Julia Garrison
News Editor
Wooster’s American Association of United Professors (AAUP) chapter addressed the campus community and — more specifically— President Anne McCall in a Feb. 22 open letter. They promoted an upcoming series of open discussions for the entire community about “academic freedom and shared governance,” which will occur every other week.
The open letter discussed McCall’s recent decision in regards to the email invitation to the Kauke Arch sit-in for a cease-fire. They called these actions a “serious attack on academic freedom at the College of Wooster,” and said that they violated current policies and past College practices.
McCall stated that the email’s deletion was in accordance with the College’s policies, as “several” people had expressed offense to the email directly to administrators.
“That suggests to me that there’s something in our culture right now that’s making it hard for us to talk together,” McCall said. “That doesn’t shock me that it’s hard for us to talk together, but I would like for that to be different.”
The letter discusses the current ZWD listserv policies in place and the self enforcing nature of the policy. It mentions past College practices including invitations to town halls, rallies and other events that were inherently political which were not removed by administration –– which the AAUP points out could be considered outside of “official college business,” as quoted directly from President McCall’s Feb. 14 correspondence.
According to McCall, these exceptions were indicative of the “silencing climate” that she mentioned in her Feb. 14 statement. She reiterated that she was aware that there were community members who felt uncomfortable by the exceptions listed by the AAUP, but “did not feel that they had the power to object.”
“That’s already an indication that there’s a consensus around what is the appropriate use for a business tool,” she said, restating that administrators had received requests to “unsubscribe” from community members. No general figure was provided on the number of email requests to unsubscribe beyond “several.”
Both the AAUP and the leaders of The College of Wooster Community for a Free Palestine, a collective of students, faculty, staff and alumni, have responded to McCall’s responses both to the campus community and directly to the community members who signed the petition. Both organizations implore the President to become more transparent in her pursuits to connect with what community members care about –– including a commitment to free speech on campus.
