Dear Editor,

I have no doubt your readers are alarmed by Vice Chancellor J.J. Brown’s recent decision to effectively disband their elected student government and cancel its elections. Despite his claims that this is merely a “pause” or “restructuring,” it should be clear to all that it is a brazen takeover designed to silence critics of the chancellor. Students of history or government will be especially chilled by how closely his methods mirror those of fascist governments throughout history.

This action came just after SGA passed a bill criticizing Chancellor Everts for shutting students out of decision making processes, and represents a historic move by the chancellor and her agents to gag every student by targeting their most important forum. It is their desperate hope that the student body will not learn about the dozens of laws and policies these actions break. It is their desperate hope that students will not uncover the true extent of their misconduct.

It is time for students from every corner of the App State community to resolve that their levers of institutional power will not be taken from them. I urge your readers to sign the petition below, and to take one more step by emailing Student Body President Gabe Montalbano at montalbanogm@appstate.edu to ask that he stand up to Chancellor Everts and to tell him you support the project of student democracy.

Petition Link: https://tinyurl.com/2y7v3xsa