Letter to the Future President of Yale. Spring 2024.

Recognize and reject faux-populist attacks: In recent years, the notion that universities have an agenda of their own and that they do not address the needs of the ‘regular people’, has been propagated by demagogues, politicians, and billionaires, many of them alumni of these same institutions. Much of this criticism has been targeted at new scholarship and teaching on race, sexuality and gender and on issues of social justice and human rights. Such demagogues ignore the fact that these topics—central to the lives of many ‘regular people’—have lingered for hundreds of years without proper academic study or inquiry. Such demagogues also willfully ignore that universities are now as accessible as they’ve ever been to women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, as well as to other minoritized and disadvantaged groups. We agree that Yale has more work to do to ensure educational opportunities for those historically shut out from institutions like ours, to address key issues facing all Americans more fully. However, the most important stand for a university leader at these times is to recognize and critique the ways in which demagogic claims are weaponized to divide us from each other in the pursuit of political power and to reject their efforts to subjugate our academic mission.

Recognize that critical thought and free speech on campus require structural support and protection: Today, there are politically motivated attacks on universities all around the country. Powerful political figures are deliberately seeking to undermine respect for the academy. Educational gag orders have been passed in 22 states in the last three years, and have moved from overt attempts to bar teaching about racism, sexuality and gender in the classroom to more indirect attacks, such as attempts to weaken tenure, undermine DEI programs, ban particular student groups, and completely eliminate majors like sociology. Over the last year, groups critical of student protest have sent doxxing trucks to campuses and have created doxxing websites that are intended to harass and deter students from speaking. Yale must unequivocally defend our campuses as spaces for critical inquiry, robustly protect speech, and help lead collaborations with other universities to protect these essential academic virtues in this time of enormous pressure and challenge. Protecting our campuses also means protecting students’ right to civil disobedience and other forms of protest as a way of addressing the urgencies of our world.

There is no excellence without diversity: Some critics have suggested that universities have traded excellence for diversity through affirmative action or other efforts to make our student bodies (and faculties) more diverse and welcoming. But the nostalgia for the “good old days,” when excellence supposedly reigned supreme, needs to be interrogated. As Princeton President Eisgruber stated with clarity and conviction in his annual State of the University in January 2024, the storied history of elite universities in the US is not that of merit and excellence, but instead of legacy, privilege, and exclusion. When Yale boasts today that its student and faculty body is probably the most diverse it has ever been, we should reject the false notion that this represents a dilution of talent or pandering, but instead recognize it for what it is: steps toward allowing the best talent an opportunity to flourish. Indeed, this is the case: in the last decade, applications to Yale have increased, the university has become more, not less selective, it is consistently ranked among the top 5 universities in the US and the among the top 10 in the world, and the visibility and social impact of its faculty has only increased. Thus, we call on you to reject calls to “Make Yale Great Again” and continue to work toward making Yale a model for inclusion and diversity – the true guarantee for excellence.

Adhere to our educational mission and act as a leader to revive public support for higher education broadly: Public opinion polls show that Americans express less confidence in higher education in general than they did a decade ago. While Yale’s enrollment has continued to climb, undergraduate attendance in general in the US has declined. If universities are perceived as exclusive clubs for elites, or inaccessible to many because of their high cost or crushing debt burdens accrued by students, the public will continue to turn away, fueling the drive from cynical politicians who are actively working to undermine critical thought and independence at universities around the country. Universities should be an open door to the world, not a locked gate to a fortress. We believe the university has a unique role to play in this world at this moment, and that Yale can be an exemplar. Specifically, Yale can be a venue for important discussions, both for our students and for residents of New Haven and surrounding communities. At its best, across the disciplines, Yale equips students with the ability to think critically. In addition to pursuing these initiatives on campus, we ask you to commit to a broader push for more public and financial support of higher education, including support for state and community colleges, public-facing adult education programs and new and enhanced national investments to improve K-12 education across the US. We urge you to come up with concrete plans for ways that Yale can collaborate with institutions with more limited resources, in our state and beyond, to enhance and expand access to higher education for more Americans.

Be a positive force in the world: Work across the university has yielded insights that improve lives and have strengthened our civic institutions, and many of our faculty have translated their academic findings into practice. Some notable examples include the Yale School of Medicine’s Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation; Yale Law School’s clinics; Yale’s prison education initiatives; the work of Yale Schools of Public Health and Medicine faculties on COVID-19, on substance use, vaccines and gun safety, and; the Yale School of the Environment’s contributions to climate action and environmental justice. Our faculty advise federal, state, and local governments, work with non-governmental organizations, and sit on National Academies’ panels and government commissions to share the knowledge generated by our work. Similarly, exercising the unique power of the university to convene isn’t just “a worthy goal” or “a secondary objective.” It is precisely what makes it possible for a university of the 21st century to preserve, to produce, and to disseminate knowledge to the benefit of society. This is essential for any great university. We hope that as the next president you will support the continued engagement of our faculty and students in initiatives that affect the world around us, and that you strongly and unequivocally reaffirm the value that Yale sees in the efforts we all put towards environmental, social and civil justice.

Take advantage of the wealth and depth of faculty expertise and excellence at Yale: Our faculty are world-leading scholars, researchers, educators, and opinion leaders in nearly every human endeavor, from the humanities and social sciences, to policy, public health, medicine, engineering and computing. Do not take this for granted. We ask that you actively support and facilitate more robust faculty governance of Yale, particularly with regard to its educational, research and social mission. As the role of universities have changed, the needs of students, the societies and communities they serve have changed as well. Yale faculty can support your leadership in defining and carrying out these varied objectives, at the university and beyond its walls, as can the students – whose advice and input, we believe you should actively solicit. Last but not least, the faculty and students at Yale can serve as a powerful counterweight to the increasingly aggressive efforts by wealthy donors, politicians, and demagogues to curtail academic freedoms, to police discourse on campus, while they clamor for a return to the ‘good old days,” when universities like Yale served the interests and needs of a very narrow portion of American society.

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Taking on this highly complex role will be challenging. Running a multi-billion-dollar corporation requires balancing a set of priorities that can be in tension with each other: while sustaining the financial health of the university and ensuring smooth day-to-day operations on campus, you must also honor our
core mission of education, research, and contribution to society. We understand that there are immense outside and internal pressures to choose a neutral state, in which Yale, instead of embracing and leading societal change, as it has in recent years, decides to stand back as an observer to world events, to history in the making. This may feel like the safe option as inaction always feels safer than action – but we would like to encourage you to realize that with the challenges facing our academic institutions, our
society, our planet, taking a neutral position is itself a choice with dire implications—it says we will watch as a bystander, acquiescing to those who wish to destroy academic freedoms, dictate what we can teach, to reverse the progress achieved in inclusion of previously ignored and marginalized voices in our society. This cannot be an option. Let’s build together, embrace the progress we have made thus far, and make Yale a leading model of 21st-century academic excellence, in which we stand for independent thought and engagement in the world, where we are diverse among ourselves, fostering innovation and creativity, while showing the courage to lead and inspire in these trying times.

• Kathleen Akgün, Associate Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary)
• Rene Almeling, Professor of Sociology
• Anne L. Alstott, Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation
• Hamada Hamid Altalib, Associate Professor of Neurology and of Psychiatry
• Frederick Lewis Altice, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)
• Tarren Andrews, Assistant Professor in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration
• Sandeep Arora, Associate Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging
• Vivian Asare, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine)
• Jennifer Asher, Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine
• Harold W. Attridge, Sterling Professor of Divinity
• Aslı Ü. Bâli, Professor of Law
• Laura Barraclough, Professor of American Studies
• Serena Bassi, Assistant Professor of Italian Studies
• Isabel Bazan, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine)
• Kevin Behar, Senior Research Scientist in Psychiatry
• Amy Bei, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)
• Dirk Bergemann, Douglass and Marion Campbell Professor of Economics and Professor of Computer Science
• James Bhandary-Alexander, Clinical Lecturer in Law
• Margaret Bia, Professor Emeritus of Medicine (Nephrology)
• Carmen Black, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
• Laura Bothwell, Assistant Professor of Public Health (Epidemiology of Microbial Disease)
• Marijeta Bozovic, Associate Professor of Slavic Languages & Literatures
• Michael B. Bracken, Susan Dwight Bliss Professor Emeritus of Public Health (Epidemiology)
• Ursula C Brewster, Professor of Medicine (Nephrology)
• Richard Bribiescas, J. Clayton Stephenson/Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
• Daphne A. Brooks, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of African American Studies, American Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Music
• Heidi Brooks, Senior Lecturer in Organizational Behavior
• Peter Brooks, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature and Founding Director of the Whitney Humanities Center
• Hazel Carby, Charles C. & Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of African American Studies & American Studies Emerita
• Carmen I. Carrión, Assistant Professor of Neurology
• Chelsey R. Carter, Assistant Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences)
• Yonghee Cho, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
• Deborah Coen, Professor of History & History of Science & Medicine
• Leslie Curry, Professor of Public Health (Health Policy) and Professor of Management
• Rohit De, Associate Professor of History
• Lucian Davis, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Pulmonary)
• Carolyn J. Dean. Charles J. Stille Professor of History and French
• Robin Dembroff, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
• Michael Denning, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of American Studies
• Mayur M. Desai, Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases) and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
• Deborah Dyett Desir, Associate Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology)
• Mahalia S. Desruisseaux, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
• Nicole Deziel, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences)
• Gail D’Onofrio, Albert E. Kent Professor of Emergency Medicine, Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases)
• Michael R. Dove, Margaret K. Musser Professor of Social Ecology and Professor of Anthropology
• Kathryn Dudley, Professor of Anthropology and American Studies
• Yarrow Dunham, Associate Professor of Psychology
• Dana Dunne, Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
• Marcela Echeverri-Muñoz, Associate Professor of History
• E. Jennifer Edelman, Professor of Medicine (General Medicine) and Associate Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences)
• Erica R. Edwards, Professor of African American Studies and English
• Anne Eller, Associate Professor of History
• Omnia El Shakry, Professor of History
• Fatima El-Tayeb, Professor of Ethnicity, Race & Migration, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Johanna Elumn, Assistant Professor of Medicine
• Kyunghee Eo, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages & Literatures
• David Evans, Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences
• Roderick A. Ferguson, William Robertson Coe Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and American Studies
• Marta Figlerowicz, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and of English
• Claudia Flores, Clinical Professor of Law
• Steven Fraade, Mark Taper Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies
• Alexander Gil Fuentes, Senior Lecturer II (Spanish and Portuguese)
• Supriya Gandhi, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
• Alessandro Giammei, Assistant Professor of Italian Studies
• Wendy V. Gilbert, Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
• Ben Glaser, Associate Professor of English
• Gregg S. Gonsalves, Associate Professor of Public Health (Epidemiology) and Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Law
• Kirsha Gordon, Research Scientist (General Internal Medicine)
• Sonia Gordon-Dole, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology)
• Greg Grandin, Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History
• Matthew Grant, Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
• Valentina Greco, Carolyn Walch Slayman Professor of Genetics
• Zareena A Grewal, Associate Professor of American Studies, Ethnicity Race & Migration, Religious Studies
• Cary Gross, Professor of Medicine (General Medicine) and of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases)
• Nathan Grubaugh, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)
• Barbara Gulanski, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology)
• Mridu Gulati, MD Associate Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine)
• Erik Harms, Professor of Anthropology & Southeast Asia Studies
• Seonaid Hay, Associate Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine)
• Robert Heimer, Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Pharmacology
• Scott Herring, Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Elizabeth Hinton, Professor of History, African American Studies, and Law
• Hiʻilei Hobart, Assistant Professor of Ethnicity, Race, and Migration
• Samuel Hodgkin, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
• Margaret Homans, Bird White Housum Professor of English and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
• William Honeychurch, Associate Professor of Anthropology
• Valerie Horsley, Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Associate Professor of Dermatology
• Daniel Martinez HoSang, Professor of American Studies
• Evelyn Hsieh, Associate Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology)
• Lily Hu, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
• Gordon Hutchinson, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine
• Stephen Huot, Professor of Medicine (Nephrology)
• Cajetan Iheka, Professor of English
• Marcia C. Inhorn, William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs
• Jill Jarvis, Assistant Professor of French
• Gerald Jaynes, A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Economics, African American Studies, and Urban Studies
• Willie James Jennings, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies
• Sven-Eric Jordt, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
• Matthew Frye Jacobson, Sterling Professor of American Studies and History
• Naftali Kaminski, Professor of Medicine and Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
• Amy Kapczynski, Professor of Law
• Susan Kashaf, Associate Professor of Medicine (General Medicine)
• Danya Keene, Associate Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences)
• Elleza Kelley, Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies
• Trace Kershaw, Department Chair and Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences)
• Noreen Khawaja, Associate Professor of Religious Studies
• Kaveh Khoshnood, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)
• Theodore Kim, Associate Professor of Computer Science
• Albert Ko, Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health and Professor of
  Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
• Issa Kohler-Hausmann, Professor of Law and Associate Professor of Sociology
• Ninani Kombo, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
• Namrata Krishnan, Associate Professor of Medicine (Nephrology)
• Regina Kunzel, Larned Professor of History, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Greta LaFleur, Associate Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
• Albert Laguna, Associate Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race and Migration
• James Leckman, Neison Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and Professor of Pediatrics
• Gail Lewis, Visiting Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Yii-Jan Lin, Associate Professor of New Testament
• Kasia Lipska, Associate Professor of Medicine
• Lisa Lowe, Samuel Knight Professor of American Studies and Professor of Ethnicity, Race, & Migration
• Tina Lu, Colonel John Trumbull Professor of East Asian Languages & Literatures
• John MacKay, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and of Film Studies
• Arya Mani, Robert W. Berliner Professor of Internal Medicine (Cardiology) and Professor of Genetics
• Reina Maruyama, Professor of Physics and Astronomy
• Benjamin Mba, Vice Chair, Department of Internal Medicine
• Terika McCall, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics (Health Informatics)
• Jennifer McIntosh, Lecturer in Nursing
• Meredithe McNamara, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
• Ryan McNeil, Associate Professor of Medicine
• Dan Magaziner, Professor of History
• Alka V. Menon, Assistant Professor of Sociology
• Lisa Messeri, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
• Jaimie Meyer, Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Public Health (Chronic Disease Epidemiology)
• Joanne Meyerowitz, Arthur Unobskey Professor of History and Professor of American Studies
• Alice M. Miller, Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences) and Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Law
• Christopher L. Miller, Emeritus Professor of French of French & African American Studies
• Feisal Mohamed, Professor of English
• Fabiola Molina, Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Medicine)
• Joan K. Monin, Associate Professor of Public Health (Social & Behavioral Sciences)
• Hani Mowafi, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
• Charles Musser, Professor of Film & Media Studies, American Studies, Theater, Dance and Performance Studies
• Laura Nasrallah, Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale Divinity School
• LaRon E. Nelson, Associate Dean for Global Affairs & Planetary Health Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing
• Robert Nelson, Professor Emeritus in the History of Art
• Natalia Neparidze, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine (Hematology)
• Zhao Ni, Assistant Professor Nursing
• Catherine Nicholson, Professor of English
• Tavia Nyong’o, William Lampson Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, Professor of American Studies and African American Studies
• Hee Oh, Abraham Robinson Professor of Mathematics
• Carol Oladele, Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine)
• Margaret Olin, Senior Lecturer Emeritus of Religious Studies
• A. David Paltiel, Professor of Public Health (Health Policy) and Professor of
  Management
• Eda Pepi, Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
• Alan Plattus, Professor of Architecture
• David Podell, Clinical Professor of Medicine
• Sally M. Promey, Professor of Religion and Visual Culture
• Tracy Rabin, Associate Professor of Medicine and Clinical Professor of Nursing
• Joanna Radin, Associate Professor of History of Medicine and History
• Ayesha Ramachandran, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
• Reshma Ramachandran, Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Medicine)
• Ana Ramos-Zayas, Frederick Clifford Ford Professor of Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, of Anthropology and of American Studies
• Marco Antonio Ramos, Assistant Professor of History of Medicine
• Asghar Rastegar, Professor Emeritus of Medicine
• Amanda Reid, Assistant Professor in Theater and Performance Studies
• Anna Reisman, Professor of Medicine
• Juno Richards, Associate Professor of English
• Kishwar Rizvi, Robert Lehman Professor in the History of Art and Architecture
• Christine Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Nursing
• Nancy Ruddle, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology
• Edward Rugemer, Professor of History and African American Studies
• Caitlin Ryus, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
• Evren Savci, Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
• Jeremy Schwartz, Associate Professor of Medicine (General Medicine) and
  Epidemiology (Chronic Disease)
• James C. Scott, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Anthropology
• Albert C Shaw, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
• Sheela Shenoi, Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
• Mark Siegel, Professor of Medicine
• Phillip Atiba Solomon f.k.a. Goff, Chair and Carl I. Hovland Professor of African
  American Studies and Professor of Psychology
• Erica Spatz, Associate Professor of Cardiology and Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases)
• Sandra A. Springer, Professor of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases
• Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy
• Carla Staver, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• A.L. Steiner, Senior Critic, Yale School of Art
• Dara Z. Strolovitch, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, American Studies, and Political Science
• Lynn S. Sullivan, Associate Dean, Yale Divinity School
• Lisa Gale Suter, Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology and Internal Medicine)
• Sakinah Carter Suttiratana, Associate Research Scientist (General Internal Medicine)
• Richard Sutton, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Microbial
  Pathogenesis
• Peter Swenson, Charlotte Marion Saden Professor of Political Science
• Lloyd Alimboyao Sy, Assistant Professor of English
• Jeanette Tetrault, Professor of Medicine (General Medicine) and Public Health (Chronic Disease Epidemiology)
• Mary Tinetti, MD, Gladys Phillips Crofoot Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics)
• Paul Turner, Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Jane Tylus, Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Italian and Professor of Comparative Literature
• Andrew Ulrich, Professor of Emergency Medicine
• Claudia Valeggia, Professor of Anthropology
• Deborah R. Vargas, Associate Professor, Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Program in Ethnicity, Race, & Migration
• Jesús R Velasco, Augustus R. Street Professor of Spanish & Portuguese and Comparative Literature
• David Vlahov, Professor of Nursing and Public Health (Epidemiology)
• Shane Vogel, Chair of Theater and Performance Studies, Professor of English and African American Studies
• Lisa Voigt, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese
• Kalindi Vora, Professor of Ethnicity, Race and Migration, Women’s and Gender Studies, American Studies
• Jacob Wallace, Assistant Professor of Public Health (Health Policy)
• Karen Wang, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (General Medicine) and Assistant Professor of Biostatistics (Health Informatics)
• John Harley Warner, Avalon Professor of the History of Medicine and Professor of History
• David Watts, Alison Richard Professor of Anthropology
• Tisa Wenger, Professor of American Religious History at Yale Divinity School and American Studies
• Laura Wexler, Charles H. Farnam Professor of Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and American Studies
• Elisabeth Jean Wood, Crosby Professor of the Human Environment and Professor of Political Science, International and Area Studies
• Heidi J Zapata, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)