Calling itself “the silent majority at the college,” an anonymous group of Northwest College employees who say they fear retribution from some faculty members launched a Peace Movement on Friday. The campus newspaper, the Northwest Trail, first reported the Peace Movement letter on its Web site Friday evening.
A full story about the movement appears in Tuesday's Tribune. Here is a copy of the letter that was e-mailed to college faculty and staff last week:
"With this message, we, the silent majority at Northwest College, launch the Peace Movement. We believe it’s time to break the silence when students come forward to tell us they’re afraid to challenge instructor diatribes in the classroom for fear of retribution. Some have told us they don’t want to attend class anymore because their teachers have spent weeks talking about nothing but college politics, at the expense of class-related learning. We believe when the hostile climate we work in mushrooms into an atmosphere of fear for our students and is disruptive to learning, it’s time to break the silence. Also:
• We believe shared governance does not mean one constituency group should have total power over every decision made at this college.
• We believe when we hear that students from one department on campus are contacting high school students to tell them to go to another college because Northwest is losing its accreditation, it’s time to speak up.
• We believe that when our friends and neighbors ask us if what they’re hearing from some faculty is true, that our president is a sociopath, it’s time to demand accountability.
• We believe the appropriate avenue for working through disagreement in an institution of higher learning is open discourse through open minds—not bullying.
• We believe that if we remain silent, our jobs are in jeopardy—not because of administrative prejudice, but because the college will suffer enrollment losses that will require budget cuts.
• We believe the success of our reaccreditation bid depends on the strength of our curriculum and the integrity of our institution. It does not pivot on the negative consequences resulting from internal power plays.
• We believe a small number of our students are being coached and manipulated to further the personal agendas of some faculty.
• We believe student learning, employee morale and productivity have been hijacked by the latest blitz of toxic behaviors.
• We believe that there exists a genuine fear on this campus, and that there are more of us who fear the faculty than the administration.
• We believe we have closed our eyes and our mouths too long in fear of the consequences of raising our voices.
• We believe our silence over the years has resulted in harmful disruptions to Northwest College’s progress in creating a forward-looking vision of meaningful service to our students and our communities. Our intention in the Peace Movement is to give a voice to those who don’t endorse current activities but are hesitant to speak up. By standing together, we can brave the forces that may come to bear if we stand alone.
We want NWC employees to positively focus their energies where they belong—on our students—so that we all can be proud of where we work and what we do. We will not give voice to our united beliefs through smear campaigns, anonymous tips to media, fear-mongering or misinformation, the tactics we’ve seen employed by others this semester.
If you want to join our movement, check the box below. By doing so, you will add one anonymous vote to our measure. We don’t know how many of us there are. This will tell. We may find that our numbers shout above our silence.
If you want to publicly show your support for this new focus, join us in wearing a peace button. The peace symbol is our call for civility. If you’re confronted by others for wearing it, don’t feel obligated to respond. Your button will speak for you. It will say, 'No more extremist politics. Not at our college.'
A box of peace buttons will be placed in the mailroom next week."
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