St. Olaf College faculty overwhelmingly approved two resolutions at their Feb. 12 meeting — one urging college leadership to publicly condemn federal immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota and a second issuing a parallel statement expressing faculty concerns directly.
The first resolution passed 131-44 with five abstentions, and the second passed 122-21 with four abstentions.
Associate Professor of French Livi Yoshioka-Maxwell, who introduced the first resolution at the meeting, said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger that the measure grew out of frustration with what many, including members of the campus advocacy group American Association of University Professors (AAUP), viewed as limited institutional messaging.
Earlier in the month, over 60 faculty signed a letter asking the College to condemn immigration actions. Signatories felt that the administration had yet to address their request by the time of the faculty meeting.
The first resolution, which asked that College leadership “share a message with students, staff, and faculty that explicitly condemns the aggressive and unlawful actions of federal immigration agenda in Minnesota,” was a direct effort to prompt institutional response.
According to Yoshioka-Maxwell, a clear stance from St. Olaf could help faculty and students feel supported by the institution and, in turn, more confident in taking concrete action.
“It was the bare minimum,” she said. “The College making that statement gives people the cover to approach what is happening, all the violence around us, in a way that is consistent with the mission of the school.”
St. Olaf is also affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) — a connection supporters of the resolution said calls for the College to more explicitly align with ELCA values.
“We have a mission to do what we do: to educate,” Associate Professor of French Maria Vendetti said, who was also a part of the group who worked on the resolution. “But I think that as a school that associates itself with the ELCA, we also do have to speak out against injustice.”
In the statement read with the resolution, Yoshioka-Maxwell noted that a Jan. 20 faculty and staff newsletter linked to a statement from ELCA leader Yehiel Curry but did not echo his explicit condemnation of aggressive immigration enforcement by federal law enforcement agents.
For supporters of the resolution, the omission not only left the community without guidance but also isolated the college from its roots with the ELCA.
During discussion of the first resolution, General Counsel and Vice President for Human Resources Carl Crosby Lehmann noted that faculty could speak as the St. Olaf faculty, but not on behalf of the College itself.
Following the first resolution’s passage, Professor of Political Science Kris Thalhammer proposed a second motion, a statement on behalf of faculty that aligned with Crosby Lehmann’s advice, which stated that “the faculty of St. Olaf College explicitly condemns the aggressive and unlawful actions of federal immigration agents in Minnesota.”
“An important element of this is [that] we would like the entire community to be reassured that the school condemns this behavior and basically has everyone’s back right,” Thalhammer said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “That’s kind of the goal with a resolution… a uniform leave message, not necessarily a band aid, not necessarily a fix, but a first step.”
On Feb. 17, five days after both resolutions were passed, President Susan Rundell Singer wrote in a statement to the student body that “as an ELCA-affiliated college,” St. Olaf aligned with the ELCA’s recent statement advocating for accountability and “condemned the dehumanization of immigrants.”
As of this article’s publication, The Olaf Messenger has not confirmed a similar statement sent to faculty or staff.
