Open Letter for Free Expression and Interdisciplinary Education: End-Of-Semester Letter on Fall 2024 Priorities

Open letter summary: We are seeking support from the Chapman University administration for free speech and expression on campus.  We are asking the administration of Chapman University to create a permanent, full-time professorship dedicated to Disability Studies.  We are recommending that the university create a permanent, full-time professorship within Wilkinson College for a professor with experience in social justice, human rights, social and/or global public interest law, and/or conflict resolution.

If you support any of these goals, please sign!  We are working to gain support from the Chapman community before discussing these goals with the administration in conjunction with other departments and student organizations.

In the 2023-2024 school year,

Given that students involved in utilizing their freedom of expression regarding the ongoing violence in Gaza have faced doxxing, repression by peers, and had their permissible chalk art washed away despite assurances to the contrary;

Given that professors have faced repression and hardship due to their involvement in peace activism or their views on this violence;

Given that students have felt unsafe when engaging in permitted events and activities, such as distributing flyers;

Given the ongoing repression at other American universities of the freedom of speech and expression;

Given our mutual respect for academic freedom, freedom of speech and expression, and interdisciplinary learning,

And given our hopes that Chapman University continues to be a place of free expression, interdisciplinary learning,

We, the members of the Chapman community, who hold a diversity of opinion, identity, and experience, ask that the university administration consider these proposals as priorities for the Fall 2024 semester:

Freedom of Speech and Expression

As students at Chapman University, we seek to contribute to an environment of mutual respect and collaboration, and this is only possible if every member of the Chapman community fosters an environment respectful of diversity of thought and expression and every member of the community is able to engage in this environment.  We encourage the Chapman University administration to support the free speech and expression rights of students, faculty, and all members of the Chapman community.

Given the recent concerns and realities regarding the right to freedom of speech and expression at multiple universities across the nation, we hope that Chapman University can take this opportunity to affirm its commitment to freedom of speech and expression.  We believe that Chapman University, due to the diverse political positions held among students, is uniquely positioned to affirm and strengthen its commitment to these fundamental rights.

We request that the administration ensures that no member of the Chapman community–be they professors, staff, or students–is censored, reprimanded, or otherwise harmed for expressing their views.  This includes protection from social, physical, and academic repercussions.  We also ask that students are protected from harassment by outside agitators.  In connection with this, we request that an adequate number of Public Safety officers are dispatched in a timely manner in response to students’ safety concerns.  Furthermore, due to injuries and hospitalizations experienced by students and professors on other campuses by officials not affiliated with these universities, we ask that the Chapman University staff, faculty, and administration refrain from involving police, sheriffs, national guardsmen, and other similar officials in controlling and dispersing protests.  In addition, we ask that policies that support free expression and dialogue on campus are reinforced equally across the Chapman community.

We encourage the Chapman University administration to support equal protection for the rights and protections of students, staff, and faculty, regardless of their background, identity, or opinion, including their rights to privacy and security of person and property, particularly from doxxing and unnecessary searches and seizures by Public Safety officers.

We hope that Chapman University can help protect its students, staff, and faculty from doxxing, harassment, or other social and political attempts to repress their freedom of speech.  Regarding these issues, we encourage Chapman University administration to provide a mechanism, such as a digital form, through which students can ask for help personally, maintaining their anonymity if they wish.

We also hope that Chapman University can continue to be a place where students can grow academically through exposure to a diversity of ideas, whether from fellow students, their professors, or from staff.  We are proud to be members of the Chapman community because it serves as a marketplace of ideas, and we hope that Chapman University can continue to support education through learning of others’ opinions while expressing their own.

To help administrators better understand issues affecting the student body, including issues related to free expression and other subjects, we recommend that a digital form is created where students and student organizations can request meetings with administrators, holding positions relevant to an issue in question, to allow students to present their concerns and learn from administrators about what is needed, from all members of the Chapman community, for these concerns to be addressed.  We hope that this provides a space for dialogue that is unique to the Chapman community and fosters peace, cooperation, and coordination between administrators and students.

We thank the administration for their ongoing support for free speech and expression, especially as shown by Dean Jerry Price’s email on May 3rd, 2024, and we hope that these recommendations will help the administration continue to support a free and open campus environment.

Disability Studies

Given the ongoing retirement process of Dr. Arthur Blaser, a passionate professor who has served the Chapman community for decades, we ask that the Chapman University administration utilize time and resources to secure a position for a permanent, tenure-track professor dedicated to disability studies.

The Minor in Disability Studies, within Wilkinson College, is the most popular interdisciplinary minor within Wilkinson College.  Many of Dr. Blaser’s classes, such as People with Disabilities in Politics and Society, are required to complete this minor, and these classes are often waitlisted due to their popularity.  Such courses, and especially the minor, provide students with an opportunity to engage in Disability Studies even when they have not had the opportunity to be involved in such academic pursuits previously.  Programs and courses in Disability Studies help students learn how to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion within their social, professional, and academic circles, both at Chapman University and after graduation.

With Dr. Blaser’s retirement, Chapman University needs a new professor who teaches Disability Studies classes with the same regularity as Dr. Blaser, while also showing a commitment to Disability Studies within their career.  Therefore, we ask that a new tenure-track professorship dedicated to Disability Studies is created.

Professor of Practice

Given the benefits brought to students through classes with professors who have a high degree of non-academic professional experience with social justice, human rights, social and global public interest law, and conflict resolution, we recommend that Chapman University seek to create a position for, and hire, a full-time and permanent Professor of Practice, especially a position that is open to candidates without doctoral degrees.  We believe that this conforms to the university’s goal to hold classes with fewer adjunct professors, and, as students, we greatly benefit from the outside expertise brought by professors with outside experience, especially in the areas of social justice, human rights, public interest law, and conflict resolution.  Therefore, we ask that a position for a Professor of Practice with experience in social justice, human rights, social and/or global public interest law, and/or conflict resolution is established within Wilkinson College.

Conclusion

These are priorities for the Fall 2024 semester supported by the students, faculty, and student organizations who are signatories to this open letter.

We appreciate this opportunity to initiate a dialogue with the Chapman University administration, and we hope that we can work together in a spirit of cooperation.  As members of the Chapman community, we understand that each of us has a vital role to play in ensuring that all opinions are provided, heard, and respected.  We ask that the Chapman administration promote interdisciplinarity and free expression, along with protecting the rights of members of the Chapman community, to enable students to engage with, and engage in, a diversity of opinion.

Thank you again for your consideration.  We look forward to a statement on these matters and further discussion.

Created by:

Peace Studies Union Executive Board (peacestudiesunion@chapman.edu)

Timea Steingart, student (tsteingart@chapman.edu)