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Today is Pitt Day of Giving, but it is difficult to give to an institution that has failed to give our community reassurance and protection in these difficult times. Every day, we are watching our faculty, staff, and students experiencing doubts about whether they can go to class, walk across campus, write their papers or conduct their research, without risking their safety and emotional well being. The new Trump administration's unconstitutional decisions are placing all of us under greater scrutiny, in particular people who are on visas, queer and trans students, and students organizing against genocide. Our most vulnerable community members are under attack, and when their safety and freedom is at risk, all of our safety and freedom is at risk.

Even those who aren't directly affected by anti-immigrant, anti-trans directives know somebody who is affected and facing doubts about their material future. Cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding means many scientists at Pitt may experience halts to their lab work or worse, loss of their livelihood.

Which brings us to the Pitt administration. Instead of offering unequivocal support for our most vulnerable community members, Pitt is offering feeble words to its community, merely stating "we are closely monitoring these developments" and "we sincerely appreciate your contributions" (private emails sent internally). We are seeing in the backdrop the concessions Pitt is making to the Trump administration, such as titling an event “LGB Support Group” at the Counseling Center, since reverted to LGBTQ, or disappearing whole webpages that have words like “diversity, inclusion, equity” (PublicSource).

Pitt’s most recent decision to halt PhD admissions came to everyone’s surprise, including the departments recruiting and accepting new students. (WESA, whereas this information is not addressed by Pitt to the public). While saying “certainty is not ideal” (Gabel in University Times), the university creates more uncertainty and turmoil by failing to communicate with the people whose actions it affects most.

When given the opportunity to step up to the plate as a leader who protects the people who make up the university, Chancellor Gabel is silent. Chancellor Gabel has one of the highest base paid salaries as a U.S. public school president, making $950,000, (constrast with an average graduate student salary of $30,000 and $39,990). Chancellor Gabel has failed to comment publically on these orders, selectively choosing to only comment on the NIH funding cut (Chancellor's Spotlight).

While our chancellor and the rest of the administration appears to be sleeping at the wheel, we pay a very steep cost. When pro-Palestine student organizers sought to talk to Chancellor Gabel directly, she refused; instead calling State Troopers on peaceful pro-Palestine protestors last summer and burying students in disciplinary hearings. 25 students and community members are also facing criminal charges (City Paper). Student organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) continues to face repression, including the threat to disband the organization. Threatening students’ right to speak out and protest is an infringement on the safety, liberty, and First Ammendment rights of our students and all residents of this country.

To protect Pitt’s faculty, students, staff, and the quality of the university’s education, we demand the following:

Establishment of the Pitt and CMU campuses as Sanctuary Campuses, prohibiting police from asking someone about their citizenship status or arresting and detaining them based on their status, even at the request of ICE.

Protect students’ personal information and records and limit the Department of Homeland Security’s access to student information for civil immigration purposes.

Provide pro-bono legal services for all international and immigrant students, and widely publicize resources widely to protect students from fraud and misinformation.

Provide free accessible and regular Know Your Rights trainings to all students, faculty, staff.

Drop all disciplinary charges and criminal charges against students and community members involved in pro-Palestine encampments.

Guarantee job security to faculty, students, and researchers funded by NIH; and resume PhD admissions immediately.

Pitt cannot call itself a top-ranked research university or one of the most "innovative universities" without the perspectives, backgrounds, and expertise of students, faculty, and staff. The tactics of the Trump administration are fearmongering and unconstitutional. If Pitt continues to make concessions to this administration, our learning environment will deteriorate as our safety and well being continues to be threatened. When will the administration grow a backbone and fight for the very community that defines what Pitt is?

Once again, this is more than a Pitt issue. This is a human rights issue. We, the undersigned, demand that the University unequivocally reject and publicly denounce Trump's actions, explicitly tying them to a violent project of white supremacy, transphobia, xenophobia, and racism.

​Alumni: B​y signing this letter, we pledge to not donate to Pitt until the demands are met. We are leveraging our personal resources to demand Pitt step up and fight for the future where we can all thrive in a safe, welcoming learning environment.

​​Students, faculty, staff and community members: ​we will send this letter to Chancellor Gabel (chancellor@pitt.edu) and Provost McCarthy (provost@pitt.edu).​ Click here to auto-generate an email. We will also commit to asking our departments, colleagues, fellow students and campus community to sign on and demand that Pitt protect its students, staff, faculty, and community.​