CWU: empathy, being part of a community, cultural sensitivity, valuing diversity, engaging in community-based solutions, and critically reflecting on larger systems of inequality. Universities (and CWU specifically) are not immune to pressures to become corporatized, which will deprioritize our goal of helping students to become engaged, civil community members. Allowing APOYO to remain on the CWU campus represents a testament to the university’s commitment to remaining humanistically grounded in its practices and policies. Moreover, supporting APOYO maintains and preserves a longer standing, reciprocal relationship that is based on a model of growing universities by investing in communities. As one faculty member of color describes, Learning about APOYO played a role in shaping my perception of and appreciation for CWU as an institution that remains connected to students and to the surrounding communities. I believe that for many people, APOYO stands as an important symbol of our university’s commitment to giving back and remaining rooted in the needs of the surrounding communities. APOYO has carefully nurtured a network of people (families, advocates)— people who TRUST APOYO. In that sense, APOYO fulfills a unique role at CWU, linking Latino families to an institution where they typically do not feel welcomed. APOYO is an important exception. What would closing their doors mean during this time of global precarity? While the decision may offer a way to cut financial costs, it comes at high social costs: a fraying of the social fabric that is necessary for keeping CWU’s doors open as our region becomes more diverse. Decision makers should be aware that this decision communicates a lot more than business procedures. It symbolizes a growing fracture in the relationship between university priorities and community needs . It is a response to the quiet conversations that have been circling, about the corporatization of academia and the sense that universities grow not only in spite of, but at the expense of , the communities that sustain and nourish them. As we reflect on this situation and place it in a broader context, we wonder: What is the purpose of institutions of higher learning if not to mobilize and animate knowledge in the bigger project of creating a better world for all? That process begins at home and, like a wave, creates ripples that move infinitely outward. This decision is a disruption to that process. The lessons we are attempting to impart are undermined by instances like these. The examples we use in our classrooms to demonstrate concepts like structural inequalities, violence, and vulnerabilities should not come from our own academic institutions. In the context of a global pandemic, now more than ever is the time to not only to support the existence of APOYO but to strengthen their serving capacity while honoring and recognizing what they have done.
Sincerely,
The Department of Anthropology & Museum Studies 400 E. University Way Ellensburg, WA 98926-7544 Anthropology@cwu.edu (509) 963-3201
Department of Anthropology & Museum Studies 400 East University Way • Ellensburg WA 98926-7544 • Office: 509-963-3201 • Fax: 509-963-3215 Dean Hall, room 341 • E-mail: Anthro@cwu.edu • Web: www.cwu.edu/anthropology EEO/AA/TITLE IX INSTITUTION • FOR ACCOMMODATION E-MAIL: CDS@CWU.EDU
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