Dear editor,

The CSUN chapter of the CFA was surprised by your recent article on the March 2, 2011 student march on campus and its mischaracterization of our organization. We wish to tell another side of the story – one where the faculty at CSUN supported the students; a story where the students have a voice and do not need any hand holding to express it; and a story where the CFA supported this event in many ways you failed to acknowledge.

CFA was involved in this student led event – We work closely with our interns (Students for Quality Education) to support this march. Every request made to the CFA by the students was honored. We were never formally approached for an endorsement, but worked hard to mobilize for this student-led event and CFA did respond to the invitation by the organizers for a speaker. None of these activities would suggest that the CFA does not support the march or students – just the opposite is true.

The event was a student led, student run and student organized. The CFA does not ascribe to the assumption that faculty are necessary for student protest success – the student organizers of this day’s events proved this by successfully organizing a campus and community wide event on their own. We stand with students and we respect them enough to listen when they want to craft their own message, we respect them when they organize their own event and we applaud them when they execute that event with grace, dignity and aplomb. We wished that you would have honored your fellow students by affording them the same level of respect.

— Theresa Montano is an Associate Professor in the Chicana/o Studies Department and she is also president of CSUN’s California Faculty Association chapter