To The Campus editors:
Thank you for your coverage of the demonstrations in Waitsfield, Vt. last weekend, and of “Not My Presidents Day.”
Closer to home, on Saturday March 8, around 200 people gathered on the Middlebury town green and marched in support of International Women's Day and against the policies of the current American administration. Among them were professors and members of the college’s senior administration demonstrating peacefully and with a direct clear message against the deeply unpopular outrages of the current government, including towards universities.
The nationwide student anti-war strike of 1970 was a massive outpouring of anti-Vietnam War protests. It was students who made the difference in ending the war.
To quote writer Jess Craven’s response on Jan. 21,“As Robert Hubbell often says, “We’re not potted plants.” Quite the contrary. We are a force to be reckoned with. We have agency, intelligence, courage, strength, and vast numbers on our side. We have the artists. We have the educated. We have the decent majority. We have money. We have the moral high ground. We have a vast network of seasoned activists who know how to fight and have shown themselves willing to do so. We have democracy movements the world over rooting for us. We have some incredible elected officials. We have a ton of experience winning tough fights. Most importantly, we have each other.”
Alas, Middlebury students were noticeably absent at the Middlebury event. This is your future and it is yours to lose if you don't show up in the face of disheartening news about rights, the climate, green energy, diversity, reproductive rights, erasure of our country’s history and our basic constitutional freedoms.
Sincerely
Elizabeth Karnes Keefe
Former Associate Dean of Language Schools
