The last few months have been a whirlwind of catastrophic news — news channels are filled with Trump’s latest stunts, tariffs, demands and tantrums. The magnitude of this mess, however, has not generated the response it warrants.
People can’t even seem to talk about it. We are behaving like we’re in the presence of a dying loved one. We speak softly about the crises we see in the news. Its mention brings about an uncomfortable itch; we shake it off with our sad acknowledgment and quick change of topic. America, and Stanford especially, is eerily quiet, blanketed by a snow of fear and helplessness.
The damage the recent actions of the current administration to the well-being and free thought of Americans is obvious. Somehow, we are entrenched in a reality in which international students with a history of activism are abducted from their campuses and detained for “unspecified criminal charges.” Estimates of the number of student visas revoked under the Trump administration range from 600 to 1,500, and Stanford itself has so far seen six revocations.
The administration has not just targeted the diversity and intellectual freedom of our students, but Universities themselves. In an Orwellian conflict, Harvard recently lost billions in funding after publicly rejecting a series of government demands, including that they “audit” student and faculty views, “prevent admitting students hostile to the American values,” and discontinue all DEI practices.
We’ve seen tariffs levied and compromised, 129 executive orders since January, funding cuts across fields — and this is just the beginning.
The constant fire of assaults has led to some dissent: on April 5, thousands of “hands off” protests were held across the country. Faced with an immense list of grievances, those who convened couldn’t simply reject a specific bill or action: their target was the Trump administration in all of its totality, specifically, its authoritative actions. It was almost as if Americans were so blinded by our government’s stream of wrongdoings that they were forced to dazedly deplore not just one of its actions, but nearly every move it made.
On that day, I watched videos from loved ones of their involvement while Stanford offered nothing. Since then, University president Levin ’94 voiced “support” for Harvard’s declaration, but abstained from signing a letter to denounce the actions of the administration. Beyond our campus, I heard no more of national protest, even as the news got worse and worse. There were small gatherings, of course, but the millions of people hurt by Trump’s orders remained home.
In some ways, it’s understandable — the tactics of the current administration seem as if they are intended to overwhelm, to force us into submission and pacify us with helplessness. Many struggle to muster enough courage and energy to fight with the capacity required of us. We are stuck, or worse, some of us may still cling to the belief that politics remains optional.
This lethargy is a familiar phenomenon, even for our country. In the 1960’s, Betty Friedan characterized the crushing weight of patriarchal gender roles on 1960’s housewives as “the problem with no name.” Women noticed a pain in their stomachs, a lack in their soul. They spoke about it in hushed tones, dancing around naming the problem. But many of them still clung to a kind of apathy about the situation as they were beaten down by the patriarchy — just as we now cling to our apathy as we are beaten down by our administration.
The aware among us may be able to name the threats facing us, but most are afraid to talk about it. Instead, we dance around it. Perhaps we convince ourselves that the administration’s outright denial of free speech, protest, movement and trade hasn’t yet reached a point to deserve the word: “tyranny.” When the word slides out of someone’s lips, we grow cold. We shudder and redirect ourselves. Now more than ever, we are scared and tired. Now more than ever, I understand how this was able to unfold many times before.
We are failing our country and ourselves. “On Tyranny” by Timothy Synder recounts ways we can fight against oppressive governments, notably: “do not obey in advance.” Stanford as an institution has so far obeyed in advance by remaining passive while other institutions speak out. We obey when we let the overwhelming crises keep us at home. We obey as long as we aren’t actively speaking out and fighting against the deplorable actions that face us. We obey as long as we dance around the unspeakability of it all, as long as we let Trump beat us into submission.
Audre Lorde once wrote that to care for ourselves “is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Our government is attempting to weaken us with a barrage of battery and bullying, and we are faced now with a challenge: a challenge to preserve ourselves against the decay this assault causes in our minds and bodies. A challenge to our strength, to our dedication and to our freedom.
Please, remain steadfast in its face. Guard yourselves and your spirit so that we can withstand and fight against these challenges. We are students at an incredibly wealthy university and citizens of an ailing country in danger. Protest more. Write more. Urge the university to do more. And most fundamentally, actually talk more.