We, the Faculty Assembly of Lesley University, join our voices with the local and national demonstrators of the Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Boston movement to strongly endorse principles of equity, equality, compassion, and pluralism.

The economic crisis caused by corporate and bank greed, incompetence, and callous risk-taking led to a deep recession that continues to have a harmful impact on millions of people. It is a crisis that is unnecessary, preventable, and unconscionable. Rather than taking steps to restore health and fairness to a damaged economic and social system, we have seen dead-end political positioning and the constraint of meaningful democratic dialog.

As university faculty we have a responsibility to our students, to the university, and to the broader society. It is our job to facilitate critical analysis of socio-political and economic policies to understand how communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately harmed while more affluent communities are privileged. Our responsibility compels us to stand for principles of social and economic justice and to call for a society that cherishes and sustains multiculturalism, equity, equality, compassion, and the fair distribution of wealth. We join with others across the country to call for good public education, access to quality health care, affordable housing, and a national commitment to protect and care for people who are vulnerable.

In recent decades we have seen a widening gap between rich and poor; we have witnessed the struggle of our students who often do not have adequate access to ever-more-limited resources of financial aid; we hear of those talented graduates who are among the 9% of the unemployed; we know family members who have lost homes to foreclosure or who have not had adequate health care for themselves or their children; we have seen the dismantling of unions and other venues that give every-day, working people a voice.  Our commitment to good education, vibrant arts, and emotional well-being is constantly challenged by budget cuts that take a tragic toll on the most vulnerable people and communities.

We applaud the Occupy movement around the world for inviting non-violent engagement through careful and disciplined consensus-building, community-building, and diversity-building efforts in the service of equality, opportunity, and equity.

Endorsements:
Lesley University Faculty Assembly, 2011-2012
Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED), 2011-2012
Lesley University Diversity Council
Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences Diversity Committee
American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Lesley University Chapter