Oct 18, 2017 Statement by University Leaders on Campus Safety

As leaders of the University of Utah, we work daily to facilitate the intellectual development of all campus members and help our students, staff, and faculty reach for their professional goals.

Over the past months, our campus has experienced several threats to our learning environment that challenge individuals’ ability to thrive.  These incidents are not isolated and we understand that they are signs of deep racial and gender biases (among other bigotries) that have been perpetuated in our country for now hundreds of years.  As leaders within the university community, we acknowledge with humility and with empathy the hurt, pain, and damaging effects on mental and physical well-being that these bigotries and threats have produced.  Any such threats are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Understanding that we have much to learn, we are committed to gaining a more complex understanding of issues that challenge the respectful climate an academic setting demands.  These include racial microaggressions, biases against women and LGBTQ+ individuals, and intolerance towards people’s citizenship status, disabilities, politics, and religion.  We commit to providing training to individuals within our units so that faculty, advisors, staff, and other students will better understand the problems and challenges that are daily faced by these groups so that we can act with greater understanding at all levels of campus life. Our aim is to create and sustain a university climate where all individuals treat each other with respect and dignity.

We as leaders at the University of Utah promise to develop strategies that work proactively to reduce the potential for such threats.  We feel passionately that the University of Utah must become an environment where all individuals on campus are physically safe, so that we all can stretch our minds to places that may feel intellectually unfamiliar, but that excite the mind and lead to new discoveries that benefit societies here and around the globe.  We ask for your patience as we strive for a university environment where this is possible for all.