An Open Letter from UNT Faculty on Donald Trump Jr. and the Kuehne Speaker Series We the undersigned UNT faculty write to profess our profound shock, dismay, and embarrassment that the university we are so proud to serve would stoop to invite Donald Trump Jr. to speak in North Texas under UNT’s auspices. This invitation evinces a stunning disrespect for women, people of color, LGBTQ members of our community, and others, and it cannot stand. We call on the UNT Board of Regents to rescind UNT’s invitation to Mr. Trump and to suspend the Kuehne Speaker Series until UNT administrators can devise a shared-governance process that will bring more of UNT's stakeholders--including UNT administrators, faculty, staff, and students--together to select speakers. This would allow our university's premier speaker series to meet the stated goal that it is not currently meeting: to bring to North Texas men and women who have expertise to share on topics of national and global relevance. Mr. Trump has not had life experiences that rise to this level; he was born wealthy and hired by his father to work for a family business. He certainly has not expressed ideas that rise to this level, except as negative examples of bigotry and anti-intellectualism. His only nationally relevant actions have served to embolden the “alt-right” on our campus and beyond via social media, and his misbegotten foray into global affairs is currently under investigation by a special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice. That anyone associated with our university would choose to associate with Mr. Trump shows distressingly poor judgment. We understand that Ernie Kuehne and Brint Ryan are free to spend their money as they wish and sincerely appreciate that they would fund this series. We want it to become an institution of which our entire university can be proud. We simply believe that UNT's premier speaker series deserves a deliberative process that brings speakers to our community who share UNT's core values. These values include Access, Accountability, Collaboration, Diversity, Engagement, Excellence, Service, and Sustainability. Having followed his progress or lack thereof, we must award Mr. Trump an Incomplete or failing grade in each of these subjects. We therefore call on all UNT entities that have supported the Kuehne Speaker Series in the past to suspend that support for 2017-18. In response to our concerns a UNT spokesperson claims, “As a public university that supports the expression of differing points of view as part of the learning process, the University of North Texas welcomes speakers who represent all viewpoints, including conservative, liberal and progressive political ideology as well as all positions in between.” In fact, in its history the Kuehne Series has featured no such range of opinions, yet we have not seen fit to express our concerns until now. We raise our voices today because we consider Mr. Trump’s words and actions far beyond the bounds of reasonable, respectful discourse upon which the work of our learning community depends. We embrace the free exchange of ideas and seek them out from all directions, but we cannot accept the outrageous decision-making that would result in inviting (much less paying!) anyone who offers so little of intellectual, cultural, or moral value to our community. We ask the people of North Texas to understand that this invitation does not represent our
university community or our shared values. To the UNT administration we pledge our own time and energies to help UNT find a solution to the problems of the Kuehne Speaker Series. Most important, to current and prospective students, we say: we value and respect you, and in this case we depend on you. Please help us force UNT to live up to its core values now and in the future. With UNT pride, Todd Moye, Department of History Nancy L. Stockdale, Department of History Idean Salehyan, Department of Political Science Masood Raja, English Jennifer Jensen Wallach, History Irene J. Klaver, Department of Philosophy and Religion Annette Lawrence, Studio Art Brian C. O'Connor Robert Jessup CVAD Marilyn Morris, Department of History Robert Frodeman, Philosophy David Mason, Political Science Amie Adelman, Studio Art Nada Shabout, CVAD, Art History Harry M. Benshoff, Media Arts Deborah Needleman Armintor, Department of English C. Melinda Levin J. Michael Greig, Political Science Stephen Mandiberg, Media Arts Dr. Jacqueline Vickery, Media Arts Steven Friedson, Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology Kim De Wolff Philosophy & Religion Terra Schwerin Rowe, Philosophy and Religion Megan Morrissey, Communication Studies Tyson Lewis Art Education and Art History Constance Hilliard, Department of History Jacqueline Vanhoutte Mickey Abel, Art History Lisa N. Owen, Department of Art Education and Art History Beverly Ann Davenport Myra Walker, College of Visual Arts and Design Cynthia Mohr, Design Clark A. Pomerleau, History Li-Fen Anny Chang, College of Visual Arts and Design Gabriel Duran, Media Arts Jennifer Lane, Division of Vocal Studies Alicia Re Cruz, ANTH/WGST Roberto R. Calderon Andrew Nelson, Anthropology Mariela NuĂąez-Janes, Anthropology
Kimberly Cole Luevano, Division of Instrumental Studies Terri Sundberg Instrumental Studies Rosana Eckert Jesse E. Eschbach, Keyboard Studies James Ryon - College of Music Jaime E. Jimenez, Biological Sciences Dr. Corey Marks, English Dennis W. Fisher, College of Music Dr. Pamela Mia Paul Professor Christoph Hammer, College of Music Vivek Virani, Music History, Theory & Ethnomusicology Tony Baker, College of Music Frank Heidlberger, College of Music Donald C. Little, College of Music Margaret Notley, College of Music/History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology Mary Karen Clardy, College of Music David Itkin, College of Music. Jay Allison, Department of Communication Studies Priscilla Solis Ybarra, Department of English Gustavo Romero, Music/Piano Area Elizabeth Oldmixon, Political Science Stephen Dubberly, College of Music Karen Y. Kimball, COMM Studies Wendy Middlemiss. Educational Psychology John Scott, Instumental Studies Johnnie Stark, CVAD Department of Design Anna Marsden, Communication Studies Donna T. Emmanuel Music Education Patrick Coil Kathleen Reynolds, College of Music John Tait, English Department Catherine Ragland Kris Chesky, Music Vladimir VIardo, College of Music Jordan Frith, Technical Communication Jehanne Dubrow, Department of English Haj Ross, Linguistics Patricia Cukor-Avila, Linguistics Ricardo Rozzi, Department of Philosophy & Religion Eugene Migliaro Corporon Dr. Elizabeth McGee Powell, ASLP Department Timothy Montler, Technical Communication Jeffrey Rasch Michael R. Gibson Joseph Klein, Composition Studies Emile Sahliyeh, International Studies
James Swan, Dept of Rehabilitation and Health Services