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Following the recent election of Donald Trump, Morgan State University President David Wilson addressed the Morgan Community to reaffirm the campus as a “safe intellectual space” and a place where our students matter. Additionally, he called attention to the bigotry, hatred, sexism, racism, and xenophobia that seemed so prevalent during the campaign, while extolling Morgan’s value of respect, inclusiveness, diversity, leadership and excellence. Dr. Wilson now joins 109 of his fellow university and college presidents in an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump challenging him to rise to the occasion of holding the nation’s highest office and to condemn those elements that would divide us as a country.
November 18, 2016
Dear President-elect Trump,
As do you, we “seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict.” In order to maintain the trust required for such productive engagement, it is essential that we immediately reaffirm the core values of our democratic nation: human decency, equal rights, freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination. As college and university presidents, we commit ourselves to promoting these values on our campuses and in our communities, and we stand alongside the business, nonprofit, religious and civic leaders who are doing the same in organizations large and small.
In light of your pledge to be “President for all Americans,” we urge you to condemn and work to prevent the harassment, hate and acts of violence that are being perpetrated across our nation, sometimes in your name, which is now synonymous with our nation’s highest office. In our schools, on job sites and college campuses, on public streets and in coffee shops, members of our communities, our children, our families, our neighbors, our students and our employees are facing very real threats, and are frightened.
One of the roles of leaders is to protect and empower the most vulnerable. As president-elect, this responsibility rests heavily on you. Let this be a mark of your leadership.
- Raymond E. Crossman, Adler University
- Mauri Ditzler, Albion College
- Mark Zupan, Alfred University
- Jeff Abernathy, Alma College
- Biddy Martin, Amherst College
- William R. Groves, Antioch University
- John M. Sullivan, Art Academy of Cincinnati
- Paul C. Pribbenow, Augsburg College
- Steven Bahls, Augustana College
- Marjorie Hass, Austin College
- Leon Botstein, Bard College
- Mac Powell, Bastyr University
- Scott Bierman, Beloit College
- Mariko Silver, Bennington College
- David C. Joyce, Brevard College
- Kimberly Wright Cassidy, Bryn Mawr College
- Nancy Blattner, Caldwell University
- Donald J. Laackman, Champlain College
- Frank G. Pogue, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania (interim president)
- David McInally, Coe College
- Brian W. Casey, Colgate University
- Helen J. Streubert, College of Saint Elizabeth
- Reverend Philip L. Boroughs, College of the Holy Cross
- Jonathan Brand, Cornell College
- Jann Weitzel, Cottey College
- Carol Quillen, Davidson College
- Mark McCoy, DePauw University
- Walter M. Kimbrough, Dillard University
- MaryAnn Baenninger, Drew University
- Donald Eastman, Eckerd College
- Carl J. Strikwerda, Elizabethtown College
- Jake B. Schrum, Emory & Henry College
- James A. Anderson, Fayetteville State University
- J. Michael Pressimone, Fontbonne University
- Daniel Porterfield, Franklin & Marshall College
- Elizabeth Davis, Furman University
- Janet Morgan Riggs, Gettysburg College
- Robert Kenny, Goddard College
- Mark Scheinberg, Goodwin College
- Jose Antonio Bowen, Goucher College
- Raynard S. Kington, Grinnell College
- Jane K. Fernandes, Guilford College
- Rebecca M. Bergman, Gustavus Adolphus College
- John J. “Ski” Sygielski, HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College
- Margaret L. Drugovich, Hartwick College
- Kimberly Benston, Haverford College
- Lori Varlotta, Hiram College
- Mark D. Gearan, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
- Andrea Chapdelaine, Hood College
- Shirley A. Mullen, Houghton College
- Lisa A. Rossbacher, Humboldt State University
- Alison Byerly, Lafayette College
- Dan McAlexander, LaGrange College
- Michael B. Alexander, Lasell College
- Mark Burstein, Lawrence University
- Barry Glassner, Lewis & Clark College
- Richard Green, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania
- Reverend Brian F. Linnane, Loyola University Maryland
- Kenneth R. Garren, Lynchburg College
- Brian Rosenberg, Macalester College
- Stuart Kestenbaum, Maine College of Art
- James Gandre, Manhattan School of Music
- Kevin F. F. Quigley, Marlboro College
- Kerry Walk, Marymount Manhattan College
- Laurie Patton, Middlebury College
- Bryon Grigsby, Moravian College
- John Silvanus Wilson Jr., Morehouse College
- David Wilson, Morgan State University
- Stanley J. Pritchett Sr., Morris Brown College
- Sonya Stephens, Mount Holyoke College (acting president)
- Timothy E. Trainor, Mount St. Mary’s University
- John I. Williams Jr., Muhlenberg College
- Kent Devereaux, New Hampshire Institute of Art
- Richard Helldobler, Northeastern Illinois University (interim president)
- Lawrence Schall, Oglethorpe University
- David W. Oxtoby, Pomona College
- Debbie Sydow, Richard Bland College
- Allan Cahoon, Royal Roads University
- Rachel Schreiber, San Francisco Art Institute (interim president)
- Karen R. Lawrence, Sarah Lawrence College
- Tracy Fitzsimmons, Shenandoah University
- Susan E. Henking, Shimer College
- Peg Albert, Siena Heights University
- Joe Bertolino, Southern Connecticut State University
- David Rees Evans, Southern Vermont College
- Edward B. Burger, Southwestern University
- John A. Pieper, St. Louis College of Pharmacy
- Kevin J. Manning, Stevenson University
- Valerie Smith, Swarthmore College
- Susan C. Scrimshaw, the Sage Colleges
- John M. McCardell Jr., the University of the South
- Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Trinity College (Connecticut)
- Stephen C. Ainlay, Union College (New York)
- Thomas W. Keefe, University of Dallas
- Quint Thurman, University of the Southwest
- Jonathan Chenette, Vassar College (interim president)
- Thomas Christopher Greene, Vermont College of Fine Arts
- Scott D. Miller, Virginia Wesleyan College
- Weymouth Spence, Washington Adventist University
- Joseph Kline, Watkins College
- Jonathan Gibralter, Wells College
- Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan University
- Dennis Hanno, Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
- David J. Chard, Wheelock College
- Sharon Herzberger, Whittier College
- Stephen E. Thorsett, Willamette University
- Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, William Jewell College
- Adam Falk, Williams College
- Barbara K. Mistick, Wilson College
