On a recent walk across campus, I ran into a student who had taken my class last year. She is Latina and a first-generation student who I remembered being politically outspoken in class and a fierce advocate for immigrant rights. I asked how she was doing; given her past vocalizations, her response was unexpected: While she was unsettled and distraught by all the changes taking place under the new US administration, she was “doing well, just staying out of things and letting it all go by.” Once upon a time, I would have echoed the sentiment, an exemplar of emotion-focused coping. Not this time. My response was bold and immediate. “I am doing just the opposite,” I said. “I am calling attention to all the policy changes that go against science and threaten the education and well-being of so many.” I realized that I had started to be more outspoken about my teaching beliefs.
