Dear Students of the Class of 2020:
As you have undoubtedly noticed, you and your new institution have been in the media spotlight lately. We want to take this opportunity to voice our own welcome as members of the faculty. You will find the University of Chicago to be a diverse place full of strong-minded people. We encourage you to become one of them.
Those of us who have signed this letter have a variety of opinions about requests for trigger warnings and safe spaces. We may also disagree as to whether free speech is ever legitimately interrupted by concrete pressures of the political. That is as it should be. But let there be no mistake: such requests often touch on substantive, ongoing issues of bias, intolerance, and trauma that affect our intellectual exchanges. To start a conversation by declaring that such requests are not worth making is an affront to the basic principles of liberal education and participatory democracy.
Foremost, we are committed to our students and to the free exchange of ideas. As teachers, we understand ourselves to be engaged in a collaborative experiment in the classroom. For that to work, mutual respect is indeed indispensable—all the more so since the practice of academic freedom can sometimes be contentious, difficult, perhaps even painful. But the crucial point is that such contention has to be based on a commitment to learning from a wealth of histories and experiences—to more discussion, not less; to openness, not closure.
The history of “safe spaces” goes back to gay, civil rights, and feminist efforts of the mid–20th century to create places protected from quite real forces of violence and intimidation. They also served as incubators of new ideas away from the censure of the very authorities threatened by these movements. It would be naïve to think that the University of Chicago is immune from social problems. Yet the administration confusingly disconnects “safe spaces” it supports (see the list of mentoring services on the College’s own website) from “intellectual safe spaces” that it does not, as if issues of power and vulnerability stop at the classroom door.
The best spaces for independent thought and action may be those you create yourselves. For example, graduate student instructors at the University of Chicago have just won the right to organize as a labor union. We applaud their contributions to this national effort. Please see the statement of the University of Chicago chapter of the American Association of University Professors for further evidence of widespread faculty support of student activism and student rights.
The right to speak up and to make demands is at the very heart of academic freedom and freedom of expression generally. We deplore any atmosphere of harassment and threat. For just that reason, we encourage the Class of 2020 to speak up loudly and fearlessly.
Sincerely,
A. Holly Shissler
Aden Kumler
Adom Getachew
Adrienne Brown
Agnes Lugo-Ortiz
Alida M. Bouris
Alireza Doostdar
Alison James
Alison Siegler
Allyson Nadia Field
Amy Hermalink
Amy Dru Stanley
Andreas Glaeser
Andrei Pop
Andrew Drucker
Angie Heo
Anna S. Mueller
Anton Ford
Bart Schultz
Benjamin Morgan
Beth-Anne Jacob
Boris Maslov
Bożena Shallcross
Bruce Lincoln
C. M . Naim (emeritus)
Cathy Cohen
Chad Broughton
Christian K. Wedemeyer
Christopher Taylor
Claudia Flores
Clifton Ragsdale
Colleen Grogan
Constantine V. Nakassis
Cornell H. Fleischer
Craig Futterman
Daisy Delogu
Dan Arnold
Daniel Brudney
Daniel Morgan
Danielle M. Roper
Darryl Li
David Wray
Demetra Kasimis
Denis R. Hirschfeldt
E. Summerson Carr
Elaine Hadley
Emily Lynn Osborn
Eric Lombard
Erica Zunkel
Erin R. Pineda
Eugene Raikhel
Faith Hillis
Forrest Stuart
Frances Ferguson
François Richard
Gary Herrigel
Ghenwa Hayek
Gina Fedock
Gina M. Samuels
Heather Keenleyside
Howard Stein (emeritus)
Hoyt J. Long
Hussein Ali Agrama
Itamar Francez
Jacob Eyferth
Jacqueline Najuma Stewart
James A. Hopson
James Hopson (emeritus)
James Ketelaar
James Lastra
Jane Dailey
Janice Knight
Jason Bridges
Jason Grunebaum
Jeff Leslie
Jennifer Cole
Jennifer Mosley
Jennifer Pitts
Jennifer Wild
Jesse Hall
Jessica S. Baker
Jessica Darrow
Johanna Ransmeier
John D. Kelly
John E. Woods
John H. Muse
John P. McCormick
Joseph Masco
Judith P. Miller
Judy Hoffman
Julia Henly
Julie Orlemanski
Julie Saville
Julie Y. Chu
Karlos Arregi
Kathleen Belew
Kaushik Sunder Rajan
Kay Heikkinen
Kenneth Pomeranz
Kenneth W Warren
Kimberly Kay Hoang
Kristen Schilt
Kyeong-Hee Choi
Larissa Brewer-García
Larry Rothfield
Laura Gandolfi
Lauren Berlant
Leora Auslander
Linda J. Waite
Linda Zerilli
Lisa Wedeen
Loren Kruger
Manuela Carneiro da Cunha (emeritus)
Marci Ybarra
Mareike Winchell
Maria Woltjen
Mario Santana
Mark E. Courtney
Mark J. Heyrman
Mark Miller
Mark Philip Bradley
Malynne Sternstein
Marshall Sahlins (emeritus)
Matthew M. Briones
Micere Keels
Michael C. Dawson
Michael Dietler
Michael K. Bourdaghs
Michael Rossi
Moishe Postone
Monica E. Peek
Na’ama Rokem
Nancy Munn (emeritus)
Norma Field (emeritus)
P. Sean Brotherton
Paola Iovene
Patchen Markell
Patrick Jagoda
Patrick R. Crowley
Ramón A. Gutiérrez
Randolph Stone
Richard Strier (emeritus)
Robert Bird
Robert L. Kendrick
Russell Tuttle
Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky
Samuel Refetoff
Sarah Hammerschlag
Seth Brodsky
Shannon Lee Dawdy
Shipra S. Parikh
Sonali Thakkar
Srikanth Reddy
Stephan Palmié
Susan Gal
Susan Gzesh
Tara Zahra
Thomas C. Holt
Timothy Harrison
Travis A. Jackson
Tyler Williams
Ulrike Stark
Victoria Saramago
W. J. T. MItchell
Whitney Cox
Willemien Otten
William Mazzarella
William Schweiker
William Sites
William Wimsatt (emeritus)
Xiaorong Jajah Wu
Yanilda González
Yoonsun Choi
Zachary Samalin
Editor's Note: The online edition of this article will be continually updated as more faculty members sign the letter.
