First off, I want to thank you for writing the letter. When I think about the work involved in writing and distributing this piece, I am reminded of how much I know this means to you. Your passion is evident in your writing; you are anonymous, though I feel as if I can hear your voice while I read.
I know that the content of your letter holds at least some weight. I remember seeing a Fullerton College professor defending racist policies at the Tim Wise event. I’ve heard stories from fellow students about numerous microaggressions directed towards them and their classmates. Hell, professors have told me similar things about their experiences at Fullerton College, which sort of leads me to my main point.
My reason for responding to this letter is twofold. First, I’d like to invite you to a dialogue; not necessarily with me or even student government, but with someone on campus that you trust with the information. As long as they are reputable enough on campus and willing to bring the information to administration or wherever you want it to end up, they are the perfect person for the job. I ask you to do this because the letter is not enough. I was told that representatives from Fullerton College reached out to you and you did not respond (as of 11:15 p.m. on February 10th). Unfortunately, without any followup from you, this letter serves the same purpose as the anonymous New York Times op-ed about keeping the white house from imploding – no purpose at all. Inevitably, the woke people will talk about it and the problem people will not. You can’t stand on the sidelines and hope your cheers get you the win; you gotta play.
I am proud of Fullerton College. I am proud of the administration, faculty, staff, and students. I honestly believe that this is the best community college in the state and one of the best in the country. Obviously there are issues with it, but the positive aspects far outweigh the negative. And I will defend that.
Something that I think you get wrong in your letter is the impression that Fullerton College is some sort of dystopian, backwards institution where everyone agrees with the things you say are wrong with the campus. There are a number of faculty, staff, and students I know that speak truth to power and are not afraid to do so. There are a whole bunch of new full-time faculty that think differently, with more in the hiring process. These people are actively trying to address the problems you bring up, not shying away from them.
To sum it up: you sent a letter that could easily apply to any campus in the country; unfortunately, this does nothing to fix the problems you are trying to address. Until we hear from you, this remains an unhelpful letter – full of mostly unsubstantiated claims – that will die in the next few weeks.
Sincerely,
Joshua Kazarian
President of Associated Students
Fullerton College
(714)-992-7118