Letter of support for #KeepSJSUHybrid
March 25, 2022
Steve Perez, Interim President
Office of the Provost
Department Chairs and Directors
San José State University Administration
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95152
Dear SJSU Leaders:
This letter is in support of the #KeepSJSUHybrid campaign organized by a group of SJSU students and supported by over 3,400 students, faculty, staff, and alumni, along with 13 campus and local San José organizations. The ask is simple and a disability rights issue. I am sharing my testimony with you as a disabled resident, nonprofit professional, and former SJSU student who was forced to quit my graduate study due to ableism present in the University structures.
As the Director of a small nonprofit connected to SJSU, the pandemic has been hard, and the absence of students was apparent and impactful to the whole community around the campus. When students started to return to campus, my feelings were conflicted. You see, I am a person with disabilities and multiple underlying medical conditions that put me at high risk during this pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic, it has been very difficult for most people. Those with resources such as housing, money, steady jobs, transportation, appropriate medical care, and more have struggled but from safer settings than the essential workers, seniors, disabled and immunocompromised people, unhoused people, students, those in high density housing, immigrants, and other groups marginalized by society, such as Black, Latino/a/e, Asian, Indigenous, and other people of color.
Currently, most people are going back to what it was before the pandemic. It is easy to understand how we all want to forget the last 2 years and move forward. For some of us, the pandemic is not over and may not be over for a long time. For some of us, especially disabled and immunocompromised people, we have had unexpected rewards during this pandemic time: reduce rates of influenza, cleaner buses and paratransit vehicles, increased access to virtual medical visits and care. All this while experiencing greater barriers to engage in a safe and equitable way in society, with fewer supports and a lower level of understanding by those who create the policies, practices, and procedures that attempt to bridge the gaps in the services we rely on.
With the reduction in protective measures and a return to the cult of individualism, most disabled people are fearful and, in some cases, are being forced to quit their jobs, schools, and even medical care. Plus, we are being told by public health officials that we just need to stay home but without the supports necessary to continue to engage and live our lives. So the pandemic has not ended and will not end until treatments exist and society accepts that we are all responsible for the health and well-being of our community.
We need to physically distance, test for COVID, and conduct contract tracing to keep everyone more aware of outbreaks so that risk can be mitigated.
We need to adapt to the needs of those most at risk and most impacted by this virus and the other inadequacies in our county.
We need access to educational and professional opportunities that allow us to do more than survive. We all deserve to thrive.
In a land that is said to be “for the free” even though it never really has been, we are at a time where these “freedoms” are tied up in monetary gains instead of human needs. We violently look away from the realities that should be clear but stay veiled in clouds of racism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, and classism. Those with privilege forget what it was like to not have those important elements of access that too many take for granted.
In the end we are all human beings with human needs. We need each other for our safety and security. Together we are stronger, and we need to adjust to meet these needs in our world.
To those in power at San Jose State University, the student demands are minimal and based in real needs. Please meet the student demands TODAY.
Respectfully,
Michele Mashburn, Director
San Jose Peace and Justice Center, a project of Collins Foundation
