Last semester, the Emerson College administration attempted to heal a fractured community with Band-Aids and duct tape. Despite measures like the EmersonTogether initiative, the gap separating students (and arguably faculty) from their administration has only grown.
After his inauguration last Monday, President Donald Trump immediately announced a blitz of executive orders ranging from anti-diversity measures to renaming geographic landmarks. Many of Trump’s policies will directly impact the Emerson community, yet the college’s updated policy on political neutrality leaves these students out to dry.
I am not the first to critique Emerson’s policy and won’t be the last; others have pointed out its flaws and limitations, especially the clause about “protecting and defending students,” and the fact that The Beacon could not endorse a presidential candidate last year. But now that Trump is officially warming his chair in the Oval Office, Emerson needs to clarify its contradictory policy.
Officially titled the Policy on Institutional Neutrality and Mutual Respect, the policy reads: “To perform its mission as a leading college of arts and communication, Emerson College must sustain an environment enabling freedom of inquiry, maintain independence from political pressures, and avoid actions that may have the unintended effect of silencing discourse and debate.”
The institution may only make official statements regarding “issues that directly affect the college and its mission.” This loophole comes after many students criticized Emerson for not taking a side in the historic Israel-Palestine conflict. But despite Emerson’s so-called “independence from political pressures,” the college continues to let itself make politically-biased statements and moves.
After election night, President Jay Bernhardt sent a community-wide email, writing, “With the presidential election results now known, many in our community will undoubtedly have strong emotions about the outcome,” followed by a list of campus spaces and resources. We can read between the lines here—the president, on behalf of the college, expressed sympathy to students about Trump’s victory, an inherently political message.
Emerson’s supposed commitment to social justice and inclusion is also at odds with Trump’s executive order entitled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” According to the order, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs within the federal government are “illegal and immoral,” and while Emerson is a private institution, Trump’s consideration of equitable initiatives as “immoral” directly contradicts the college’s mission.
Emerson also admits students regardless of their immigration status—Trump’s plans for immigration include completing a border wall between the United States and Mexico, forcing people seeking asylum to wait in Mexico until their case is approved, declaring a national emergency at the southern border, ending birthright citizenship, and, as he boasted in his inauguration speech, “returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places (from) which they came.”
Will Emerson protect its undocumented students? What about its nonbinary and transgender students? Trump plans to solely recognize the gender binary and only allow people to identify with their sex assigned at birth.
Emerson’s neutrality policy is supposed to avoid “suppress(ing) the expression of diverse viewpoints,” but by refusing to engage in the political discourse, Emerson is simply censoring itself and suppressing the diverse voices of its campus instead. The Board of Trustees wants to “foster civic engagement,” but how is that possible when they refuse to engage with their female, queer, BIPOC, gender nonconforming, immigrant, international, and first-generation students?
The administration has defended the policy by saying it is not a college or university’s place to comment on political issues. But that didn’t stop former President Lee Pelton from standing up for his students in their time of need.
In 2017, Pelton spoke to WBUR about Trump’s executive order to limit travel from seven Muslim-majority countries into the U.S. In the interview, Pelton said the “executive order undermines a very important cornerstone of what we stand for as an institution of higher learning.” He reaffirmed Emerson’s support for political diversity, while still expressing his dismay with the order and the effect it would have on the campus community.
That same year, Emerson faculty members drafted a letter to Trump urging him to refrain from withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, an international climate treaty. In his first term, Trump did not back out of the agreement until 2020, and former President Joe Biden reentered the deal when he took office in 2021. This time around, Trump plans to withdraw from the treaty immediately as part of his series of executive orders.
Emerson prides itself on sustainability and climate consciousness, and has pledged carbon neutrality by 2030. The college claims that “Emerson is committing to being a leader of social change on the sustainability front”—but where is that leadership when we need it most?
For a communications school, Emerson continues to stumble over its words and messages.
I feel like I’m beating a dead horse. In my nearly four semesters at Emerson, I feel like campus dialogue has continuously expressed frustration with administrative policies and communications. Yet, Emerson continues to advertise itself as a progressive institution paving a new path in higher education.
But they’re scared. With a motto like “expression necessary to evolution,” and yet no expression, we stagnate.
So if Emerson insists on neutrality, such a policy should be revised to include that the college will not stand with its students against political threats, nor engage with the political forces that disrupt our community. If nothing else, at least be honest with the student body about where this administration stands.
To the administrators and trustees: Your students are political. They are passionate and rife with knowledge, and they sought out this institution to learn how to hone their creativity into tools for change. Stay silent, if you wish. Your silence echoes throughout this campus, this city, and this country.
