Chancellor Kent Syverud,

We believe that the first duty of university leaders is to safeguard the academic freedom of their faculty. Everything the university does ultimately rests on that fundamental value. Therefore we were deeply gratified to see your statement of June 22, explaining that that you would not yield to calls to censure or silence a member of our faculty who has been the object of systematically organized, politically motivated harassment. While we may disagree with you on some other issues related to university governance, we appreciate your moral leadership in rearticulating and defending the most basic value of the university community. Thank you. 

Claudia Klaver, Professor of English

Mark Rupert, Professor of Political Science