You Are Welcome Here
What Can I Do? Town Hall Results Behind the Welcome Design
A Message from the Office of the President
Excerpt from “Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion” released Aug. 2017. Read the full message.
“Dear members of the 51 community:
…Our University is committed to the free exchange of ideas and perspectives. That exchange is at the core of the academic enterprise. However, our campus does not exist in a bubble.
We are not immune to the currents and controversies going on at other universities and in our country. The past weeks have seen the specter of prejudice, hatred and bigotry rear its ugly head in Charlottesville, Virginia, with tragic consequences. Such events challenge us as individuals and as institutions to make clear our moral values, to take a stand on the side of human decency, and to speak out with one loud voice for the kind of society we believe in.
…I am proud to reaffirm our longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion, to our fundamental belief in the dignity and worth of all human beings no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation. It is our differences that make us stronger. Efforts to threaten, demean, or degrade one of us is an assault against our whole community and should not go unchallenged by an inclusive and welcoming campus…
This University's senior leadership team and I are deeply concerned about the tenor of the time. With the academic year about to start, we call on every individual in our community to revisit and reconsider the values that have, for so long, made this institution a beacon--a place where every individual is recognized as a valued member of our campus community and treated with respect, and a place where civility guides our debate…
Let there be no doubt or ambiguity, here at 51 we are welcoming and inclusive of all. The families and communities we serve expect and deserve nothing less, and we owe that to ourselves as well.
Dr. Edward Montgomery
President"