Three Clemson University professors began a six-day fast this morning to protest what they say is administrators’ “refusal to call for an end” to President Trump’s travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
“The Fast Against Silence” is intended to pressure Clemson University’s administration to “make a public statement opposing the Muslim ban,” said Todd G. May, a philosophy professor who is one of the participants. He is joined in the protest by Chenjerai Kumanyika, an assistant professor of popular culture, and Michael Sears, an associate professor of biology.
In a statement on Friday, the professors criticized Clemson for its unwillingness to “take a principled stand in the face of an assault against higher education,” despite the fact that multiple universities have published independent statements calling for an end to the ban.
Asked why Clemson had not publicly condemned the ban, a university spokesman said the institution had lent its name to two letters of concern issued separately by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the American Council on Education. The spokesman also noted that the president, James P. Clements, had sent two notes to the campus in the past week that “clearly stated the university’s support for our international community.” In the second note, Mr. Clements wrote that Clemson had identified approximately 115 students from the affected countries, and was in the process of “reaching out to help them access resources, get answers to their questions regarding the executive order, and provide additional assistance as we can.”
But Mr. May said the university administration finds itself “well behind the curve” in terms of its response. “One of the university vice-presidents has said that the university simply intends to follow the law. Right now we’re not asking them to break the law, we’re asking them to oppose the law,” he said.
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