Austin Smith, a Black Earth Emeritus Fellow, is a member of the Jones Lecturers at Stanford University. We have highlighted the “Dear Stanford Letters,” a series of letters that give voice to the firing of 23 Lecturers, including Austin. This letter, written by Austin, is a letter to his former teacher, a long-time faculty member in the Creative Writing Department who retired just before the vote that resulted in the firings of the Lecturers. Austin paints a jarring picture of the monetized underbelly of higher education decisions and the difference between “academics” and “teachers.” Read the letter here: