Alfie Scholars Response to the 2016 Presidential Election

November 9, 2016

To the Seattle University Community, on behalf of the Alfie Scholars of Seattle University,

We, the inaugural cohort of the Alfie Scholars program at Seattle University, offer this response to the results of our nation’s recent Presidential election.

Seattle University’s mission for a just and humane world compels us, as civility leaders, to reach out to the greater Seattle University community to offer words of reflection as well as to communicate our promise to continue to engage in the fight for what we believe in and what defines us.  For those who do not know what an Alfie Scholar is, we are a highly diverse group of high-achieving transfer students who’ve fought through serious adversity for the honor of obtaining a justice-oriented education.  Our governing principle of civility aligns with principles of service, responsibility, and justice. Our instinctive understanding of the full-bodied precedent of unity, as exemplified by so many of the civility leaders who’ve come before us, leads us to foster betterment in ourselves, and in the hearts and minds of others when the chips are down.

In the past eighteen months, we have watched as our common decency has fallen in the face of fear. It is a natural response to be tempted to allow ourselves to trip into a trap of lasting despair, but we argue that it is more important than ever to situate ourselves within the spectrum of love.  Now is not the time to engage in the pathology of divisiveness. It is a moment that will test our resolve as individuals who organically understand that what lives in our hearts has the power to thrust us toward a better tomorrow. In this spirit, we wish to offer our compassion to our Mother Earth, our brothers and sisters of color, our Muslim friends, our Native American tribes, our LGBTQ families, the poor and impoverished, and all those questioning their safety as we digest what the future may bring.

We feel strongly that our Seattle University community has the potential to set an example for strength in leadership, specifically leadership that stands boldly to represent what is right and good within each of us.  Margaret Mead’s famous quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”, embodies our ideology of staying grounded, as we engage those with whom we have fierce disagreement with. Civility thrives on connectivity, so we reach out today in an effort to both introduce ourselves and to extend our arms to the SU community.  We are here to work alongside you, as we begin the arduous work of establishing our common voice as the dominant voice for a more inclusive discourse. In a broader sense, the confrontation of extremes reminds us of our responsibility as arbiters, the importance of communication, understanding and interaction in a much polarized national conversation.  We believe that this resonates even more clearly in context when Americans face the potential of global isolation.

In Civil Solidarity,

Nizama Djudrija, Criminal Justice, Class of 2018
Aminata Drammeh, Business, Class of 2018
Pa Ousman Jobe, Business, Class of 2018
Julia Mariga, Nursing, Class of 2018
Dian “D.D.” Meakin, Sociology, Class of 2018
David Morales-Rosales, Criminal Justice, Class of 2018
Gabriel Narvaez, Sociology, Class of 2018
Giang Nguyen, Business, Class of 2018, Class of 2018
Hiba Salama, Diagnostic Ultrasound, Class of 2018
Mahakdeep Singh, Engineering, Class of 2018