Clemson University administration “publicly denounced central aspects” of President Trump’s second Executive order on travel, according to a release from organizers of the “Campaign Against Silence.”
In an email to university deans and department heads, Associate Provost for Student Affairs Ellen Granberg said that “[w]e will reach out through our professional associations and Clemson’s government relations office to advocate to [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] that they reconsider this suspension in light of the disruptions it may cause for universities, hospitals and other cap exempt institutions.”
The organizers, Clemson professors Chenjerai Kumanyika, Todd May and Mike Sears, fasted for a week on the steps of Sikes Hall and orchestrated the “March Against Silence” and “Rock the Silence” events on campus.
These actions, along with the planned “Purge the Silence” demonstration, were to “call attention to Clemson administration’s silence, its failure to issue a public statement criticizing President Trump’s Muslim ban,” according to May in an email to The Tiger. The protestors called off the “Purge the Silence” demonstration after “the administration conceded with their message,” according to the release.
The release labeled the administration’s denouncement of sections of the ban as a “dramatic reversal;” it stated that after the first Executive order on travel, Vice President for Student Affairs Almeda Jacks “stated that Clemson would not lobby against the ban … that Clemson University President Jim Clements would ‘stand in the middle of the road.’”
The release also stated that “the administration’s statement did not address the ban in its entirety.”
Assistant Director of Clemson Media Relations John Gouch told The Tiger that “our position has not changed” regarding the administration’s stance on both of the Executive orders on travel. Gouch said that the university has been working to have the ban rescinded since the beginning.
“That isn’t the point,” May said in another email to The Tiger. “The point is that they said something on the record about opposing Trump’s policy, which is what we’ve been asking for all along.”