Campus Forums and Community Resources for State and Federal Legislation

Dear Grinnellians,

We hope that your spring break provided respite and discovery – and that your return to campus has been uplifted by glad reunions and the energizing realization of the last seven weeks of the 2024-25 academic year (congratulations in advance to our seniors!). 

As our community gathers again, we write with resources and actions for the continuing upheavals in higher education and civil rights at both the state and federal levels. The intense pace of state and federal actions requires a response grounded in shared understanding and shared governance. To that goal, we have worked with senior leaders, with special thanks to Elaine Marzluff, chair of the faculty, and the contributions of many campus partners, to put the following into effect:

• A SharePoint site dedicated to Campus Forums & Legislative Activity, Action, and Responses – accessible to all faculty, staff, and students – where you can find more information about:
  • "Know Your Rights” Campus Forums open to faculty, staff, and students – beginning on Wednesday, April 2 and continuing weekly until the end of the semester – to discuss legal protections and recourse on the most salient issues higher education and Grinnell College are facing including:
    • FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Acts), Immigration (rights and visa status), Title VI (prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin or shared ancestry), Title IX (prohibits discrimination based on sex), ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act: protects people with disabilities from discrimination), Academic Freedom and Free Expression (as defined in the Faculty Handbook and the College’s Mission and Values), excise tax (tax on certain college and university endowments, including Grinnell’s)
      • Each Campus Forum will feature 15 minutes of shared content expertise and 30 minutes of Q&A and will be held in the HSSC Auditorium, with an option to attend remotely, from noon to 12:45 p.m. on Wednesdays starting April 2.
  • Legislative Activity, Action, and Responses that gathers documentation about the main challenges to higher education and civil rights. This site will continue to develop with resources as more declarations and their accompanying challenges are made; it includes a “Submit Your Question” button for questions about topics in the “Know Your Rights” Campus Forums, and a “Submit Additional Questions” button for questions on topics not covered in the Campus Forums.
• An Academic Mission Scenario Planning Group comprised of faculty and staff members who will gather weekly from 8-8:50 a.m. on Fridays to discuss the insights and questions raised in the Wednesday Campus Forums, analyze risks and mitigations through scenario planning, and provide recommendations for actions that can respond to educational, legal, and financial considerations.  Meetings will begin on Friday, April 4; be co-facilitated by Interim Dean of the College Jerry Seaman, Chair of the Faculty Elaine Marzluff, and VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Marc Reed; and be held in the 2nd floor conference room, Admission and Student Financial Services (ASFS) building. If you are interested in joining the work of this group, please feel out this Qualtrics interest form.

Alongside these efforts, a Financial Scenario Planning Group comprised of trustees, senior leaders, and Board committee faculty representation, is working to identify, analyze, and mitigate the financial risks to the mission of the College faces as the legal and political landscape evolves in Iowa and at the federal level.

We will continue these actions as needed over the summer and beyond as they intersect the continuing work of senior leadership members as they continue to monitor, mitigate, and respond to legal, financial, and communal challenges brought forward by state and federal action. 

It is by knowing our rights that we will defend them. The 132 lawsuits and more injunctions (as of this writing) filed against the Trump administration are all grounded in laws ratified to protect civil liberties and individual rights. These resources and actions are designed to sustain us for the work ahead, as we will sustain each other, our shared mission, and our long-held mission and values:

• Excellence in Education and our commitment to free expression are grounded and sustained by landmark Supreme Court cases such as Sweezy vs. New Hampshire (1957), Tinker vs. Des Moines Public Schools (1969), and Healy vs. James (1972).
• A Diverse Community is sought and upheld through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including Title VI, the Education Amendments of 1972, including Title IX, and the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.
• Social Responsibility begins with the assertion of the due process clause of the 5th (1791) and 14th amendments (1868); and the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment and continues with upholding the dignity of each and every person.

We will end with words that I, Anne, have had occasion to think upon of late:

We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

Those words were written by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 9, 1940, in a greeting to Dr. William Neilson, chair of the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born. And they are carved in stone at the FDR Memorial in Washington D.C.

In gratitude for you, and all of the ways that you inspire Grinnell and each other,

Anne F. Harris
President

Jerry Seaman
Interim Dean of the College and Vice President for Academic Affairs