corn Bread—types of food that would be termed traditional Soul food.
Now, I know we have many educated people on this call so I will not delve into how one creates and illustrates culture but let it suffice to say culture is universally experienced through a people’s customs, clothing, housing, —and food.
Food is a HUGE part of black culture because it demonstrates not only our experience in this country but illustrates our ingenuity in creating wonderful cuisine often from the scraps the colonizers left for trash.
And because of this, soul food is ensconced in culture for African Americans. We—residents of the DMV–see this most vividly displayed at the National Museum for African American History and Culture. This month the museum is celebrating BH month with Michelin reviewed chefs bringing their talents to the museum. In speaking about the 1st visiting chef of the month, the website says – in the sweet home café, Enjoy delicious dishes such as BBQ Ribs with Rhubarb Chow Chow, Grandpop’s Meatloaf Sandwich with Caramelized Onion Relish, and Crispy Cornmeal Catfish with Hot Pepper Lemon Butter—again soul food.
The Metz menu presented was not listed as a culmination of all of what African Americans have accomplished. This menu was curated with the intention to highlight and celebrate a community and culture that has survived these types of proposed erasure for over 400 years.
To fully understand how food has impacted the African American community in this county I encourage all on this call to watch the Peabody and NAACP Image award winning Netfix documentary, “High on the Hog”—How African American cuisine transformed America. It is a fascinating look at the important bond between food and culture in our community. I don’t see anyone picketing or protesting this film series. On the contrary, it is being hailed as groundbreaking and true to our culture.
Black food is American food. Is it a part of our history, yes. Is it food that we have created, curated, and shared with the world, yes. Soul food is a part of who we are as a people, absolutely yes! By the way, it is called soul food because it nourishes the soul as well as the body.
So in conclusion, I ask that we take a moment to understand why we are in the middle of this uncomfortable conversation at this point in time. Is it because we are ashamed of sharing our culture? Have we embraced the privilege and power of our accomplishments so much that we have forgotten from wince we came?
The topic of this conversation should not be about what is or is not Black History Month soul food. The conversation should be why does soul food make some people uncomfortable? What are they ashamed of?
Thank you.
Continue reading →Read comments (0) Add CommentDACA on the Docket Once More
January 23, 2024
(Trinity’s very first class of Dreamer Scholars August 2014 with Gaby Pacheco, top left)
Read: Washington Post Editorial calling for Congressional Action for Dreamers 1/26/2024
Ten years ago, Trinity enrolled our first class of Dreamer Scholars thanks to TheDream.US that celebrates its tenth anniversary next month. The women in our first class, some of whom are in the photo above, have gone on to amazing careers, have created beautiful families and in every way exemplify Trinity’s values of service and leadership for their communities and our nation.
Unfortunately, the bright promise of the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) faded quickly after President Obama left office. President Obama created the program by executive order in 2012. Encouraged by the ugly rhetoric of the succeeding administration, numerous states attorneys general raised legal challenges to DACA with different levels of success. New admissions to the program ended but the Supreme Court and other courts have allowed the original DACA recipients to maintain their status while various challenges continue to wend their way through the legal system. The case that is most likely to set the ultimate precedent is in Texas where a judge ruled DACA illegal (actually, twice) but the order is stayed while appeals are pending.
In cooperation with the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, and with TheDream.US, today I participate in a webinar to encourage college and university presidents to join an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit urging those judges to overturn the lower court’s finding that DACA is illegal and allowing the program to continue. Trinity has signed onto the amicus brief as we have in the past in similar cases.
Below are the remarks I gave during today’s webinar on this case and the future of DACA:
Higher Education Leaders Must Support DACA and Undocumented Students
Remarks by President Patricia McGuire for the Presidents’ Immigration Alliance Webinar, January 22, 2024
In 2013, when Trinity’s good friend Don Graham called me to say he had an idea about how Trinity could help a very special group of students who were undocumented immigrants in the U.S., I confess I had never heard of DACA and I had a lot of questions about Don’s proposal. Ultimately, Don convinced me that Trinity should be one of the first private university partners to participate in TheDream.US — and the success of Trinity’s Dreamer Scholars across the last 10 years has been fantastic.
Trinity is one of the few remaining historic Catholic women’s colleges in the nation, and so we joined the partnership with a deep sense of commitment to our underlying moral principles of social justice and the dignity of all persons. We are also both a Predominantly Black Institution and a Hispanic Serving Institution. Trinity specializes in women’s education at the undergraduate level and we quickly realized that the undocumented women we welcomed through TheDream.US were absolutely amazing students with blazing ambition, fierce resilience, and a level of fortitude in the face of political and public hostility that most of us could not begin to match.
As we got to know our Dreamer Scholars and other undocumented students, we grew increasingly bewildered about why anyone in this country — any politician, any corporate leader, any academic, any citizen — would NOT want these amazing students to be part of the future of our nation, our economy, our society. Today, more than 10% of Trinity undergraduates are undocumented persons, and we are glad to support them with millions of dollars in Trinity grants and other scholarships funded through TheDream.US and generous benefactors. Trinity provides a large network of support services to Dreamer Scholars who also are effective advocates for their own needs.
The return on our investment in these students is so clear. Since 2014, Trinity has graduated hundreds of Dreamer Scholars — with a retention rate above 90%, most finish in four or five years. Dreamer Scholars at Trinity quickly advanced in student leadership, from leading student government to being team captains and advancing advocacy for many different causes. More than half of our annual inductees into Phi Beta Kappa are Dreamer Scholars, and most graduate with honors. Many go on to graduate school — our recent Dreamer graduates have earned advanced degrees at Duke, Brown, the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland, Trinity, and other universities. They have become teachers, nurses, medical personnel — all professions that have high demand for well-educated workforce — public policy specialists, and vital leaders in state and federal offices. We are so grateful to our partners at TheDream.US for working with us to support these amazing women — so many thanks to the new CEO Gaby Pacheco (a fabulous leader!), former CEO Candy Marshall, team members Hyein Lee and Trinity’s very own Sadhana Singh ’18, a member of our first Dreamer class now working with the program.
The political and legal attacks on DACA and undocumented persons are almost incomprehensible when we consider the history and values of this nation — a nation built by immigrants, a nation forged in the fire of the quest for human rights and freedom. The paradox of the anti-DACA movement is even more bewildering when we consider the more mundane but important calculus of the future of the U.S. economy and workforce. Our nation desperately NEEDS the talent, commitment, and yes, the patriotism of our Dreamer Scholars, the DACA recipients fortunate enough to get in while the program was still open, and the tens of thousands of other undocumented persons who remain excluded from full participation in American life and higher education.
Higher education has suffered many bruises in the last year as well-funded movements seek to curtail our advocacy for students on the margins – our Black and Hispanic students, our LGBTQ students, and yes, our undocumented students. I fear that too many of my fellow presidents are stepping back from the barricades at the very time when we need to rise up upon them and reclaim our voices and rightful leadership positions on behalf of our current and future students and the nation they will serve and lead in the future.
We should be as fierce as our students are in our advocacy for justice for all undocumented students, for equal access for our students to the support they must have to complete their higher education and move into the workforce. We must be champions for the rights of our graduates to have work permits, drivers licenses, and the ability to live in the sunshine, not the shadows. If the architects of this Texas case succeed, the thought that DACA recipients who have work permits today might lose them in the future as they move toward their 30’s and 40’s, building families and communities with their earnings, is simply an unimaginable offense against moral good and simple justice. The injustice of the heinous threat to deny the right to work — the right to earn a decent living and to support a family — this is a deep stain on the American soul.
Let’s call out the cynical use of the law to debilitate good people as the immoral act that it is. Let’s be clear: those who seek a permanent end to DACA and stripping away DACA’s modest grant of legal protections are not about legal hygiene but rather about human oppression. They seek to impose maximum human suffering to send a message that certain people are not welcome here – people who are, largely, Black and Brown, deeply impoverished, people whose only real mistake was believing that their children might have a chance for a better future in the greatest nation on earth.
We must be stronger in our determination to make sure that the small gains won through so much hard work for undoc students across the last decade do not dissipate in the toxic political cauldron of racial and ethnic hatred. We must have hope — HOPE! — that good solutions are still possible, and that the pursuit of the American Dream is not just some outmoded fiction from byegone days. We owe it to our students today and in the future to do all in our power to make The Dream their reality, to empower them to become fully part of this society, using their talents and ambition and creativity to make these United States even more just for future generations.
My brother and sister presidents: please join me in supporting the amicus brief for this case. And by signing on, please reaffirm your commitment to working for a brighter future for our undocumented students.
Below: graduation day for our first Dreamer Scholars in 2018, with Don Graham, Gaby Pacheco and Candy Marshall of TheDream.US and Trinity Board Chair Sr. Pat O’Brien, SND.
