February 2017
To the Members of the
Treasure Valley Community College community,
For the last few months,
we have witnessed with great dismay much upheaval in the political and social
atmosphere of the United States. We have
seen the effects of this on our students and in our classrooms. Following November’s election and the recent
executive order on immigration, there has been confusion, fear, uncertainty,
and apprehension felt by many in our greater community. As faculty, we feel keenly the importance of
maintaining an openly safe environment for our students and their education.
As human beings, it is
with despair that we see so many values which we teach and promote within our
classrooms being trampled upon by this new government. Families who have given everything for a
chance at survival, who followed the rules at great personal cost on their
journey to this country, are now being targeted based upon their race or their
religion. For refugees to be treated as villains and not the victims of
circumstance that they are goes against the very nature of what the United
States stands for. To begin to call out
and blame the ills of this nation on immigrants when we are a nation created by
immigrants is unacceptable. Today, this
country and this community bask in the wealth of knowledge and ideas,
perspectives, and cultural riches we daily receive from those around us who
have immigrated to this place. We are
all human and the only hope that we, individually and as a nation, have is to
recognize that.
In this community, we
know all too well the atrocities that can and have been committed by a
government that seeks to vilify individuals based upon their race or
originating nationality, classifying them as enemies. The United States has done this before to Americans of Japanese descent. Many of our brothers and sisters lost
everything during a period where the nation turned a blind eye to civil and
human rights under the perceived threat of terror and harm. We do not support another move of this
kind. Nor do we support the rash of
violence and hate speak towards Hispanics and other races that has occurred across
the Treasure Valley since the dawn of this Presidency. Again, the United States has been in this
position before and we refuse, not politely, to see our community step into a
past that was full of anger and violence.
We value the unique
dynamics each member of our community has to offer, each student on our campus brings. Be it cultural diversity, intellectual
diversity, knowledge and perspective broader than our own experiences, we
acknowledge and welcome it all. The
intellectual exchange those ideals can
bring to our classrooms and community is more valuable than we will put into words. We honor and respect these
differences.
This political climate is
a volatile one. We expect to
see further executive orders that will impact what we do. Yet, the honorable and rational positions we, at TVCC, have held on diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice are values that we will
continue to uphold. Education of those values, providing not political rhetoric but steadfast accurate
information, will endure at this College.
To our students, we have
heard you, have heard your expressed fears, and we want to assure you of
this: we stand with you, armed with
information, compassion, willingness to discuss and debate, to challenge the
worries you have about a future that has suddenly become opaque with evidence
as to your rights and your worth and the confidence that you can have hope
because we will ride through this storm by your side.
To our community: we
assure you that now and in the future, as long as we are allowed to remain
here, the faculty of this college will continue to provide yourselves, your
family, your children a safe space to receive an education worthy of your
efforts to learn and the future it can give you.
To our administration and
colleagues across this campus, we ask that you stand with us, that you too
commit to the safety and security of our community, that you continue to uphold
practices of nondiscrimination that are the foundation of the education system
to members of our community who are now exposed or at risk in this current
climate.
The Faculty of Treasure Valley Community College
Treasure Valley Education Association
Treasure Valley Education Association
