To our School of Social Work Community,
We’re writing to you all at the end of a school year that’s been incredibly difficult. We’ve been living with so many challenges on all levels – in our personal lives, within our institution, in our community organizations, and in the larger society and global context. We know that for many in our community, these challenges are deeply personal and affect us profoundly in our everyday lives. The recent ICE detention of a member of our campus community is a painful reminder of the harassment and violence towards our immigrant communities that has become normalized under authoritarianism. But this is part of a broader picture: federal policy changes, higher education and research funding cuts, ecological devastation, widespread economic insecurity, and endless wars have contributed to heightened anxiety, uncertainty, and fear for many students, staff, faculty, and our families.
Since the Gaza student protests of 2024, many community members here at PSU have grappled with questions about power, safety, belonging, and resistance. In the wake of arrests following the police clearing of Millar Library (see the Message from President Cudd regarding the occupation of the library and Taking up space and making demands: PSU students construct the free and autonomous Refaat Alareer Memorial Library (Roussell and Anonymous, 2024). Subsequent immigration enforcement on migrant community members has led students, faculty, and staff to ask how institutions respond when marginalized communities challenge existing systems. Whether viewed through the lens of civil liberties, racial equity, immigrant and migrant rights, or democratic engagement, these events have invited the PSU community to examine the relationship between state authority, community wellbeing, and collective action.
This year we’ve seen increased stress as an institution, facing a federal funding freeze, institutional budget cuts and a proposed restructuring of our university. By declaring Article 22, dozens of our colleagues are faced with the threat of losing their employment. We end this year in a moment of grave uncertainty about how Portland State University will weather these next few years: how many colleagues, many who have dedicated decades to Portland State, will remain? What will our teaching and learning conditions be like?
We have witnessed some of the struggles you have endured. We know there are many struggles that remain unseen, that you have carried as well. These compounding and ongoing crises can jeopardize our sense of safety, power, trust, and overall our sense of belonging on and off campus. Yet, they remind us of the importance of collective care and solidarity.
As members of EPIC, we are grateful for examples of care and solidarity we’ve experienced: Smallwood food pantry, the Basic Needs Hub, Student Legal services, the Indigenous First Steps Certificate Program, Student Health and Counseling, our Cultural Resource Centers, community partners that support student success and career development, scholarships funded by alumni and community support, and our re-emerging Student of Color Collective in the School of Social Work.
In times like these, our community is sacred. Even when resources are limited and our operations feel fragile, EPIC remains committed to fostering connection, advocacy, and solidarity towards anti-racist, inclusive practices. As activist Grace Lee Boggs so importantly reminded us, "The only way to survive is by taking care of one another." No stranger to struggle, Boggs reminded us that within catastrophe we face the possibility of imagining a more humanizing tomorrow, that “these are the times that grow our souls.”
“Grace Lee Boggs: We follow the pass less traveled
The city at the crossroads of history”
By Mike Alewitz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80805575
This is a critical reminder that the transformation we need will come from community care and us continuing to imagine different possible futures together. We encourage everyone to continue showing up for one another with compassion, and to reach out when you need support.
In solidarity,
EPIC
*Adrienne Graf, Bowen McBeath, Brandy Stone, Christine da Rosa, Elaine Szeto, gita mehrotra, Jessica Rodriguez, Jose Valencia, Laura Arroyo-Garcia, Michaela Loggins, Miranda Mosier-Puentes, and Tatiana Garcia