Shame on those who approved this.

Trump has told elected officials who are not white to “go back to where they came from.” He calls African countries “sh*t hole” places. He has called Mexicans- rapists. He is the antithesis of UN values.

I am disturbed that UNIS students would be put on display in any way that seems to support this administration that has done nothing to promote peace, education, equality, or civil or voting rights. He has left important ambassador positions vacant because he doesn’t value diplomacy or dialogue.

What are you thinking?

Heidi Olson
Former Parent Rep- Tut House

I am an alum from the class of 1985, who is now a Professor. I always considered UNIS as the touchstone of my education and worldview. I am deeply troubled by the Melania Trump/UNIS photo-op at the New York Stock Exchange. Dr. Brenner, your letter justifies the decision via the role of dialogue and debate in a UNIS education. When I attended dialog and debate were part of the process of critical thinking. I am unclear what dialog or debate UNIS students will be having with Melania Trump. Regardless, what made a UNIS education life changing was culture of respect for people of different cultures and an emphasis on human rights.

The published explanation sidesteps both these values, which are the source of the outrage. This president has made it explicitly clear he values neither. Why would an international school known to promote respect and tolerance, or the US UN Mission, want to appear to align themselves with a man who calls some of the students and alum home countries “shithole countries”? Why are UNIS children being asked to align themselves with the Trump family and not the children at the border who have been forcibly separated from their parents and are now in detention camps?

What international educational value is there in posing with a known human rights abuser, furthermore a dog-whistler for white supremacists. How is this spectacle leading to critical thinking and global citizenship? To suggest there is anything neutral about this is absurd. This is not about politics, but where we stand on human rights.

Please do not forget:
Alum and possibly current students have had thejir home countries and allegiances attacked by this by this president. This photo-op is not neutrality; it is complicity.

Furthermore, the setting of New York Stock Exchange is loaded and troubling, especially with this administration. Are we conveniently forgetting that this is the wife of a president who is being investigated for all manners of corruption, including insider trading? Again, this appears as dialogue, but affirmation. Why would UNIS and the Mission want to appear to endorse this corruption?

I sincerely hope that the dissenters voices are being heard — this includes teachers, students, parents, administrators and alumni. So many of us love the United Nations International School. I hope the UNIS community stands up for the ideals that made it special, that we wish for the world and for the UN. Please do not acquiesce to status and corrupt power. Look instead to the original mission of our school and how it was positively transformative to so many people’s lives.

Julie Bolt
Associate Professor
CUNY