We Are All Global.
America has just been through an election that hinged, in part, on an explicit repudiation of “the other,” of countries other than America or immigrants who move here from other countries. Unfortunately, the election’s resolution and the inauguration of President Trump did little to change this tone. In fact, President Trump has acted on a number of campaign statements and promises that seemed rash then, and even more so now. In the past week alone, the president has moved, through a series of executive orders and memoranda, to roll back environmental regulations, limit immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries and give priority to one religion over another, withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, and lay the groundwork for the construction of a wall along our southern border, angering Mexico.
The president has indeed followed through on his campaign promises, now crystallized in his America First language, appealing to nativist sentiments, and its chilling association to the national mood of anti-semitism as America considered involvement in World War II. I find this turn of events deeply disturbing and challenging, both from the perspective of a school of public health, and from the perspective of an American. I will comment on both.
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What does acting accordingly mean?
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At the level of action, we are part of a university that has affirmed its commitment to global engagement and inclusiveness, as President Brown stated in his recent letter to the BU community. I reiterate his sentiment, and would remind our international students that anyone who has questions or uncertainty about recent developments should contact the International Students and Scholars Office, which will also be reaching out to students who may be affected in the coming days.
At SPH, we are part of a school that sees its future as global, as we articulated in our 2015 Strategic Thinking Report. And we continue to be a school with a thriving and ever-growing portfolio of global health scholarship. None of this will change under this administration. We will, as a community, be doing more, not less global work. We expect to expand the global membership of our community, to grow our global networks, to push harder to live by the ideals that animate us, and to nurture and encourage scholarship and thought that makes us a global community of thinkers, teachers, learners, and doers.
Warm regards,
Sandro
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, Boston University School of Public Health
Twitter: @sandrogalea
Acknowledgement: I am grateful for the contributions of Salma MH Abdalla MBBS, Eric DelGizzo, Willis Wang JD, and Professors Patricia Hibberd and Don Thea for their contributions to this Dean’s Note.
Previous Dean’s Notes are archived at: /sph/tag/deans-note/