Honestly, most days since Trump 2.0 started have felt like a direct attack on our campus community.

Our fourth print issue of the school year is filled with articles about current executive political initiatives that run counter to the core values of our community. Trump has taken action to make diversity, equity and inclusion seem like bad things—illegal things—to pursue. He has denied that transgender people have a right to exist by trying to regulate and control gender as a matter of public policy. He has made it to where some students on our campus fear every day that they or their parents might be deported. With Trump’s election win, there are fears that abortion rights and access to contraception will continue to become more and more limited.

vThat doesn’t even take into account his plans to eliminate the Department of Education and what that might do to programs that serve special education students and those afforded accommodations under individualized education programs and 504 plans.

Then, add to that what is happening closer to home. Both the House and Senate have passed the school voucher bill, and have sent it on to Gov. Abbott’s desk for a signature to make it a law. When that happens, tax dollars will be redirected from public schools to individual students’ private-school education. At a time when our district is in crippling debt, we will see more resources directed to private schools and away from AISD.

Despite all these troubling trends, now is not the time for despair. Rather it’s a time to reassert our core values as a community.

We believe that diversity should be celebrated and cultivated not dismantled. At McCallum, diversity is not just encouraged, it’s fundamental to our collective identity; that’s why the actions of Trump and state leaders to eradicate DEI programs are hurtful to our community. Every student deserves to be able to express and celebrate their culture and their identity however they wish to without being told that who they are is somehow no longer allowed. Every student deserves the right to go to school without fearing they might be uprooted from their home and family. Every student deserves to have their needs met by their school to provide them with a proper education. Every student deserves to be able to attend a public school without the fear that it could lose funding. Every student deserves the right to determine what happens to their own body.

America was built on the ideas of diversity, but it is now the very concept of celebrating difference that is under attack. “Make America Great Again,” they said, but the policies of the last few months seemed to be aimed more at “Make America Monolithic Again.”

The recent rallies at the Capitol have been one example of people finding a collective voice to resist these recent executive actions and initiatives and defend our institutions and our shared values. But we need to do more than march on the Capitol. We have to be loud and proud and present for each other on a daily basis so that no one doubts that we remain together and value who we are as a campus community.