An Open Letter to Roger Sublett, Union Institute and University

No response to the email below has been received, as of 12/31/13.

Sent: December 19, 2013 To:  Dr. Roger Sublett  (President, Union Institute and University) Dr. Chris Voparil  (Professor, Humanities Concentration, Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies program) Dr. Arlene Sacks  (Dean, Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies program) Dr. Nancy Boxill  (Professor, Leadership Concentration, Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies program)        Dear Dr. Sublett, as an alumni of Union's M.Ed. program, as well as a current student completing a dissertation in the Interdisciplinary Studies program, I am thankful for your recent email, of holiday greetings. Towards creating a more "engaging and enlightening" community at our institution, I am writing today to draw your attention to what I must assume is a gross oversight, on the part of the administration at our institution. I have been thankful to have received a number of "From the President's Desk" missives throughout this year, including one sent in commemoration of the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech at the Lincoln Memorial. However, upon the passing of Nelson Mandela-- the greatest social justice hero of our time-- our institution has been silent. As our institution continues to identify and strengthen lucrative academic curricula, including the development and nurture of a thriving undergraduate program in criminal justice, I believe our school's acknowledgement of Mandela's passing is not only appropriate, but perhaps an essential task, as an institution of higher learning that seeks to better fulfill its mission. In conversations on social media and elsewhere, friends and colleagues have questioned Union's silence regarding Mandela's passing; one colleague of mine suggested Union rename its MLK Studies thread to include formal study of Mandela's work as well. The lack of discussion, or even acknowledgement, by our institution, regarding the passing of Nelson Mandela, is beyond troubling. The administrators responsible for my program's Facebook page have focused their efforts on creating 'buzz' about the upcoming residency; however, these posts sum to create a vision of a program struggling to discern its own identity, without having much of anything of substance to say, to students or a wider public. Other institutions have sought to embrace social media as something other than a vehicle for admissions campaigns; it is difficult for me to believe that our institution, built of a doctoral-level community of learners, has nothing to say about Mandela. While I understand that academic institutions may be, by necessity, focused on self-promotion across social media platforms, the absence of any acknowledgement whatsoever of Mandela's passing, by an institution that professes to foster serious academic study of individuals committed to social justice, is simply inexcusable. I have faith that you will help remedy this egregious error in short order. I look forward to hearing from you, as together we work to make Union Institute and University a place of "engaging and enlightening" learning.