The Department of French stands with UVa President James Ryan and over five hundred other college and university presidents in opposing unprecedented government overreach and political interference in American higher education. As members of a public university and in service of democracy and the public good, we express our bedrock commitment (1) to academic and intellectual freedom, (2) to free and open inquiry, (3) to our core missions of teaching and research in pursuit of truth, (4) to the autonomy of colleges and universities to conduct their affairs free of undue government intrusion and the coercive use of public funding, and (5) to constructive engagement that will improve our institutions and serve our republic.