Updated as of 7:22 p.m. May 7 to include interview with Anya Bratić.
Elon University Student Government Association executive president Anya Bratić signed a petition which opposes federal government overreach in U.S. higher educational institutions. The petition, “Sign On: National Letter from Elected Student Leaders Defending Higher Education,” was created by University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Student Body president Adolfo Alvarez on April 22 and shared with student leaders across the country.
According to The Daily Tarheel, Alvarez modeled the petition after a similar petition created by the American Association of Colleges and Universities titled “A Call for Constructive Engagement” on April 22. Neither UNC Chapel Hill nor Elon University’s university leaders have signed AACU’s petition.
Alvarez’s petition criticizes recent federal actions impacting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, funding, curricula and student visas.
The petitions come after the federal government froze federal funding for Harvard University after the school refused to follow a list of demands, including removing diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
Bratić said she received an email from Alvarez with the opportunity as an elected leader to sign onto this petition. As a student leader, she said she felt responsible to add her name to this to stand up for values all students should have, including freedom of speech.
“It's not to make a political statement,” Bratić said. “It's more so to express solidarity with students across the entire nation who are concerned about growing political interference in higher education.”
She said she brought this up to SGA’s senate and chose to share this with students she knows on multiple sides of the political spectrum, to help ensure she would be representing all students when signing this.
“I really wanted to make sure that I was being a voice of the student body,” Bratić said. “I wanted to make sure that even people who have different political beliefs than I do, that we can at least come to common ground on protecting higher education and making sure that there is no place for government overreach in higher education. Those two things should remain separate, and I think that's something that people across the political spectrum can agree on.”
The petition was last updated as of May 1 with signatures from 135 student leaders from colleges and universities.
“We oppose government overreach that threatens the basic rights of students to learn, speak, and belong without fear of political retaliation,” the petition reads. “Today, we are witnessing a troubling shift across our country as our government enacts policies that silence the teaching of accurate history, target diversity programs, attack international students, round up activists for exercising freedom of speech, and threaten public funding as a tool to intimidate and instill fear on our college campuses.”
Six North Carolina colleges and universities are among the 135 schools with students that have signed Alvarez’s petition. The schools are Elon University, UNC Chapel Hill, Duke University, UNC Greensboro, UNC Asheville and Wake Forest.
Bratić said she was encouraged to see how many students had signed this petition across the nation. At Elon, she said she feels the university does a good job supporting and facilitating conversations about current events and said it’s important for those conversations to continue and for students to speak out.
“Higher education is the place where we have these tough conversations, and students should feel like they can bring their opinions and perspectives to the table without the fear of being canceled for bringing up something that might not be the majority opinion,” Bratić said.
There are over 600 signatures on AACU’s statement, including presidents and leaders of both private and public schools, as of May 5. Duke and Wake Forest have signed AACU’s statement.
The AACU statement calls for “constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.”
In an interview with The Daily Tarheel, Alvarez said he hopes to connect with the student leaders who have signed the petition over the summer to build a strong network of student government across the country. Alvarez did not respond to Elon News Network’s immediate request for comment.
“I'm willing to lead the student body to show the nation's oldest public university is willing to be at the forefront of student governments standing up for what's right,” Alvarez said in an interview with The Daily Tarheel.
Avery Sloan contributed to the reporting of this article.