Faculty, Students and Community tell Yale: Say No to Trump

 

Cross Campus was filled with a spirited teach-in and rally of faculty, students, staff and alimni at Yale as the academic year began, offering clear demands to the Yale Corporation and Officers to stop negotiating with the Trump administration over admissions and diversity policies, and instead preserve academic rights.

The point was made repeatedly that the actions Yale University takes will impact universities across the country.

The unprecedented “Democratize Yale” coalition of American Association of University Professors, the Yale College Council, the Yale Endowment Justice Collective, and the Stand Up for Yale alimni group joined together with four specific demands.

“Yale is cracking down on student free speech, negotiation with the DOJ over a baseless admissions investigation and refusing to codify academic freedom, all under the governance of an undemocratic Board of Trustees,” said the coalition in a message to new students. “Right now, you don’t have the same rights that generations of Yalies have enjoyed!”

The first demand is Shared Governance to Democratize Yale.

“Yale must eliminate the successor trustee system, reinstate the alumni petition process for the selection of all future trustees, and open voting to all members of the Yale community: students, staff, faculty, and alumni. Trustee meeting agendas must be published online one week prior to each board meeting, minutes must be made publicly available before the next scheduled meeting, and board meetings must be open to the public, livestreamed online, and include time for public comment.”

The second demand is Free Speech and Assembly to Let Students Speak

“Yale must adopt a new free expression policy presuming noninterference with non-violent direct action, including rallies, sit-ins, teach-ins, protests, and demonstrations. There must be neither requirement of prior registration nor administrative approval for such activities. Yale may intervene in expressive activity only to address an imminent safety threat, material obstruction of access, substantial interference with the actual conduct of classes or other essential University functions, or material prevention of another person or group exercising their free speech rights, in accordance with the Woodward Report; any such restriction must be content- and viewpoint-neutral, narrowly tailored to the specific harm, and no more restrictive than necessary. All time, place, and manner restrictions inconsistent with these principles must be repealed.”

The third demand is Academic Freedom

“Yale must codify a legally binding commitment to academic freedom within the faculty handbook, covering all Yale faculty regardless of rank. This must include freedom of research and publication, teaching, participation in internal governance, and public speech as citizens and public intellectuals. The University must clarify that faculty contracts are with Yale University, not individual departments or programs, and protect schools, departments, and programs from closure or defunding without robust and meaningful faculty consultation. Yale must also empower a committee elected by faculty to hear and decide complaints under the academic freedom policy, and it must guarantee faculty participation in all future Handbook revisions through representative faculty bodies.”

The fourth demand is Yale-DOJ Settlement: Don't Cave. Defend Diversity.

“Yale must exit settlement negotiations with the DOJ and publicly commit to defending its admissions policies in court should the need arise, because those policies are lawful and because recruiting an outstandingly well-qualified student body necessarily includes Black and Latine students.”

Prior to the rally New Haven Rising director Rev. Scott Marks issued a similar demand. “It is from our orientation towards partnership that we join many across the region, country, and world in expression our disappointment with the University’s unwillingness to stand up to the Trump administration. Yale is currently negotiating with this administration, and since Yale is a global leader in higher education, its deal may have implications that span far beyond New Haven and Connecticut.”

“The University still has the opportunity to make the right decision,” said Marks. “The right decision is protecting its own autonomy from this federal attack and refusing to negotiate with Trump. The right decision is also to negotiate fair and just deals with campus workers and the New Haven community that begin to address this history and move us collectively forward together toward real partnership.”

A month earlier Mayor Justin Elicker and US Sen Richard Blumenthal along with other elected officials who are Yale alumni delivered the same message to the University, including a warning that if Yale gives in to Trump and no longer serves the public interest their tax exempt status could be in danger.

The Democratize Yale campaign is developing plans for continuing actions aimed at reversing the actions of the Yale Corporation and Board of Trustees.