Dear Highline Community,
Thursday afternoon there was a small, unannounced group of demonstrators on campus gathered on the path between Buildings 8 and 25.
This group displayed signs and handed out flyers that were inflammatory and included Islamophobic messages. This group’s beliefs are not aligned with our core values and what we stand for as an institution. At Highline College, we do not condone hateful rhetoric in any way, shape, or form. The Department of Education has explicitly reminded us that as public institutions hate-based discrimination, including antisemitism and Islamophobia, has no place in our nation’s colleges, universities, and schools
I want to fully acknowledge the impact and distress this may have caused our students, especially those of the Islamic faith during this holiest month of Ramadan.
Because Highline College is a public institution, we are bound by law to ensure a free exchange of ideas and principles by the public, which is in accordance with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Although we can set some boundaries in terms of location, noise, time of day, and ensuring that classes aren’t interrupted, access to buildings is maintained and students, staff, and visitors can freely move throughout campus without interference, we are an open campus, which does not allow us to restrict anyone from coming to campus.
Moving forward, and especially with this being an election year, we as an institution are expecting more groups on campus looking to exercise their First Amendment rights.
In the spirit of maintaining a civil educational environment focused on student success, we expect Highline community members to conduct themselves appropriately when groups like this are on campus. Members of organizations looking to exercise their First Amendment rights tend to use body cameras or other video recording devices. There is never an obligation to interact with or acknowledge these groups. The campus community has a right to engage and/or to simply walk away.
I want to remind you of the resources on campus, including Counseling Services and the Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) that are available to assist you personally and/or if you observe or hear about incidents that are impacting your peers and colleagues. I recognize that there are events occurring on a daily basis locally and around the globe where individuals and communities are facing threats and harm. While we are not in a position to comment on every situation or even provide an advance warning for events such as the appearance of these demonstrators, I do want you to know that the safety of our students and campus community members is our primary concern. I want to thank our Public Safety officers for their response to Thursday’s activities. Our officers engaged this group with professionalism and set clear boundaries and expectations for the group’s behavior and actions.
Take care, and please reach out to my office if you have any questions or concerns.
John
John R. Mosby, Ph.D. (he/him)
President
206-592-3200