Letter to the Editor—Faculty Members to Provost: Let Students Govern

Loring Pfeiffer and Stephen DiamondMarch 7, 2017Dear The Santa Clara editors:As faculty members at the University, we were disappointed to learn that the Provost's office intervened last week to overturn the Student Senate decision denying Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) application to become a registered student organization (RSO). As reported in The Santa Clara, the Student Senate engaged in a careful review and vigorous debate prior to reaching its decision. TPUSA appealed the decision to the student Judicial Branch and it was denied. Without any additional information that we are aware of, the Provost’s office elected to review in secret the decision and then announced that they had reversed it and granted TPUSA RSO status.A central and prominent activity of TPUSA is their Professor WatchList, which “outs” what TPUSA determines are faculty with whom they disagree ideologically. Such lists can lead to the harassment of faculty, and the American Association of University Professors has deemed them “a threat to academic freedom.”Nevertheless, it is not on our own behalf that we write to you. We support students' right to free speech, and we welcome diverse points of view on our campus. Some of us, for example, believe that TPUSA should be granted RSO status, while others agree with the Senate that they should not. But we all agree that this was a decision that should have been made by students in accordance with their interpretation of the Constitution of the Associated Student Government.We write, therefore, to express our concern about the University administration's interference with, and undermining of, student decision-making on the campus. The TPUSA intervention follows in the wake of the inappropriate censoring of The Santa Clara's reporting of comments made by a donor and trustee earlier this quarter. Thus, we want Santa Clara students to know that faculty members support student advocacy and free expression on our campus. In the realms of both journalism and politics, Santa Clara students know and are doing what they feel is right, and they are practicing the Jesuit values that our institution espouses. As faculty members, we recognize that and are proud of the work students are doing. We will continue to advocate on students’ behalf to members of the administration, and we will work to empower and amplify students’ endeavors on campus.Sincerely,

1. Loring Pfeiffer, Department of English
2. Stephen Diamond, School of Law
3. Tim Urdan, Department of Psychology
4. Michelle Burnham, Department of English
5. Barry Posner, Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
6. Erick Ramirez, Department of Philosophy
7. Danielle Morgan, Department of English
8. Kathleen Maxwell, Department of Art and Art History
9. Robin Tremblay-McGaw, Department of English
10. Kirk Glaser, Department of English
11. Bruno Ruviaro, Department of Music
12. Barbara Kelley, Department of Communication
13. Leslie Gray, Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences
14. Cary Yang, Department of Electrical Engineering
15. Iris Stewart-Frey, Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences
16. Elizabeth Dahlhoff, Department of Biology
17. Patt Ness, Department of Theatre and Dance
18. Michael A. Santoro, Department of Management, Leavey School of Business
19. Nicholas Leither, Department of English
20. Naomi Andrews, Department of History
21. Ed Maurer, Civil Engineering Department
22. Scott LaBarge, Depts. of Philosophy and Classics
23. Stephen Carroll, Department of English
24. Hsin-I Cheng, Department of Communication
25. Juliana Chang, Department of English
26. Mohammad Ayoubi, Department of Mechanical Engineering
27. John S. Farnsworth, Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences
28. John Kennedy, Department of Music
29. Julia Voss, Department of English
30. Amy Randall, Department of History
31. Amy Lueck, Department of English
32. Michael Lasley, Department of English
33. Marilyn Edelstein, English Department
34. Nina Tanti, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
35. Sreela Sarkar, Department of Communication
36. Rohit Chopra, Department of Communication
37. Samuel Lee, Department of Finance, Leavey School of Business
38. Justin P. Boren, Department of Communication
39. Katherine Saxton, Department of Biology
40. Robert Shanklin, Department of Philosophy
41. Alberto Ribas, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
42. Matt Driscoll, Department of English
43. Cruz Medina, Department of English
44. Robert Numan, Psychology
45. Robert Michalski, Department of English
46. Meg Gudgeirsson, Department of History
47. Kathryn Bruchmann, Department of Psychology
48. Trish Serviss, Department of English
49. Jill Pellettieri, Department of Modern Languages & Literatures
50. Charles F. Byers, Marketing Department & Department of Communications
51. Linda Kamas, Department of Economics
52. Sarita Tamayo-Moraga, Department of Religious Studies
53. Roberto Mata, Department of Religious Studies
54. Terry Beers, Department of English
55. Maria Bauluz, Department of Modern Languages & literatures
56. Barbara Burns, Child Studies
57. Deirdre Frontczak, Marketing Department
58. W. David Ball, School of Law
59. Shannon Vallor, Department of Philosophy
60. Brian McNelis, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
61. Jackie Hendricks, Department of English
62. Lisa Kealhofer, Anthropology/ESS Depts.
63. Kirsten Read, Department of Psychology
64. Chad Raphael, Department of Communication
65. Elsa Li, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
66. Nancy Unger, Department of History
67. Tracey Kahan, Department of Psychology
68. Nicholas Tran, Department of Mathematics & Computer Science
69. Anna Sampaio, Department of Ethnic Studies
70. Patti Simone, Department of Psychology
71. Luis Cheng-Guajardo, Department of Philosophy
72. Jane Leftwich Curry, Department of Political Science
73. Sharmila Lodhia, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies
74. Shireen AlAzzawi, Department of Economics
75. Francine Gordon, Management Department, Leavey School of Business
76. Kieran Sullivan, Department of Psychology
77. Amy Eriksson, Department of Communication
78. Katharine Heintz, Department of Communication
79. Maura Tarnoff, Department of English
80. Jackie Schmidt-Posner, Professor of Practice, Leavey School of Business
81. Ariel Schindewolf, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
82. Denise Krane, Department of English
83. Michael Kevane, Department of Economics
84. Margaret M. Lucero, Department of Education
85. David E. Skinner, History Department
86. Teresa McCollough, Department of Music

Letters to the Editor can be sent to editor@thesantaclara.org.