Dear Havidan Rodriguez,
| am writing to you today as a sad and angry student of UA. | transferred here 15 weeks ago
with starry eyes, ready to embrace all that this big, amazing school had to offer me. The
banners outside as | drove in promised to ‘unleash greatness’ within me. Three weeks ago, |
was horrified by what | saw on my campus, on my home. Yes, | live here, and | see the banners
every day that promise to unleash greatness, around me and within me. That day, no one was
great. You and your administration allowed hate, anger, psychological horror, pain, and
suffering to be unleashed upon the people who you were entrusted to uplift. You are paid more
than half a million dollars per year plus “allowances”, and now you have just awarded yourself
$50,000 more. | ask you, why do you think you deserve such a salary? How can you justify
hiking our tuition by 30% over the next 5 years, ludicrous room and board fees, among the
countless other little fees that are charged to students who pay for everything on their own like
me, sans parents or financial aid? | see that you have published many research papers in the
past, so | know you possess the skill of critical thinking. How can you possibly justify your
salary, while the people who teach the classes that our university exists solely to conduct are
majority untenured and noncontracted? These fine, brilliant people have families to feed, and
you feel more than comfortable to sleep at night while they fret semester to semester to put food
on the table. You feel more than okay when our police department, how have sworn to protect
UA and our community, assault and arrest one of our own against her first amendment rights.
| am writing you today to condemn the events that took place at my home three weeks ago. You
allowed and enabled Created Equal on our campus. We welcome all forms of debate and views
on our campus, even those we don't agree with. | speak for all students when | say this; we do
not welcome hate, shame, condemnation, psychological manipulation, or fearmongering. You
provided these hateful people with police, barriers, and electrical cords that blocked off most of
the podium while you provided your students, the ones you swore to uplift, with nothing! Why
did you not send out a sensitivity warning? You knew they were coming at least one week in
advance, because 5Quad and Campus Center Management were notified. Why did you not arm
us with facts and information regarding our rights to protest? | say again, you have a
responsibility to safeguard our well-being. That's why we have fire alarms in our buildings and a
counseling center on campus. Why do you think these protections don’t apply here? You
allowed students to be shamed, traumatized, and triggered. There were pregnant students
present. There were students that needed abortions in the past present. These statements are
facts. By neglecting us in favor of the people who came here with the express purpose of
shaming my classmates, you have shown us beyond a shadow of a doubt that you do not
care about us.
Let me be clear, these people did not offer legitimate information about abortions, support, or
abortion alternatives. They recorded us for the purpose of making us look foolish and
approached people without permission. These people support denial of human rights and
misogyny. And by allowing this heinous act, you do as well. This is a fact. As an institution of
higher learning, aptly shown in the wonderful UAlbany Showcase last week, we expect better
than misinformation and psychological terror on our campus. Through your negligence, you
have shown us that you do not support female students, or any female in the UA community. It
is shameful that this event and the arrest of Dr. Overdyke have not been addressed. She did
more to protect her students than any administrators here have done. She continues to have
her student's best interest at heart, as through it all, she still urges us to not worry about her and
focus on our own wellbeing and preparing for final exams.
But instead of studying, here | am writing to you, terrified of what | may be forced to endure on
campus next. | felt unsafe that day. | felt unsafe in the place | call home. It was made into an
extremely hostile learning environment. But in the lobby of my dorm building, a big poster stares
at me every day that | walk in the door that says “your safety matters most”. So which is the
truth? Does my safety matter most, or does “encouraging all forms of free speech” matter most?
You wouldn't tolerate an active shooter spewing hate and bullets on campus in the name of free
speech, so why was the event carried out by Created Equal any different? They caused
emotional and physical harm on our campus. | hope that by now you are familiar with the
triggering, disturbing, and misleading images being shown on the screen they brought- which
used electricity you provided. That | paid for. This is not free speech. These are scare tactics. |
encourage you to view the attached links, which show the exact video shown on campus,
followed by an article from The Guardian, which show actual pictures of abortions at and before
10 weeks- when most abortions are performed.
| also encourage you to read about Roth v. United States (1957), where the Supreme Court
ruled that obscene material is not protected under the first amendment.
Additionally, it must be known that these people came from Canada. They are not United States
citizens and their freedom of speech is not protected.
You must also know that Created Equal is a religious organization. In J udaism, abortion is fully
allowed. By allowing these people to tell J ewish women on our campus that they should not get
abortions- which yes, actually happened- you have enabled violations against their religious
freedom. How come you provided police- who did not have any badges on, by the way- to
defend this religious group but not UAlbany Hillel during the reading of names on Yom
HaShoah? They were hatecrimed during this event by the way, if you did not know.
| must also remind you that abortion is safe, legal, and accessible in New York up to 24 weeks.
You can still receive an abortion after 24 weeks if your health is at risk.
Are there any reasons left to defend this heinous day? If there are, please notify me immediately
so | may inform you how they are fallible.
Dr. Overdyke was only one victim of this tragic day. You allowed so much hurt and pain on
campus. We would have welcomed their discourse if they came respectfully and armed with
facts. If they came with kindness and the beauty of debate at heart, | would not be writing to
you. But they did not allow us to even consent to hearing their messages. So Dr. Overdyke
protected us by turning them off-which is still somehow more than you have done so far. We are
saddened that we still have not heard from you. We are saddened that you do not support us.
But me, | am angry. | sought to unleash greatness here and | see now that there is no greatness
to be had in a place that tolerates such harm to us.
The students of UAlbany condemn you, VP Michael Christakis, and Chief Diversity Officer
Samuel Caldwell for their involvement in publicly condemning the acts of our community
members that seek to protect our peace and 1st Amendment freedoms on campus. We
condemn you and any other administrators involved in enabling this event to take place on
campus.
Dr. Overdyke Makes UAlbany great. She brings out the greatness in her students and this
community.
We demand that all charges are dropped against professor Overdyke.
We demand that a formal apology to her is issued immediately.
We demand that a formal apology to the UAlbany community is issued immediately for not only
allowing the images and harassment experienced on campus but the endorsement and
enabling of such messages.
We demand that Created Equal is banned from campus.
We demand that anyone who was involved in approving the presence of Created Equal on
campus resigns immediately.
We demand that the University declares its commitment to protecting students before all else.
And we demand that you resign from your position as President, so that someone who has
students’ best interests at heart may step in.
Despite it all, | wish you well and hope that you do not take this lightly. Because we will not allow
this to be swept under the rug with the start of summer around the corner. We won't forget.
Angry and saddened, but sincerely nonetheless,
A UAlbany Student
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=hd_kEjfljjo&list=P L6hk_NIkW85UhnuPCF50_gLKycV4yR fs
h&ab_channel=CreatedE qua
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/18/pregnancy-weeks-abortion-tissue
https ://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/414/roth-v-united-states
https ://www.ny.gov/programs/abortion-new-york-state-know-your-rights
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0