A statement from Campus Compact Board of Directors Chair Katherine Conway-Turner and Campus Compact President Andrew Seligsohn.
As an organization committed to the health and strength of our democracy, Campus Compact condemns in the strongest possible terms the violent assault on the United States Capitol. The peaceful transfer of power under law is the very essence of a constitutional republic. The actions of the insurrectionists who sought to disrupt and prevent the legally ordained process for effecting that transfer are anathema to self-government.
Campus Compact also condemns the intentional dissemination of the falsehoods that motivated that assault. When influential figures—especially elected officials—use their platform to persuade members of the public that legitimate public processes are illegitimate, they are guilty of undermining the trust necessary for the maintenance of our shared republican institutions. All of us are responsible for the predictable consequences of our actions. Wednesday’s violence was the predictable consequence of months of lies.
The excellence that has long characterized American higher education depends upon freedoms that can be assured only in a democratic republic. Today, our form of government is threatened. Leaders of all higher education institutions and organizations must raise our voices to reject efforts to destroy our democracy, whether through violence or through falsehoods. While we have good reason to remain non-partisan, we must never be neutral with respect to our Constitution and the fundamental principles of self-government under law.