Dear President McInnis, Provost Strobel, and the Board of Trustees:
We the undersigned Yale alumni write to urge you to take a courageous stance in defending higher education against assaults by the federal government.
We believe that Yale is well positioned to use its great strength to show great leadership. The threats to Yale’s educational mission and the wellbeing of its students are shared by other universities and colleges. Yale should not face these threats alone. It should instead spearhead efforts to bring together other institutions of higher learning, creating a collective plan of defense.
We understand that this may be a difficult request. There are valuable resources to protect. But a strategy of keeping one’s head down, hoping federal attention instead falls on other institutions, is doomed to fail. Eventually Yale will land in the crosshairs. And when it does, there may be no one left to defend it.
Yale should take action now, before it becomes a target, as a leader in a collective attempt to fight back. This is the only way to meet the monumental challenges of this moment, and to safeguard the value of the university in an increasingly hostile environment. By remaining silent and lobbying behind closed doors, you may fare better than other institutions in the short term, but in the long term, you will assist in the general degradation of higher education in this country (a process which, we are sure you know, has sadly already begun). We urge you to play the longer game, and the more courageous game. History shows us that collective action “is the only defense that has ever stopped the rise of autocracy” (to quote Ian Bassin, Yale Law '06).
At her first public address as President, speaking to the incoming class of 2028, President McInnis handed out copies of Edward Hopper’s “Sunlight in a Cafeteria” and asked the audience to consider the two separate figures, each sitting alone in their thoughts. She asked the first-years to combat this sort of isolation, to take the initiative to reach out and build connection and community. And then she told them to take what they gathered from those connections to “go out into the world to lead and serve.”
We implore you, President McInnis, to heed your own advice: reach out and build connections, so that you may lead and serve the whole community of higher education. And do so openly, in Hopper’s “sunlight.” Lead bravely by taking a public stance, and model the moral courage you exhort your students to uphold. Make us proud to be Yalies, members of a community that stands up for what is most important.
Signed, the following alumni of Yale,
[3457 names followed on the letter delivered on 4-21-15, more are still being collected and updated online]
**You may be aware of another Yale alum letter circulating. It has a slightly different focus, galvanizing alum support for an existing faculty letter, and you can read and sign it here. Both letters make essential points and we encourage you to sign both! We have been working with the writers of the other letter to collaborate on how they are delivered and publicized.
