Dear Professor Watchlist,
We, the undersigned faculty members at Calvin College, write to request that you add all of our names to the Professor Watchlist website.
We make this request because your site currently lists one of our colleagues, Professor Joe Kuilema. As a teacher and mentor, Professor Kuilema has educated many students who have dedicated themselves to serving people in the community. His own commitment to helping others extends outside the classroom, into the local community and as far away as West Africa, where he has spent years contributing to development work. The knowledge that Professor Kuilema shares with students is thus based not only on insights gained as a scholar but also on his experience with people whose lives are affected by the real-life, structural inequalities in the world. Your organization claims to recognize “the right for professors to say whatever they wish.” Professors like Joe Kuilema don’t say whatever they wish. Instead, we say what we know, based on careful research, the accumulated work of other scholars, and our own direct experience outside the classroom.
Professor Kuilema is listed on the Professor Watchlist because of his statements about systemic racism in the United States. If an aim of your site is to identify professors who maintain that racism remains a difficult problem in American society, then all of us need to be on the list. Most of us teach about racism in American institutions and structures in our courses. We don’t take pleasure in discussing the realities of institutional racism with our students, but we know that it needs to be discussed. Indeed, our college as a whole — based on our shared Christian convictions — has dedicated itself to the goal of racial reconciliation. While we each have distinct ways of addressing racism and its ongoing effects in our society, we all agree that this goal requires an intentional stand.
As teachers, we expect our students to be demanding of us. They should expect us to present knowledge that is new to them with clear reasoning and strong supporting evidence – just as we expect of them in their assignments. Education is difficult, challenging work, requiring the open exchange of ideas. Putting the names and faces of professors on a watchlist does not advance this work. A watchlist implies that professors are to be held in suspicion. Your organization claims to provide a service by revealing the names of professors who advance a “radical agenda.” We all stand on the agenda that facts do exist, even when they challenge our beliefs, that considering ideas other than our own is necessary to being a mature citizen, and that the truth-seeking inquiries and discoveries made at America’s colleges and universities are a large part of what makes this country great. If that agenda is radical, then please add our names to your list.
We wish to be counted among those you are watching.
Signed
(in alphabetical order):
Adel Abadeer
Kristin Alford Carolyn Anderson Eric Arnoys Adejoke Ayoola Bruce Berglund Ken Bergwerff Claudia Beversluis Albert Boerema Jeffrey Bouman James Bratt Crystal Bruxvoort Neil Carlson Joel Carpenter Nicholas Cunigan Christiana deGroot Stacy De Ruiter Bert de Vries Herman De Vries Rick De Vries Vicki De Vries David Diephouse Mary Molewyk Doornbos David Dornbos Jack DuMez Kristin Kobes DuMez Chad Engbers Susan Felch David Fuentes Herb Fynewever Peggy Goetz Arie Griffioen Ruth Groenhout Marjorie Gunnoe Craig Hanson Emily Helder Matthew Kuperus Heun Gail Heffner |
Don Hettinga
Jonathan Hill Jennifer Steensma Hoag Stacia Hoeksema Jennifer L. Holberg Roland Hoksbergen Douglas Howard Jim Jadrich Clarence Joldersma William Katerberg Robert Keeley Young Kim Lew Klatt Dave Koetje Tracy Kuperus Johanna Kuyvenhoven Youngkhill Lee Larry Louters Laura Luchies Matthew Lundberg Karin Maag Elisha Marr Nancy Meyer Daniel Miller Christopher Moseley Mark Mulder Linda Naranjo-Huebl Bret Otte Debra Paxton-Buursma Carl Plantinga Blake Riek Debra Rienstra Corey Roberts William Romanowski James Rooks Karen Saupe Kurt Schaefer
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Robert Schoone-Jongen
Lissa Schwander Otto Selles Kara Sevensma Kumar Sinniah Ronald Sjoerdsma Stephen Staggs Dwight TenHuisen Marj Terpstra Thomas Thompson Alisa Tigchelaar Kevin Timpe Jennifer VanAntwerp Jeremy VanAntwerp Christina Van Dyke Frans van Liere Katherine van Liere William Van Vugt Todd Vanden Berg James Vanden Bosch Douglas Vander Griend Scott Vander Linde Judith Vander Woude Rachel Venema Susan Verwys Jolene Vos-Camy John Walcott Dave Warners Eric Washington Micah Watson Joel H. Westra Jennifer H. Williams Roman Williams Amy Wilstermann Benita Wolters-Fredlund Julie E. Yonker Jane Zwart
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