Letter to the Editor: Misstatements of Fact and Reactionary Politics – In Response to “No Ideological Purges at Trinity”

Dear Editor,

I want to start by saying that by no means do I disagree with Mr. Louis in regards to his general perspective on free speech at Trinity. Freedom of speech, expression and ideology are tenets that Trinity claims to hold dear. I hope under the new administration that ambition can be tended to, but the fact remains that Mr. Louis does not see the hypocrisy of his strongly worded letter to the Tripod. Mr. Louis also does not acknowledge the fact that this campus has long chosen to support conservatism, and increasingly is only trending more right. Nor does Mr. Louis seem to have a full grasp of the facts to which Mr. Gervais spoke on in his original piece.

To address the latter point, Mr. Gervais did not call for the removal of Mr. Kissel on purely ideological grounds. Mr. Kissel is not a qualified academic. At an institution that prides itself on being extremely selective and having a high standard for its students and faculty alike, it is embarrassing to see Mr. Kissel, a demagogue with just a Master’s degree, taking a position at Trinity. Mr. Kissel is not an academic, and if the hiring decision had been up to any of Trinity’s relevant official departments, such as Economics or Political Science, I personally doubt Mr. Kissel would have been considered, much less hired, for any faculty role here. That said, Formal Organizations is not an official department in the same way other departments are. Formal Organizations is a separately endowed minor program at Trinity, which, in 2009, had a major endowment use dispute and filed a complaint to the CT Attorney General to secure its separate endowment. In plain English, this means that the Formal Organizations department is not bound by the same rules as other departments on campus. Considering how easy it was for me to google this information, I am somewhat appalled at the lack of research done on Mr. Louis’ behalf into this matter. This is all to say that when Mr. Gervais called for a review of Mr. Kissel’s hiring, he was not requesting Trinity to openly fire Mr. Kissel, but instead to evaluate how Trinity allowed this to happen, and potentially ensure only qualified academics can teach at this institution of higher learning. It would be extremely difficult to fire Mr. Kissel on these grounds, but to conduct a review would be to acknowledge that Trinity/Formal Organizations made a massive hiring mistake—which it did.

Regarding this campus’ defense of conservatism and the inherent hypocrisy of Mr. Louis’ defense therein, look no further than Oct. 17, 2024, when a protest by TrinDivests and Students for Justice in Palestine led to the admonition of 11 Trinity Students, myself included. Were this school conducting a purge of conservative ideals, similar admonitions would have also been issued to the two students who chose to hang “Don’t Tread on Me” and “Blue Lives Matter” Flags on the outside of their dormitory in 2022. Both incidents resulted in policy changes. The Oct. 17 incident led to the writing of a new handbook policy on protest. The 2022 flag incident led to a new policy on Window and Screen use. In other words, left-leaning students were punished for protesting a genocide “inappropriately,” meanwhile right-leaning students were not for “defacing campus-property.” Alternatively, see former President Joanne Berger-Sweeney’s reactions to the Churchill club, and her application of academic freedom then.

Finally, Charlie Kirk’s death was Mr. Louis’ hook in his argument. Personally, I pray for the victims of political violence, including the victims of violence that Kirk’s words and actions incited. I also recognize the reality that political violence is not simply occurring against the right. See MN Representative Melissa Hortmann’s targeted murder, or the scores of hate-motivated murders on transgender people in the United States. Would Mr. Kissel like to address whether he still thinks “being trans is a lie,”, or would he rather continue to keep his posts private now that he is somehow a professor at a serious academic institution?

Mr. Louis, preaching this centrist value of “hearing both sides” only goes to support rising fascism and hate-fueled ideology.

I am a proud, openly transgender woman. I am not a lie. I am a human being. I will not be silenced, and Mr. Louis, I will not sit idly by as our college hires an undereducated demagogue.

Ideology is not erasure, that is just called bigotry. 

Sincerely,

Amber L. Gray ‘26