November 17, 2016. Dear President Hellie: Thank you for your timely message to the Linfield community on Wednesday, November 9, 2016 (“Statement on Election”). Since the circulation of your letter, there have been several disturbing cases of harassment on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, and the status of immigration. Your message on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 on the “Campus Policy on Bias, Intimidation, and Harassment” was an appropriate and important first step in response to these cases and we look forward to working with you to take concrete steps to protect all members of our community. We, the undersigned faculty at Linfield call on you to extend your message of community into action. As an institution that “honors human rights and academic freedom, celebrates diverse cultures, fosters a climate of mutual respect, and promotes an inclusive environment that affirms the value of all persons,” we believe it is imperative that we take action in order to ensure the rights of all students, faculty, and staff, particularly those most likely to have their legal protections put at risk by the new regime. We, the undersigned faculty call on the administration to take appropriate action to protect those in our community who are especially vulnerable or uncertain as a result of the rhetoric, appointments, and policy proposals of the President-elect, including international students, faculty, and staff, persons of color, LGBTQ individuals, women, Jews, and in particular, Muslims and immigrants and undocumented students and DACAmented students and staff. We, the undersigned faculty at Linfield will stand united against acts of hate and bigotry directed at our students, faculty and fellow employees in the wake of recent events. Words and acts of hate are forms of violence that threaten our core mission of honoring and respecting human dignity at Linfield College. •

Recommendation #1: Extend Linfield’s Harassment Policy Protection to Undocumented and DACAmented1 Students, Faculty, and Staff

At present Linfield’s Harassment policy states:

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DACAmented refers to individuals who have the legal protections provided by “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.” 1

“Harassment is verbal or physical conduct that demeans or shows hostility, or aversion, toward an individual because of his/her race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or disability, or that of his/her relatives, friends, or associates and that: • • •

Has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment; or Has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance; or Otherwise adversely affects an individual’s academic opportunities.”

The policy further declares: “Harassing conduct includes, but is not limited to the following: •

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Epithets, slurs, jokes, negative stereotyping or threatening, intimidating or hostile acts that relate to a person’s race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or disability. Written graphic material which demeans or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group because of race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or disability and is posted on walls, bulletin boards, e-mail, or elsewhere on the college premises, or is circulated within the college.

The terms intimidating, hostile and offensive are interpreted according to legal standards as determined by the law, and are looked at from the viewpoint of a reasonable person in similar circumstances as the complaining party.” We recommend that Linfield follows the lead of other institutions of higher education by adding “immigration status” as a protected category under the harassment policy to explicitly recognize and protect undocumented / DACAmented students, faculty, and staff at Linfield College.”2 •

RECOMMENDATION #2: Adopt the above Harassment Policy as the Campus-Wide Anti-Discrimination Policy.

At present, Linfield’s Discrimination Policy is mentioned under Equal Employment Opportunity and Title IX in the Faculty Handbook. We strongly recommend that the above language with the proposed inclusion of 2

DACAmented refers to individuals who have the legal protections provided by “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.” 2

undocumented / DACAmented students, faculty, and staff at Linfield College, be adopted as a college-wide Anti-Discrimination Policy and established as the standard for community conduct and investigation of reported and suspected violations of the policy. •

RECOMMENDATION #3 - Establish a Harassment Response Team. It is imperative that there is a reporting structure for efficiently responding to incidents that violate our harassment policy. In addition to ensuring responsiveness and accountability, the Harassment Response Team should promote transparency so that both the targets of harassment and other members of the community know precisely what has occurred and what is being done to address it.

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RECOMMENDATION #4: Work Toward Declaring Linfield to be a Sanctuary Campus.

Inform students, faculty, and staff as soon as possible what Linfield College can and will do to provide their privacy and provide sanctuary from unfair deportation, investigation, or other discriminatory intimidation.5 In addition, indicate to the community what the College will do to keep members of our community apprised of new developments and how our strategies of protection will adapt in response to those developments. Dozens of institutions of higher education, including several in Oregon have already taken the step of declaring themselves to be “sanctuary centers of higher education” and we are glad to hear that Linfield is considering this step (Email to the Faculty Assembly from the Diversity Advisory Council Co-Chair Dawn Graf-Haight, November 15, 2016). While more information is gathered about what the declaration of this status might mean and how it might be implemented, we have an urgent responsibility to take concrete steps to protect members of our community by reminding our students of their existing rights to privacy (which will keep their immigration status confidential, just as it does their grades, records, and medical information). In addition, Linfield should take steps to facilitate connections between undocumented students, faculty, and staff with local organizations (e.g., legal clinics) that may be able to provide advice and resources to secure their rights.

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This language is adapted from the faculty of Pomona College’s letter to their President on November 9, 2016. 3

Here are a number of links of sample documents exploring what it might mean to become a “sanctuary campus”: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc7QfgogVWIy0eE4aBii7iH48TvlX OQK8zi99BJCy3V_jBRlA/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdaXChAYMojRpHOoioWKzW8A ZLsMrkdIaMTr7PYck1CL1CbUQ/viewform http://www.thepetitionsite.com/601/197/177/petition-to-declare-lewis-clarkcollege-a-sanctuary-for-undocumentedpeople/?taf_id=30781471&cid=fb_na#bbfb=896904387 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fHOHRFxzo_Pp85rR_58ug4rMv9WOD PDmRLK0dP2FT-k/edit#gid=0 •

RECOMMENDATION #5: Reaffirm Linfield College’s Commitment to Academic Freedom

The President-elect’s transition co-chair has proposed using the Department of Education to “monitor” the ideological beliefs of faculty and “deny federal funding” to those institutions that employ faculty who deviate from the administration’s ideological orthodoxy.6 Ideas such as these are direct threats to Linfield’s commitment to academic freedom, which holds that in their teaching and research: “All members of the college are entitled to use speech to convey disagreement, agreement, inquiry, or commentary in keeping with the principles underlying constitutionally protected free expression.”7 In the face of rhetoric and policy proposals deeply at odds with this commitment, we recommend a strong institutional reaffirmation of our commitment to open inquiry and free expression. Conclusion Together, we must all strive to maintain and uphold the Linfield values of intellectual honesty, critical inquiry, equity, diversity, and inclusion in our research, teaching, leadership and service. Mutual respect is only possible when the stated policies are fully observed, implemented, and each member of our community stands up for the equal rights of others. We are encouraged by the steps you have already taken, but we insist that we do much more to honor 6

Paul Fain, “Carson’s Take on Higher Ed,” Inside Higher Education, March 14, 2016 7 Linfield Faculty Handbook, Chapter IV, Section 3. 4

our mission of diversity, inclusion and social justice. We look forward to working with you in order to fulfill our mutual responsibility to defend all members of our community.8 Sincerely, The Undersigned Faculty of Linfield College

Petition co-authored by Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt and Nick Buccola. Please contact Nick or Reshmi with any questions. 8

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