An Email to President Lugo From the English and Physics Departments

Your Mom

Contributing Chalker

Dear President Lugo,

We are emailing you on behalf of the English department, in collaboration with our physics department on campus, to correct some major logical flaws in your latest email. First, we need to address that there exists varying degrees of anonymity in the world in which we live. “[P]ostings bearing the Students and Faculty for Justice in Palestine hashtag” is not totally anonymous, is it? You know, since the posts “bear” @SFJP (not a hashtag, by the way). Were you hoping for every student’s name, Social Security number and GPA next to each chalked sentence? Clearly, you’ve never been harassed; if you were, you would be able to identify what situation counts as harassment and you wouldn’t leave your Social Security number laying around. 

Second, and this is where the physics department came in, you seem to have an alarming understanding of the concept of the frame of reference. If you believe that, as president, you are the college’s frame of reference, then it would explain why you say that our postings “appeared throughout the day in classrooms and other academic spaces across campus.” However, for most Trinity students, classrooms, academic spaces and, we’re afraid, chalk are stationary. They do not appear — you appear in front of them, just like you appeared in our inboxes on Friday at 10 p.m., unless you believe otherwise of course. 

Last, could you please clarify how chalking “compromise[s] trust”? Early in October, you shared that “education thrives when ideas — especially the challenging ones — are shared, debated and protected.” So, what was wrong with SFJP’s chalk? Was it not challenging enough, or are our classrooms not a part of a Trinity student’s education? We hope that you take these comments with an open mind and heart — you know, like someone would take some chalk in a classroom. 

Sincerely,

English and Physics Departments 

P.S. This email, unlike yours, is not AI generated.