Dear Linfield Students,

George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis is the most recent in a long line of unarmed Black casualties in the racist perpetuation of white privilege and power. If it was not clearly understood previously that racial inequities are pervasive, preventable, and unjust, it should be now.

Racial inequities have cost lives: George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. Titi Gulley. Sandra Bland. Philando Castile. Michael Brown. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Trayvon Martin. Jason Washington. We remember their names and countless others as we recognize that white complacency perpetuates these senseless killings. We, the faculty at Linfield College, will not be complacent.

As we bear witness to these events, we extend profound empathy to all who are experiencing emotional trauma, rage, mourning, and devastating loss in the face of systemic and structural violence. We especially stand with our students and colleagues in the BIPOC community. We acknowledge the fear, hurt, grief, anger, and exhaustion you are experiencing. Black lives matter, and we commit to doing all we can to end this senseless cycle of violence.

At this significant moment in history, the expertise and engagement of students, faculty, and staff at Linfield is urgently needed. Being a member of a college or university community is its own position of privilege, and as individuals who belong to such a community, we have a special obligation to speak up and act out against deep systemic and structural bias and racism. We must answer the call to dismantle racist structures and institutions. We must also commit to examining the ways we are complicit and work diligently together to do better.

As a community, we have an ethical responsibility to do even more. The injustices resulting from 400 years of colonialism, wars, slavery, the prison industrial complex, social inequities, and health disparities can only be adequately addressed through sustained cooperative action and a serious long-term commitment to unearthing racism’s root causes and addressing barriers.

The collective work of an educational community of faculty and students to address oppression in all its forms, whether it happens in the classroom, in field work, in clinicals, in research, or in service projects, must be approached with even greater urgency. We cannot lose either hope or our sense of justice to achieve the goal of ending racial violence. In Rachel Cargle’s words, we look forward to collaborating in these critical future efforts “not just as an ally, but as an accomplice to upend the systems that are killing us all.”

Sincerely,

Faculty at Linfield College June 2, 2020

Signatories:

Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, Professor of English & Gender Studies

Jennifer Nordstrom, Professor of Mathematics

Tania Carrasquillo Hernández, Assistant Professor of Spanish

Chuck Dunn, Professor of Mathematics

Donna Potts, Assistant Professor of Nursing

Joan Haaland Paddock, Professor of Music

Nancy Broshot, Professor of Environmental Science

Anna Song, Associate Professor of Music

Jeremy Weisz, Associate Professor of Biology

Sandra Terra, Assistant Professor of Spanish

The Department of Theatre and Communication Arts, consisting of:

Brenda DeVore Marshall, Professor of Theatre & Communication Arts, Jackson B. Miller, Professor of Communication Arts, Janet Gupton, Associate Professor of Theatre, Lindsey Mantoan, Assistant Professor of Theatre, Una Kimokeo-Goes, Director of Forensics and Visiting Professor in Communication

Arts, Vicky Ragsdale, Administrative Assistant & Box Office Manager, Theatre &

Communication Arts Dept. & Administrative Assistant Art Dept.

Robert Vaughn, Instructional Associate of Theatre

Laurel Peterson, Instructional Associate of Theatre

Tyrone Marshall, Professor Emeritus, Theatre

Sandra E. Lee, Professor Emerita, Intercultural Communications and English as Second

Language

Kaarina Beam, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Dimitri Kelly, Associate Professor of Political Science

Anton Belov, Associate Professor of Music

Leonard Finkelman, Associate Professor of Philosophy

Michael Huntsberger, Associate Professor Emeritus of Journalism & Media Studies

Martha VanCleave, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics

Patrice O’Donovan, Professor, Portland Campus Library Director

Andrea Reinkemeyer, Assistant Professor of Music

Tom Mertes, Visiting Assistant Professor of History

Greg Jones, Evenstad Chair in Wine Studies

Natalie Welch, Assistant Professor of Sport Management in Business

Nicholas Buccola, Professor of Political Science

Patrick Cottrell, Professor of Political Science

Michael Hitchman, Associate Professor of Mathematics

David Sumner, Professor of English and Environmental Studies

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, Professor of English

Joe Wilkins, Professor of English

Anna Keesey, Associate Professor of English

Jamie Friedman, Associate Professor of English

Matthew Minicucci, Emerging Writer/Teacher Fellow, English

Rachel Schley, Assistant Professor of History

Janet Peterson, Professor of Health and Human Performance

Jeff D. Peterson, Assoc. Prof. Sociology and Wine Studies

Robert Gardner, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies

Rainer Seitz, Assistant Professor of Management

Tianbao Xie, Professor of Physics

Gayatree S. Sarma, Visiting Assistant Professor of Business

Leslie Walker, Instructional Associate Anthropology

Sharon Wagner, Chair, Business Department

Joelle Murray, Associate Professor of Physics

Susan Givens Bell, Visiting Assistant Professor of Nursing

Jesús Ilundáin-Agurruza, Professor of Philosophy

Brian Gilbert, Professor of Chemistry

Brian Winkenweder, Professor of Art History, Department of Art

Michael Crosser, Professor of Physics

Brandon Wilkinson, Instruction Librarian

Greg Hill, Associate Professor of Health & Human Performance

Denise Farag, Associate Professor of Business

Nancy Drickey, Professor of Education

Johnandrew Slominski, Assistant Professor of Music

Laura Kenow, Professor of Health & Human Performance

The Department of Religious Studies, consisting of: 

Jennifer Williams, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, David Massey, Chaplain and Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, David Fiordalis, Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies

Xiaoyue Luo, Associate Professor of Mathematics

Belle Bezdicek, Visiting Artist, Department of Art

Sonia Ticas, Professor of Spanish and Latin American/Latinx Studies

Patrick Wohlmut, Visiting Assistant Professor, Teaching and Research Librarian

The Department of Psychology, consisting of: 

Lee Bakner, Professor of Psychology, Megan Kozak Williams, Associate Professor of Psychology, Jennifer Linder, Professor of Psychology, Kay Livesay, Associate Professor of Psychology, Tanya Tompkins, Professor of Psychology, Yanna Weisberg, Associate Professor of Psychology

Tonda Liggett, Associate Professor of Education

Gennie VanBeek, Associate Professor of Education

Kena Avila, Associate Professor of Education

John Syring, Professor of Biology

Jennifer Heath, Professor of Physics

Andrew Baggett, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Brittany Teahan, Assistant Professor of Economics

Jeff McNamee, Professor & Chair of Health, Human Performance, & Athletics

Mindy Legard Larson, Professor and Chair of Education Department

Virlena Crosley, Assistant Professor, Business

Masayuki Itomitsu, Associate Professor of Japanese, co-Chair, Department of Global

Languages and Cultural Studies

Lissa Wadewitz, Professor of History

William Fleeger, Visiting Senior Scholar of Environmental Policy and Sustainability

Sharon Bailey Glasco, Associate Professor of History

Sandra Davis, Assistant Professor of Nursing

John Sagers, Professor of History

Hillary Crane, Associate Professor of Anthropology

Wendy Sagers, English Language and Culture Program Coordinator

Susan Barnes Whyte, Associate Professor Emerita, Library

Megan Bestwick, Associate Professor of Chemistry

Sarah Coste, Associate Professor, Health, Human Performance & Athletics

Chris Dahlvig, Assistant Professor of Business

Lisa Weidman, Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies

Chad Tillberg, Professor of Biology

Dawn E. Nowacki, Professor of Political Science

Kyle J. Putnam, Assistant Professor of Finance

Susan Agre-Kippenhan, Provost

Paul Smith, Associate Dean of Nursing

Steve Bernhisel, Associate Professor of Education

Kimberly Jones, Dean of Nursing