Throughout the past two weeks, President Farvardin sent an e-mail reply about the petition to some members of the Stevens Community, including petitioners and concerned faculty. We sent an e-mail today with this response: "Dear President Farvardin, Thank you for taking the time to send out an e-mail to some of the members of the Stevens community. However, we feel your response to the circulated petition is 1. not a public response, as it was only sent to a subset of the Stevens community via e-mail, and 2. not addressing certain critical points. We understand that in your email you reaffirm Stevens’s commitment to academic freedom, diversity, and inclusion. You have also written that Stevens “will continue to work earnestly and aggressively to provide a safe, inviting, and nurturing environment.” However, in your email you did not provide any specific examples of policy action to address this. While we acknowledge that Stevens has taken steps to create a more diverse and inclusive campus, including gender inclusive restrooms, unconscious bias training for faculty, a diversity lecture series, the creation of the Lore-El House, and the STEP program, we believe these have proven to not be enough, particularly in light of the percentages of female and minority undergraduate students and faculty. The implicit explanation behind the naming of the “Gianforte Academic Center” that seems to be provided is that we are honoring the Gianfortes for their gift of $20 million dollars, which is the largest single gift in the university’s history and with which we will make significant progress toward our strategic goals. However, the issues that we outlined in the petition and which we would like to be addressed in an explanation include the fact that Greg Gianforte has made a political reputation leading the fight against a non-discrimination ordinance in Bozeman, Montana, which protects LGBTQ people from discrimination in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations. Another of these controversial issues is his donations of more than $1 million to anti-LGBTQ groups, some of which support and fund gay conversion therapy.[1] There are additional issues detailed within the petition. These are not merely “personal” matters or beside the point. In fact, even within the Stevens Gift Acceptance Policy it is stated that “the historic and current reputation of the prospective donor” must be considered.[2] Greg Gianforte is not a private individual - he is a politician currently running in a special election for the US Congress who stands to gain politically from an association with our university. We recognize the difficult position Stevens finds itself in because it is a private institution and not in an ideal position in terms of alumni donations. When an individual offers up enormous sums of money in this case, it might be deemed irresponsible to turn it away. We believe accepting such money uncritically also does a great disservice to the institution of Stevens. To facilitate a public response to these issues, we think it would be a good idea to hold a public forum that everyone could attend and be able to voice their concerns. We think that Dr. Michael Steinmann, a member of the Faculty Senate, would be a good choice as a considerate, level-headed moderator who is invested in the community and has contact with the administration. Stevens Professor Lee Vinsel has recently provided a very thoughtful and important perspective to this situation with his blog post.[3] We urge you to read it, if you have not already. With it, Dr. Vinsel adds his voice to an open dialogue about our community and institution at Stevens. Sincerely, Joe Risi jrisi256@gmail.com B.S., B.A. ‘15 Kyle Gonzalez kylegonzalez77@gmail.com B.S., B.A. ‘15 Andy Waldron awaldron@stevens.edu B.A., Class of 2017 [1]https://www.change.org/p/nariman-farvardin-explanation-behind-naming-of-gianforte-academic-center [2] Stevens Gift Policy p. 11; https://www.stevens.edu/sites/stevens_edu/files/Gift-Policy.pdf [3]http://leevinsel.com/blog/2017/4/10/stevens-and-the-gianforte-problem " We do not claim to speak for everyone - please consider emailing President Farvardin himself if you have any questions or concerns.