NEWS

With the pandemic and elections taking so much of our focus this fall, it can be easy to lose track of the fundamentals that drive higher education and the CSU System: teaching, research, and outreach that supports our communities. But all this year, even while moving their courses online and working to connect with students in their new digital classrooms, our faculty have not only kept their focus – they have excelled.

Having been trained as an economist, I was always envious of the famous economists who had theories or maxims named after them.

As the national election approached several weeks ago, we saw a surge in mental health, mindfulness, and self-care resources, along with calls across social and traditional media sites to “take care of yourself!”

The people have voted. The election is over, but our country remains divided. We remain divided, because we view politics as sport – games with distinct winners and losers.

This has been a tumultuous year, to say the least. People are stressed, overwhelmed, and simply exhausted.

In 1968, I started college at a small liberal arts college in upstate New York. That year, like this year, saw America bitterly divided and in the midst of a presidential race.

While the COVID-19 pandemic impacted new student enrollment across the CSU System this fall, declines in the number of new freshmen were partially offset by strong returning student enrollment.

Like many public land-grant institutions, especially those in swing states, Colorado State University is a politically contested space. Nationwide, critiques of classroom speech come from both the left and the right, usually drawing on the importance of academic freedom and free speech.

As a woman of color, at an early age I learned that the world can be a difficult place, filled with discrimination, hate, racism, and violence. This environment teaches many lessons for survival and living.

The right to speak out, to protest, to make your voice heard to hopefully affect change, without government retribution. This is what we know the First Amendment is supposed to be about.

We are navigating challenging times in this country. Our long history of racial injustices has, once again, brought speakers to the streets, to platforms, and to the airwaves and internet.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution contains only 45 words. Although brief in length, it is mighty in force. The rights and freedoms that arise from these words — religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition the government — are pillars of our democracy.   

Online education is a unique space for personal interactions among students and faculty. It is important that we keep the classroom a space that allows for academic freedom and opinions but also a space that maintains a professional atmosphere that is respectful and appropriate. The rules of engagement in a successful online classroom can actually provide key lessons for online communication in general.

Free speech matters, but acknowledging an individual’s right to freedom of speech is not enough. In fact, I worry that that the way we discuss the First Amendment and free speech — by focusing primarily on people’s right to speak — does a disservice to universities like CSU, where we are poised to rigorously engage some of the most important questions confronting our nation. 

Our students have never shied away from activism or issues, but activism looks and feels different at CSU Pueblo. When I interviewed for the Presidency in early 2017, members of our community mentioned to me that activism is not something CSU Pueblo does; activism is what this campus is.

Learning in person – interacting face-to-face with an instructor and other students – is not a new idea: for most of human history, it was the only educational idea.