We write to express our deep concern at the appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as a “distinguished visiting fellow” at the Hoover Institution. As members of the Stanford community who consider our country’s fulfillment of its highest ideals as part of the University’s educational mission, we feel this appointment is a clear diminishment of our institution’s and, indeed, our country’s values.

Mr. Rumsfeld bears major responsibility for condoning torture as an instrument of national policy, for callous disregard of international law and for the precipitous erosion of our civil liberties. While Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld knowingly deceived the American public in pushing for an unnecessary war and a now disastrous military occupation. Furthermore, he has done a signal disservice to democratic debate, an indispensable element in educational and democratic institutions universally, by accusing those who raised questions about this war at its inception of being unpatriotic and even treasonous. Such a dampening of vigorous democratic discussion and intellectual inquiry entirely contradicts Stanford’s motto: “The wind of freedom blows.”

Sincerely,

Andrew Altschul,

Jones Lecturer, Stanford Creative Writing Program

Anthony Lising Antonio,

Associate Professor of Education

Kaitlin Arena,

undergraduate

Saatvik Agarwal,

undergraduate

Bruce Baker,

Morris Herzstein Professor of Biological Sciences

Nila Bala,

undergraduate

Joel Beinin,

Professor, Dept. of History

Dorothy Bender,

staff, Administrative Systems

Aaron Berg,

undergraduate

Terry Berlier,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Tara Beteille,

Doctoral Candidate, Economics of Education

Alisa Bierria,

PhD candidate, Philosophy

Lera Boroditsky,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychology

Marion S. Buckwalter,

Asst. Professor, Neurology

Scott Bukatman,

Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History

Joel Burgess,

Ph.D., Postdoc teaching fellow

George H. Brown,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of English

William F. Burkholder,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences

Clayborne Carson,

Professor, Dept. of History and Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute

Chris Chafe,

Professor, Department of Music

Enrique Chagoya,

Associate Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Gordon Chang,

Professor, Dept. of History

Kathleen Coll,

Postdoctoral teaching fellow, IHUM

David Como,

Associate Professor, Dept. of History

Joe Corn,

Senior Lecturer, History

Wanda M. Corn,

Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Robert Crews,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of History

Linda Darling-Hammond,

Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, School of Education

Matthew Daube,

PhD. Candidate, drama

Todd Davies,

Lecturer and Associate Director, Program in Symbolic Systems

George Dekker,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of English

Simone di Piero,

Professor, Dept. of English

Sandra E. Drake,

Associate Professor, Emerita, Department of English and Program in African and African-American Studies

Charles Drekmeier,

Professor Emeritus, Political Science

Sam B. Dubai,

student

Carolyn Duffey,

Lecturer, Dept. of Cultural and Social Anthropology

Penny Eckert,

Professor, Dept. of Linguistics

Paul Ehrlich,

Bing Professor of Population Studies, Dept. of Biology

Harry J. Elam, Jr.,

Professor, Dept. of Drama

Michele Elam,

Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Hal Ersner-Hershfield,

graduate student, Dept. of Psychology

John Felstiner,

Professor, Dept. of English

Jim Ferguson,

Chair and Professor, Dept. of Cultural and Social Anthropology

Russell D. Fernald,

Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences

Shelley Fisher Fishkin,

Professor, Dept. of English

Robert Finn,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Mathematics

Lori Flores,

graduate student, History

Charlotte E. Fonrobert,

Associate Professor, Dept. of Religious Studies

Amy Freed,

Artist in Residence, Dept. of Drama

Estelle B. Freedman,

Edgar E. Robinson Professor in U.S. History, Dept. of History

George M. Fredrickson,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of History

Hirav Gandhi,

undergraduate

Matthew Garrett,

Ph.D. candidate, English

Albert Gelpi,

William Robertson Coe Professor of American Literature, emeritus

Barbara Gelpi,

Professor Emerita, Dept. of English

Theodore L. Glasser,

Professor, Dept. of Communication

Deborah M. Gordon,

Professor,

Dept. of Biological Sciences

Maria Gough,

Associate Professor,

Dept. of Art and Art History

Roland Greene,

Professor, English and Comparative Literature

Michael D. Greicius,

Acting Asst. Professor, Dept. of Neurology, School of Medicine

James J. Gross,

Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology

Pam Grossman,

Professor, School of Education

Marita Grudzen,

MPH, Stanford School of Medicine

Jan E. Hafner,

Student Service Administrator, American Studies

Roselyn Hallett,

Student,

Co-Editor-in-Chief, The Stanford Progressive

Maryam Hamedani,

Ph.D. candidate, Psychology.

J. Paul Hamilton,

Postdoctoral scholar, Psychology

Philip C. Hanawalt,

Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences

David Hannah,

Paul L. and Phyllis Wattis Professor of Art, Dept. of Art and Art History

Sean Hanretta,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of History

Morten Hansen,

Assistant Professor,

Dept. of Art and Art History

Ursula K. Heise,

Associate Professor, Dept. of English

H. Craig Heller,

Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences

Nick Hersh,

undergraduate

David Hills,

Associate Professor, Philosophy

Susan Holmes,

Professor, Dept. of Statistics

Leonard M. Horowitz,

Professor, Dept. of Psychology

Michael Huang,

undergraduate

Marianna Huerta,

undergraduate

Donna Hunter,

Instructor, Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Dan Jurafsky,

Associate Professor, Linguistics

Nicholas Jenkins,

Assistant Professor,

Dept. of English

H. L. Kahn,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of History

Ellora Karmakat,

undergraduate

Jason Kerwin,

alumnus

Angela Kessell,

Ph.D. student

Paul Kiparsky,

Robert M. and Anne T. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Dept. of Linguistics

Ron Kopito,

Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences

Laura LaFauci,

Writing Instructor, Graduate School of Business

Gregory R. Samanez Larkin,

Graduate student, Psychology

Krista Lawlor,

Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy

Melissa Leavitt,

Ph.D. Teaching Fellow

Pamela M. Lee,

Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Joel Leivick,

The Robert and Ruth Halperin Professorship in Photography, Dept. of Art and Art History

Sara Levens,

Postdoc, Dept. of Psychology

John L’Heureux,

Professor, Department of English

Michael Lin,

undergraduate

Helen Longino,

Professor, Dept. of Philosophy

Andrea A. Lunsford,

Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor of English, Dept. of English

Jean Ma,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

David MacDonald,

Lecturer, Dept. of English

Michael Marrinan,

Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Hubert R. Marshall,

Professor Emeritus, Political Science

Jennifer Marshall,

Lecturer, Dept of Art and Art History

Jennifer Martinez,

undergraduate

Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Daniel Mathews,

graduate student,

Mathematics

Tomas Matza,

graduate student, Modern Thought and Literature

Jody Maxmin,

Associate Professor, Dept of Art and Art History

Vinod Menon,

Associate Professor, School of Medicine

Jamie Metzer,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Luke C. Miller,

M.P.P., Ph.D. candidate, Education

Monica Moore,

Staff, Redwood City

Cherrie L. Moraga,

Artist in Residence, Dept. of Drama

Franco Moretti,

Professor of English and Comparative Literature

Paula Moya,

Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Andrea Nightingale,

Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature

Hilton Obenzinger,

Associate Director, Honors and Advanced Writing, Hume Writing Center

Len Ortolano,

Peter E. Haas Director (2003 - 2006) and UPS foundation Professor of Civil Engineering.

David Palumbo-Liu,

Professor, Dept. of Comparative Literature

Ramya Paramswaran,

student

Josef Parvizi,

MD., Ph.D., Acting Assistant Professor, Neurology

Anya G. Pena,

student

Bissera Pentcheva,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Peggy Phelan,

The Ann O?Day Maples Chair in the Arts and Professor of Drama and English, Depts. of Drama and English

Robert M. Polhemus,

Joseph S. Atha Professor in Humanities, Professor of English

Michael P. Predmore,

Professor, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese

Elizabeth Race,

graduate student,

Neuroscience

Rush Rehm,

Professor, Drama and Classics

Jessica Riskin,

Associate Professor, History

Eric Roberts,

Professor, Dept. of Computer Science

Richard Roberts,

Professor, Dept. of History

Paul Robinson,

Richard W. Lyman Professor in the Humanities, Dept. of History

Angel Roque,

Instructor, CASA

Bernard Roth,

Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Joan E. Roughgarden,

Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences and Geophysics

Daniel Sack,

Ph.D. candidate, Drama

Jayson Sae-Saue,

graduate student, Modern Thought and Literature

Ivan A. Sag,

Professor, Dept. of Linguistics

Ramon Saldivar,

Professor and Chair, Dept. of English

Kristine Samuelson,

Professor and Chair, Dept. of Art and Art History

Robert Sapolsky,

John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor,

Dept. of Biological Sciences

Debra Satz,

Professor, Dept. of Philosophy

Krishna Savani,

undergraduate

Jeffrey Schnapp,

Rosina Pierotti Professor of Italian Literature,

Department of Comparative Literature

Paul Seaver,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of History

Richard J. Shavelson,

Margaret Jack Professor of Education, Professor of Psychology (by courtesy), Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment

Thomas Sheehan,

Professor,

Dept. of Religious Studies

Asha H. Smith,

graduate student,

Psychology

Neal Snider,

graduate student,

linguistics

Ben Spielburg,

undergraduate

Yamanor Srihari,

alum

Venkat Srinivasan,

staff

Peter Stansky,

Professor Emeritus,

Dept. of History

Tim Stearns,

Professor, Dept. of Biological Science and Genetics

Wilfred Stone,

Professor Emeritus,

Dept. of English

Jennifer Summit,

Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Melinda Takeuchi,

Professor,

Dept. of East Asian Languages

Elizabeth Tallent,

Professor,

Dept. of English

Yang Tan,

undergraduate

Jenna Tonn,

M.A., Modern Thought and Literature

Elizabeth C. Traugott,

Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and English

Shripad Tuljapurkar,

Morrison Professor of Population Studies, Professor of Biological Sciences

Fred Turner,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Communication

Paul Turner,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Art and Art History

Avi Tuschman,

Graduate Student

Joakim Vinberg,

Vision and Perception Neuroscience Lab

Amy E. Vorro,

Faculty Affairs Coordinator, Dept. of Psychology

Scott Walters,

Director of Faculty Appointments and Promotions

Tom Wasow,

Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy,

Chair, Department of Linguistics

Gail Wight,

Associate Professor, Dept. of Art and Art History

Kristi M. Wilson,

Ph.D., Asst. Director,

Hume Writing Center,

Lecturer, Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Terry Winograd,

Professor, Dept. Of Computer Science

Bryan J. Wolf,

Jeanette and William Hayden Jones Professor in American Art and Culture, Dept. of Art and Art History

Allen B. Wood,

W. Wood Ward and Priscilla B. Woods Professor, Dept. of Philosophy

Rega Wood,

Research Professor, Philosophy

Tobias Wolff,

Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences

Alex Woloch,

Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Susan Wyle,

Instructor, Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano,

Professor, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese

Sylvia Yanagisako,

Professor, Cultural and Social Anthropology

Charles Yanofsky,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Biological Sciences

M. Zamora,

Ph.D. candidate, Modern Thought and Literature

Phil Zimbardo,

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Psychology