To Whom It May Concern:

We are each faculty members in Stanford’s political science department and, as members of the department’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEI), we wanted to offer our perspective on the recent attacks on our colleague. 

We write in our individual capacity to express our deep concern about the viral and thereby threatening advertisement taken out by an extremist group against our colleague Hakeem Jefferson. 

Such attacks have particular resonance amongst faculty members of color, who perform extraordinary services to our community often without recompense, yet see their scholarly contributions diminished and subjected to often dismissive external scrutiny. We reaffirm our commitment and shared responsibility in ensuring the fullest protection of our minority colleagues in their engagement in the exchange of ideas and scholarship. Hakeem Jefferson has been targeted by external attacks because of positions in social media where he expresses his views, both academic and personal, on racism and racial segregation. Such voices are critical to the moment of racial reckoning we are seeing in this country.

We express our solidarity and reaffirm our commitment to recruiting, retaining, and supporting minority faculty to enrich our community, enhance academic excellence, and ensure an inclusive environment.

Beatriz Magaloni
Saad Gulzar
David Laitin
Daniel E. Ho