We, the faculty, graduate students, and staff members of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese oppose the presence of concealed firearms in our classrooms, offices and social spaces. We strongly believe that concealed guns should not be allowed in any building, or on the perimeters of the campus of the University of Texas, Austin. We further believe that our main goal as a public Research One institution is the fostering of education, critical thinking, and professionalization of students. As an intellectual community, we simply reject the premise that guns will make our classrooms, offices, and social spaces safer.
In the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, our main goal is to educate and train our students to develop new knowledge about the languages, literatures and cultures of the Iberian and Latin American regions, their related diasporas, and their Indigenous, African, and Asian cultures. We would like to continue doing so in an atmosphere of mutual respect and without the threat posed by guns in our classrooms. As a racially, culturally, ethnically, and sexually diverse department, we are aware of the social-power dynamics behind gun culture and the potentially disruptive and dangerous state of affairs the law allowing concealed weapons in campus buildings will bring to our courses, pedagogies, freedom of speech and finally, our security and lives.
Jossianna Arroyo-Martínez, Interim Chair
70 signatures:
Jeff Becker
Raelene Wyse
James Staig
Stephanie Malak
Laura Rodriguez
Jossianna Arroyo
Vivian Flanzer
Carolyn Dunlap
Maria Luisa Echavarria
Sandra Bernal
Erika Burt
Robyn Wright
Lucia Aramayo
Pablo Postigo
Pablo Duran
Lisa Mailloux
Olivia Thayer
Arturo Arias
Celia Cordeiro
Catalina Iannone
Daniela Meireles
Chiyo Nishida
Niyi Afolabi
Elizabeth Hastings
Yu Rim Kim
Mary Kleba
Aurora Salvador Sanchis
Michael Harney
Valeria Rey de Castro
Samuel Ginsburg
Sam Cannon
Daisy Guzman
Diana Norton
Naomi Lindstrom
Mina Ogando
Sarah Jey Whitehead
Joshua Frank
Jason Borge
Sandra Sotelo-Miller
Alida Perrine
Kelly McDonough
Sergio Romero
Madeline Sutherland-Meier
Gabriela Polit
Cory Reed
Jocelly Meiners
Orlando Kelm
Patrick Lawrence
Dale Koike
César Salgado
Shelly Smartt
Mariana Sabino-Salazar
Daniel Zarazua
Esther Díaz Martín
Jane Johnson
Rebecca L. Thompson
Jessica Carey-Webb
Tia Butler
Ruth Rubio Rodriguez
Ana Cecilia Calle Poveda
Cristina Cabello de Mtz.
Judith Velazquez Santopietro
Dinorah Cossio
Whitman Suarez
Adrian Rodriguez Riccelli
Lorraine Leu
Brendan Regan
Nika Setek
Melissa Murphy
Nicolas Emilfork