New working group announced

August 20, 2017

Dear University Community,

This weekend, my cabinet, academic leadership, and student life personnel have been discussing the necessary next steps after our Denton campus was covered with posters that contained inflammatory white supremacist rhetoric and propaganda on Friday night. We take what happened here and across our country very seriously, and stand united in condemning these actions.

I write you today to say that I have charged Academic Affairs and Student Life to form a working group consisting of faculty, staff, and students, to lead our ongoing response to those that promote hatred and divisiveness, and instill fear among our diverse university community. This group will be co-chaired by Dr. Abigail Tilton, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, and Dr. Stephanie Brown, Associate Vice President of Student Enrichment, Health, and Support.

This group will build upon the work of the university’s Campus Advocacy and Inclusion Team and help us facilitate appropriate responses to divisive situations that affect the TWU community. You will hear more about this group and its activities as we all gather back to campus for the start of our academic year and fall semester.

In addition, we are planning a series of forums, panels, and discussions on these issues, and we will share more on these activities once scheduled.

I am reminded of one of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, most famous quotes: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

I applaud the actions of our student resident assistants, who are on campus early to prepare for students to move in to our residence halls. Inspired by an idea from RA Pamela Chavez-Hernandez, these RAs and peer counselors from university residence halls and select apartments spent Saturday night cutting out hearts and writing kind, uplifting, and inclusive messages of hope. This afternoon, the students posted these healing hearts messages in our free speech area.