On Wed., March 12, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Community, Democracy and Dialogue (CDD) initiative hosted PEN America Speaker, Kristen Shahverdian, and held a UMass Leadership Panel Discussion on “The Future of Higher Education: Critical Conversations” at the Student Union Ballroom.

Shahverdian and panelists offered insights and perspectives on the recent executive orders impacting higher education, that target international students and scholars, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, Title IX and gender-related policies, Title VI, sustainability initiatives and research funding, according to the Office of Equity and Inclusion. 

“It affects everyone [and] is not always talked about unless you’re in crisis around it,” Shahverdian said. 

Shahverdian, a program director of Campus Free Speech at PEN America, was a senior lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an adjunct professor at Rowan University and Temple University. 

During her Q&A with David Mednicoff, the department chair and associate professor of Middle Eastern studies and public policy at UMass, Shahverdian talked about taking agency in the classroom and fostering difficult topics of conversation.

Anthony Paik, professor and secretary of the Faculty Senate was also a member of the panel.

“We can work with students but let them be the ones who can take agency over what that counterprogramming might look like, or what ignoring something might look like,” Shahverdian said. “Writing an op-ed or making a report … there’s a lot of ways in which [professors] can, depending where we sit, where our positions are at the university, might be able to encourage all of that.”

Her goal is to encourage student engagement with each other and the course material by motivating students to take more agency in how they learn. But, information bias often gets in the way of engaging with material at a deeper level.

“We like to read what we agree with, we want to be reinforced to our beliefs,” Shahverdian said. But this way of thinking makes people more susceptible to bias. Shahverdian says people should diversify their viewpoint, news and sources that they’re consuming.

At 11 a.m., the UMass Leadership Panel Discussion, moderated by Marsha McGriff, vice chancellor for Equity and Inclusion, began with panelists discussing the impacts of the executive orders on the LGBTQIA+ community, legal services and administration differences, graduate students, faculty and academics at UMass.

McGriff used ChatGPT to determine the key factors that make higher education important. These factors include adaptation to technological advancements, affordability and accessibility, curriculum relevance, a focus on equity and inclusion, strong partnerships with industry, support for research and innovation, lifelong learning opportunities, leadership and community engagement. 

Benjamin Farrell, the interim co-directing attorney at the Student Legal Services and a panelist, said there had been a “drastic increase in immigration intakes” for legal services. According to Farrell, many international students are scared and searching for resources, advice and support after President Donald Trump issued immigration related executive orders.

International students aren’t the only ones with fears of the future. According to Sofiya Alhassan, associate dean in the Office of Inclusion & Engagement at the graduate school, soon-to-graduate and graduate students are struggling to find work due to hiring freezes.

“There’s a fear of what am I gonna do now? I can’t switch my research training. I can’t switch my training, so what am I gonna do now?” Alhassan said.

Transgender and non-binary students are also feeling the effects of the new administration’s executive orders. 

“This administration has declared war, and I don’t use that word war lightly,” Genny Beemyn, director at the Stonewall Center, said. “Declared war on trans and non-binary people trying to wipe us out … By recognizing only two immutable genders, the administration has made us non-entities taking away any federal rights we have to be seen and treated as ourselves.”

Sidonio “Sid” Ferreira, special assistant to Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, acknowledged the fear and anxiety that many students and faculty members are facing as they try to process these changes and work to protect communities at UMass and in Amherst. Despite not having very many answers, “the right questions are starting to be asked.”

According to Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, a DEI working group, research working group and an immigration working group were recently established with UMass faculty and students to “ensure that [the administration continues] to use the law to ensure that we fight back or we just get what the law assures us.” 

Fouad also announced the launch of the Research Continuity Emergency Matching Fund to “support groundbreaking research that contributes to the future prosperity, health, and security of our nation. Under the new federal administration, the continuity of these funds and the promise of discovery and innovation they bring has become uncertain.”

“Myself, the Chancellor, the leadership team is offering [and] we’re happy to come and talk to groups to hear you out, learn about your concerns, talk to you about our strategy and what we’re doing in this uncertain environment.” Fouad said.

Within the struggles of maintaining DEI initiatives, UMass faculty and administration are planning and collaborating within different departments of work and research to continue supporting the community.

In regard to DEI research, Alhassan said, “We have been doing it for a very long time with very little money, very little funding, and have been making headways … It’s not gonna change within those scholars who’ve been doing DEI for a very long time.” 

“Part of our core mission is to continue to fight our own entrenchment,” Fouad said. “… We thought a lot about it, we collected data, we engaged in rational discourse, we vetted our work and so on and so forth … At any point in time, I’m asking everybody not to let the current situation deter you from doing your mission which is to engage in conversation, to engage in research, questioning even our own practices because if we don’t show that we are open to do that, we will be actually hurting ourselves, right?”

Many administration members encourage UMass members to become a part of the change they wish to see in the community.

“The pen is mightier than the sword, write, record,” McGriff said. “Become a part of that history in your way if it’s a blog, if it’s a journal, whatever it is, because we need to remember this for posterity.” 

According to Beemyn, more people need to be “walking the walk and not just talking the talk,” especially with an emphasis on “the importance of being engaged, fighting back.” People can do this by “countering the misinformation and disinformation that’s out there”.

Shahverdian had similar thoughts during her speech, saying that while she doesn’t suggest people risk their jobs by going up against executive orders, she does encourage people “talking about more on these issues of why we’re gonna uphold that speech, who can maybe step forward in these moments and speak out or defend [something that] we don’t feel it uphold[s] our values.”

Ferreira said that creating small communities within the campus and town is “invaluable because they give you kind of an insight of what [other people are] thinking.”

Kalina Kornacki can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @KalinaKornacki.