a townhall with our undergrads

posted on Feb 25, 2025

danny caballero

Tonight, my colleague and I joined a townhall that was organized by undergraduate students in our department. The slides I delivered are embedded below.

Our students expressed concerns about the recent federal actions and executive orders that are valid and prescient, and have far-reaching implications. Our students are from Michigan, from across the US, and from countries all over the world. They represent an incredible slice of the diversity we hope to see in STEM.

As I’ve said, we must organize ourselves against these attacks. This townhall is a start of that organizing by building community among those that are and will be affected. By joining students in a space where they feel safe and comfortable, we can talk about their concerns and we can share resources. We also build stronger and longer-lasting relationships. We (faculty and staff) also shared personal stories and histories to help contextualize these issues. Students had space to ask their questions, share their ideas and comments, and simply be in community together.

what we talked about

We started with introducing the EOs and their impact on our work and our institution. We discussed our expectations of the impact on our students should they hold. Students asked a number of questions about the EOs, how they might be interpreted, and how certain groups among them might be targeted.

We then shifted to a set of slides that I prepared.

These slides do not represent the views of the department, the college, or the university.

I made very clear the slides held my views, and I was sharing from my own experience. I also indicated that I am not a lawyer, and that the resources I was sharing were openly available. I also tried to inform, but not frighten them. We talked openly and honestly throughout. My slides tried to emphasize the mantra I’ve been repeating to myself.

Prepare for the worst, and organize for the best.

I shared my slides above as a PDF, but at the end of this post you can find them in a format that is adaptable and modifiable for your use. The slides covered the following:

1. The executive orders and their implications and impact on MSU
2. The importance of solidarity and community and why MSU admin is quiet on these issues
3. Students’ civil rights and how to ensure they are respected by law enforcement
4. Resources for students who might be impacted directly including the undocumented and international students
5. Ways to organize against these attacks (i.e., by doing BIG. PUBLIC. SHIT.)
6. How to write a letter to their congressperson

I won’t share the specific questions that were asked, but students wanted to know:

• how the EOs will impact their programs and research efforts
• how the EOs will affect our international students
• how the EOs might affect students’ future job prospects
• how to have conversations with people about these issues
• how to approach conversations with those who didn’t attend college, who support the current administration, or who are apathetic
• what we are doing in the department to ensure their safety
• how to organize people and how to attend rallies
• how to find some solace in this storm

This townhall was a reminder how incredibly thoughtful, caring, and insightful our students are. I’m truly blessed to have been able to share the space with them tonight.

I also taught class this afternoon, so I enjoyed go to enjoy that reminder twice today.

Links to slides

My slides are built with Marp, so they are written in Markdown. They are hyperlinks throughout.

You are welcome to the source document:

• Markdown

But here are versions that you can download and modify.

• Plain PPTX
• Light PDF
• Dark PDF