Marceline Lee | Illustration Editor

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon visited WashU’s campus last Thursday, Sept. 16, and attended a roundtable talk with Chancellor Andrew D. Martin and leaders of the Gephardt Institute. The visit was part of McMahon’s 50-state “Return Education to the States” tour.

At the same time, the College of Arts & Sciences held a forum to discuss the WashU- and Vanderbilt-commissioned Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences. Martin’s participation at the forum would have shed some much-needed light on his decision to copublish the report, which implicates the future of humanities studies at WashU. But instead, Martin opted to meet with McMahon.

Hosts and attendees of the humanities panel were notified of Martin’s absence only shortly before the event began. By leaving students and faculty in the dark on the humanities report and instead participating in an unpublicized meeting with McMahon, Martin deprived community members of the opportunity to participate in meaningful dialogue regarding the future of the University.

We at Student Life understand that, since WashU receives considerable federal funding, Martin likely feels responsible to meet with a federal official if they are in the city. But it is also the chancellor’s responsibility to inform our community that a meeting with a high-profile figure who is actively shaping our academic lives is set to occur.

Last year, Montana State University (MSU) also hosted McMahon, but they instead structured the visit as a roundtable that students were invited to attend. Given WashU’s history of student protests, the chancellor might have chosen to avoid student inclusion in conversations with a controversial figure. However, choosing not to inform those at WashU of the Secretary of Education’s presence directly conflicts with the administration’s values of civic participation. 

Martin has often advocated for free speech during his time at WashU, even teaching a class on the subject. The chancellor must practice what he has preached in the years leading up to this meeting and give members of the WashU community the chance to engage in civil discourse with members of the Trump administration who are actively attempting to dismantle policies and protections many of us rely on — including federal student loans, research funding, SNAP benefits, international student visas, protections from ICE raids, and more. 

Martin owes the WashU community an explanation for his absence from the ArtSci humanities report forum, his decision to meet with the Secretary of Education, his objectives for holding the private meeting, and a student-facing discussion about what came out of the conversation. While other universities like MSU have chosen to use McMahon’s visit as an opportunity to include students in such important discussions, Martin’s actions demonstrate an unwillingness to do the same. That decision is in direct conflict with WashU’s professed values of civic discourse and student participation. 

The chancellor’s meeting with McMahon also highlights a broader pattern of direct engagement with federal officials while offering limited information about the purposes and outcomes of those conversations. Going forward, we expect WashU administrators to provide a clear account of what they wish to accomplish in engagements with federal officials and how our community will be involved. It’s essential that meaningful student inclusion happens before decisions affecting us have already been made. 

Staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of our editorial board members. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of staff.

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