05/05/2025
Recently, university leadership across the country has shown up for their students.
Harvard University refused to back down as President Donald Trump’s administration targeted its free speech, despite the administration’s immediate retaliation.
Montana State University President Waded Cruzado has addressed students’ fears about various federal changes multiple times. Most recently, the American Association of Colleges and Universities released a statement opposing Trump’s continual unconstitutional aims at higher education, stating it “reject[s] the coercive use of public research funding.”
Presidents of 514 universities and colleges across the U.S. have signed this statement so far. But not the University of Montana.
As the semester comes to a close, I worry. Without students to protest and the newspaper to project their voices, I fear for the rights of myself and my fellow students.
After a semester of silence, I worry that University leadership won’t bat an eyelash when Trump’s administration continues to remove our rights as students, citizens and human beings. I write this to address UM’s leaders once again, but in full force.
Seth Bodnar, Kelly Webster, Adrea Lawerence, John DeBoer, Leslie Webb: Collectively, the five of you make a salary of over $1 million. You are the faces of our University, and now more than ever, we need your voices too.
Editorial by Claire Bernard
Read here: https://www.montanakaimin.com/opinion/editorial/administration-now-is-the-time-to-speak/article_ed7ff9fe-a303-45d7-82e3-61d5127d3144.html
