I am writing in response to the deeply disturbing news that Western Washington University is considering welcoming and hosting members of the Israeli Occupation Forces to speak on campus. I am writing because I have recently learned that the university where I attended school for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees, the university where I have worked professionally for almost twenty years, the university I had hoped would welcome a brilliant and hard-working student from Gaza, to whom they had accepted and awarded a scholarship, is now seriously considering giving a platform to those who are openly advocating for the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.
If this event is permitted, Western will be making clear its decision to cultivate and support what is already a hostile and unsafe environment for many WWU students, as well as for faculty and staff members, especially for those with identities and relationships that are consistently targeted and harassed by zionists and their advocates, those who are marginalized, those who are not part ot the dominant culture, those who are already vulnerable to harm and who face personal risks every day simply by existing in spaces that are committed to upholding systems of oppression, injustice, genocide, and the racism that is embedded in our institutions, all of which fuels the ongoing violence and destruction of Palestine and the Palestinian people.
I write to you today from a place of disappointment that my words are even necessary, that what I am sharing with you now even needs to be said or explained. And I urge you to listen to the voices of the students who are asking you to not allow this event on campus, as I add my voice to theirs, speaking in alignment with their words, while also contributing my own.
As both an employee and an alum of WWU, I am deeply connected to this community, with my relationship with Western beginning when I was an undergraduate student around 30 years ago. Despite reasons which more and more frequently give me cause to doubt the aspirational rhetoric I once believed to be true– words about Western’s commitment to justice, equity, and providing access to education for all students– some part of me is still holding on to the hope that there remains a vestige of truth in these proclamations. However naively, I still want to believe that there are many among us who do believe in the values this institution has so long espoused and claimed to uphold.
I want to believe in this despite having been repeatedly let down and disappointed by this institution. I want to believe in this despite the fact that after over two and a half years of genocide, of scholasticide, of violence and destruction, there is no institutional response of solidarity with or expression of sympathy or commitment to our students and our colleagues in Gaza.
I want to believe this despite having seen time and time again the "Palestine Exception" play out without resistance in spaces throughout this university, having myself been told by members of this institution that my "advocacy for Palestine" makes "some" people at WWU "uncomfortable;" having once been told that there was a complaint submitted to Human Resources about my wearing a certain article of clothing that demonstrated my solidarity with the Palestinian people; having been told that “some” people may think that my doing such things was creating a "disruptive" environment, (to which I affirm my belief that every space should be one that actively seeks to "disrupt" genocide).
I have spent over two and a half years trying to find a way to exist in spaces at WWU that are invested in genocide denial, while simultaneously strengthening and maintaining my personal commitment in my own life to do everything in my own power to support those in Gaza who are trying to survive, while also working to end the genocide in whatever way I can.
I have done this on my own time and in every space I could find outside of my professional spheres, as with the exception of some students at WWU and a handful of colleagues, this has not been something this institution has welcomed, invited, supported, or wanted to be publicly involved with. For the most part, Western has intentionally cultivated an environment that is dependent on silence and looking away, and this is an environment that has caused intense moral injury to those of us who cannot do this. Working, existing, and functioning in this environment for so long has come at great cost to me personally, and has negatively impacted my own health, to say nothing of the cost to others who are more directly impacted by the genocide.
As
Dr. Asfia Qaadir has explained in numerous venues when she has spoken about this injury, spaces of genocide denial are also hostile spaces--hostile to our bodies; hostile to our humanity. And when we are forced to work and live in these spaces, spaces where we are pressured to disconnect from what is happening and deny our own reactions, the distress we are already experiencing is exacerbated. Additionally, while these negative health impacts are causing harm, those of us who are experiencing them are actually having a normal response to something that is not normal and should not be normalized.
Some of the mental and physical effects on our health and bodies that occur as a result of this intense moral injury and moral distress include: memory problems; being in a constant state of heightened anxiety and panic; nightmares; increase in chronic pain conditions, cardiovascular illnesses, and inflammatory conditions--all of which can contribute to suppressing our immune systems, making us more susceptible to illness and sickness, which also makes it much harder to recover from illness. As Qaadir explains, this psychological and physical distress response indicates that we have refused and are unable to disconnect and turn away from our humanity, despite pressure around us to do so.
What I am describing here is specifically about a climate at Western
that already exists, an unhealthy and dangerous climate that is already present, without the added harm of inviting perpetrators of genocidal violence to this university, to this university which could not find a way to help a WWU student be evacuated from Gaza but is now considering hosting people who would be coming here to speak about and justify the murder of this student’s family members, while he and his family continue to face injustice, danger, and harm every moment and every day. As I write these words now, I am overcome with nausea. The very fact that any of this even needs to be said is challenging for me to comprehend and respond to.
You cannot, you must not welcome this event at this university. I am not asking. I am stating this, unequivocally, clearly, and without hesitation. If you care about this community, you cannot invite this harm to this campus. There is already so much harm that so many of us who are not part of the dominant culture are trying to exist among and survive. And there is no need to look to “free speech” policies or to use as subterfuge some kind of regulation or statement intended to create the illusion of “neutrality” to mask this decision. If you allow this event to take place on this campus, you will be choosing to make an intentional space for supporting genocide. You will be deliberately choosing to allow those who are part of this community to be harmed. You will be making it very clear who is welcome here and who is not.
Thank you for reading this letter. I am trusting you to do the right thing.
Clarissa Mansfield
This letter was submitted to the President of WWU & his cabinet, and in that letter I also explained I would be publishing it online and sharing it with local contacts. I also gave them my permission to make it as available as they would like, and to share it as openly as they wish. I stand firmly behind my words.
.png)
.png)