Forum Post
A constituent reached out concerned about the virtual silence from the university regarding the attack by Hamas on Israel. The constituent wrote to President Schultz directly about this and he replied that he realized several people connected to the university system have been affected and that his guidance for the academic year to leadership was that chancellors of each campus should choose how and when to respond to local, regional, and global issues. He further noted that Provost Chilton had issued a tweet to the Pullman campus on Monday. The constituent noted that she left “X” after Musk took over, as most people probably have, thus “X” is not the right platform for communication on such an issue.
The constituent wrote, ” the Executive Policy Manual states that the purpose of social media is to enable information exchange and professional development, and to raise the visibility of the university. The unfortunate situation with social media is that users and audiences are splintered. As a result, our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends use many different types and cannot be assumed to access the same type of platform.”
She urges Schultz to speak out via the appropriate medium as Jewish students are currently fearful. She wrote, “Washington State University needs to show that Jewish people matter. It needs to break the silence. Too many universities have remained silent, as exemplified by this letter from students to the editor of New York Times.”
She asks that the Faculty Senate take a stand in support of all WSU students, staff, faculty and friends, “against Hamas and in support of human beings, all human beings, right now especially Jewish human beings.”
~Tracy Simmons, MCC Faculty
Response
The Faculty Senate Executive Officers appreciate the attention requested on this important matter. On October 17th President Schulz issued the following statement regarding this issue in the WSU Insider: Caring for Cougs in Times of Crisis. ~Eric Shelden, Faculty Senate Chair
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