According to a recent piece by The Campus’ editorial board called “Middlebury may be next on Trump’s chopping block. What now?”, Middlebury College is one of 60 schools who received a letter warning them of antisemitism investigations on campus. Following the pattern of the Trump administration’s threats to Columbia and other universities, a place on this list may mean the college will be targeted by the Trump administration for potential cuts to its federal funding. As a 1984 grad, The Campus is not part of my daily reading routine. However, I was motivated by national headlines related to other colleges and universities to take a look, and felt curious to know how Middlebury is navigating the storm. Thankfully, The Campus did not disappoint.
I appreciated learning about necessary ICE preparedness measures on campus, sad and disturbing as they are. I visited Somerville, Ma. the first week of March, and stayed blocks from the intersection where Tufts University graduate student, Rumeysa Ozturk, was surrounded by masked government agents in broad daylight, taken into custody and unlawfully detained. Despite an emergency order filed in Boston District Court forbidding Ms. Ozturk’s removal from Massachusetts, she landed in an ICE detention facility in Alexandria, La., much like Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil and Georgetown University Postdoctoral Fellow Badar Khan Suri. I can only imagine their ongoing terror and hope no Middlebury student is subjected to anything remotely similar.
I strongly urge Middlebury to remain true to its liberal educational mission, ideals and spirit. My view, one hopefully shared by many, is that the college should tap into its significant endowment before bending to unconscionable extortion and threats to fall in line with the MAGA agenda. I urge this as a consistent, albeit modest, donor to Middlebury’s “For Every Future” fundraising campaign.
The Campus’ editorial touched on Middlebury’s commitment to maintaining a learning environment in which all students feel safe, regardless of their disparate views. I support that commitment. At the same time, I am deeply offended and appalled by a Trump administration that wants to cloak its racist, xenophobic and unconstitutional policies in the guise of protecting Jewish students on college campuses. I’m no longer a college student, of course, but I’m Jewish, and I refuse to be a pawn of this administration. I urge current Jewish students and Jewish alumni to join me in a full-throated resistance to this manipulation. “Protecting” Jewish students to justify silencing, terrorizing and deporting others is a disgusting affront to our Jewish values and beliefs such as Umot Ha’Olam and Hochai’ach Tochee’ach. The first of these values signifies caring for and respecting those with other religions, beliefs and identities, and the latter represents having the courage to rebuke society or individuals making terrible mistakes. Much like objecting to the Netanyahu government’s genocide in Gaza, none of us should tolerate behavior that is, frankly, antithetical to precious Jewish tenets. We will not be made a pretext for vile policy.
Middlebury, please don’t fall for the spin of a game show host. Please continue to do the hard, complex work required to uphold Middlebury’s values during the current political and economic tumult.
I do not take for granted my opportunity and right to express these views publicly. Thank you.
Gillian Goodman was a member of Middlebury's class of '84.
