Category: News

Sunday, February 15, Quaker Courage had its second meeting. Eight alums and one law student attended. All of us are motivated by a desire to see Penn live up to its values in the face of pressures from our federal government.

During the past month, we (Shobhi and Sharon), have begun connecting with two other Penn-based organizations, Stand Up Penn and Alumni for Freedom and Democracy. Participants in this meeting included representatives from both organizations. 

We engaged in further discussion and refinement of Quaker Courage’s mission. Core themes the group seemed to agree on are support for freedom of speech, academic freedom, and resisting government overreach — that is, the government’s attempts to arbitrarily control the policies and operations of institutions like Penn. (A lively discussion unfolded regarding the complexities of “freedom of speech” and controversies on campuses about what kinds of speech an institution should allow. Quaker Courage is concerned primarily with resisting government’s attempts to dictate such matters.)

We discussed possible actions to further our mission. There was lots of enthusiasm for the three organizations working together to plan events at Penn this spring, during the weekend of Commencement and Reunion. Possibilities mentioned include a rally, making signs for alums to carry during the parade of classes, holding a forum or presentation, and setting up a table where folks could engage in conversation with us about the issues Penn is facing in its relationship with the government.

This idea, and other possibilities for collaboration, will be discussed further by leaders of Quaker Courage and Stand Up Penn at a joint meeting scheduled for February 19. Watch for follow-up emails from us regarding action plans and a date for our next QC meeting.

Sunday, January 18, Quaker Courage had its first meeting. Nine alums attended representing classes from 1967 to 1985. Participants Zoomed in from Santa Barbara to Kansas City to Boston to Philadelphia. Some have been active with the Penn alumni community; others have not. All were motivated by concern about Penn’s ability to live up to its values under pressure from our current government.

Background

Quaker Courage (QC) is pretty new. We started the meeting with the history of the group—why it started, and what QC has done so far. We have a website, QuakerCourage.org, and an active letter writing campaign.

Concerns/goals brainstormed by participants:

• Penn making changes to policies, academic curricula, or other practices *because* Trump & Co. demand it.
• Limiting rights of students under the guise of fairness (anti-DEI, trans, scholarships for minorities; so-call antisemitism efforts that are not that; limiting free speech of students, faculty or staff.)
• Would like to know what alumni understand as the purpose of the university, how that purpose is realized in their life experience; how they see the university aligned with that.
• How to support UP when under pressure from the Trump administration; gather info on what other universities/alums are doing and consider replicating/adapting; organize letter-writing to Congress? to Shapiro?
• Concern about the governments’ interference with admissions, hiring and firing of professors, defunding programs it doesn’t agree with as well as research, especially medical research at which Penn has been at the forefront. Democracy depends on universities and the press, and the curtailing of either is dangerous.
• Harness alums to take action; how to create a dialogue with top univ administrators about their positions on topics; set top 3-4 priority topics for on campus positions on antisemitism, foreign students, academic freedom; role of protests and equal representation of viewpoints.

Quaker Courage Vision: 

Help Penn live up to its own vision and values. As they state on their website they are for “excellence, freedom of inquiry and expression, and respect. Penn’s culture is inspired by its founder, Benjamin Franklin—open-minded and curious, inventive and practical, exhibiting brilliance across fields, imperfect but self-improving, and relentlessly focused on enhancing social good.”

Actions we want to do now: 

• Add content to our blog, especially around issues we are watching.
• Find information about other Penn groups and build connections.
• Get in contact with other college courage groups and link their websites on our quakercourage.org blog
• Come up with good motto and tagline
  • Since the meeting, updated blog tagline to “Leges sine moribus vanae – Laws without morals are useless”
• Write our own letters to university leadership.
• Expand outreach efforts to grow our membership

Homework before next meeting (Feb. 15, 4pm)

• Read Penn’s statement on their values and words that guide them
  • University Values
  • The words that guide us
  • Upholding academic independence
• Join our letter writing campaign. Paper letters encouraged!  If willing, share these for QC website by emailing them to info@quakercourage.org, but first delete anything that you do not want posted on the web.
• Email info@quakercourage.org a paragraph about your concerns and what issues you are watching at Penn and universities/colleges elsewhere.

Sign up for the next meeting (Feb. 15, 4pm on Zoom)  and bring a friend.

Quaker courage started as a germ of an idea between a few Penn alumni, after they attended the One Million Rising (nokings.org/rise) training in July 2025. In that training, we learned how the many pillars of society—arts, education, business, media, law, etc.—can each play an important role in maintaining our democracy. We watched as pressure was increasingly put upon Penn, Harvard, Columbia and other universities to comply with rules and demands that are at odds with academic freedom, free speech, equal opportunities for all, and the rigorous research and inquiry which has long drawn faculty and students around the world to Penn and other U.S. universities.

We pondered this throughout the summer. In the meantime, we watched as Crimson Courage at Harvard and similar campaigns supported their own universities in addressing similar attacks.

During Penn’s Homecoming on November 7, we launched our first action—a letter writing campaign. Members of our group went to Homecoming and talked with alumni at the event. At that time we called ourselves MAIP (Maintain Academic Freedom at Penn). We shared a short handout with our goals, and the name and addresses of President J. Larry Jameson and the Chairman of the Board, Ramanan Raghavendran.

Our conversations were very positive. Everybody we spoke to shared our concerns and many said they too would write letters. The letter campaign is ongoing. We encourage you to write too!

Shortly after Homecoming, we renamed the group Quaker Courage, to align with courage groups at other universities and with the Indivisible Courage Campaign. In December 2025 we registered Quaker Courage with Indivisible and now participate in that network.

As Quaker Courage launches, we hope to meet, learn from, and collaborate with other Penn groups already supporting Penn in standing up to its values. If you are aligned with such a group, please reach out to us at info@quakercourage.org!