Many of you have heard about and seen racist images circulating on social media tied to a member of our campus community. There is pain and anger being felt by our community members, students of color and especially our African American students. Actions and words that are meant to hurt someone based on their identity have no place in our community; hate has no home here on our campus. We know that this is not an isolated incident. Acts of discrimination, racial discrimination, and microaggressions against Black students and students of color are often unreported for many reasons, including the fear of invalidation and backlash. As your neighborhood leadership team, we acknowledge that any form of oppression creates a harmful environment that negatively affects the lives and wellbeing of many Spartan students of color. We firmly believe and affirm the right to a campus and educational climate where different cultures, identities, backgrounds and ethnicities are honored, nurtured, respected and celebrated appropriately.
Our collective Spartan will is to rise to the emotional, ethical and intellectual challenge of breaking the silence around race and racism on our campus, as well as local, state and national levels. Communities do not get built merely by having people in close proximity to each other. Inclusive communities are created by both individual and collective attitudes and actions. As members of the Live On residential community, we aim to build a Spartan community worthy of the diverse population we have on campus, a community that is honest and humble, open-minded and principled, critical and constructive, rigorous and kind. Residential Education and Housing Services, the ICA/MRule team and your Neighborhood Engagement Center recognize that we need greater awareness, understanding and freedom from ignorance, prejudice and narrow ideologies. Like any human institution, we are certainly flawed and with this recognition, we are openly committed to do better.
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