From: News Alert E-Memo (memofrom@Colorado.EDU)
Date: Tue Sep 21 2010 - 16:56:35 MDT
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:56:35 -0600 (MDT) From: News Alert E-Memo <memofrom@Colorado.EDU> Subject: Campus response to off-campus and on-campus attacks
TO: CU-Boulder Faculty, Staff and Students
FROM: Philip P. DiStefano, chancellor
SENDER: Office of the Chancellor
DATE: September 21, 2010
SUBJECT: Campus response to off-campus and on-campus attacks
Dear CU faculty, staff and students,
Over the weekend, two shocking acts of violence - one off campus and one on
plagued our community. In the first instance, a CU student and a friend,
both of Nigerian descent, were targets of a racially motivated attack on the
Hill. In the second, two students in our Leeds School of Business were
assaulted after a confrontation with two unknown men near the Coors Events
Center on campus.
I want to take this opportunity to update you on the actions the University
has taken, and is taking, since these crimes occurred:
-- Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Julie Wong and CU Student Government
(CUSG) President Will Taylor joined me in a combined statement of
condemnation of the bias-motivated attack on Saturday morning, and the
University responded to the media and repeated those messages on Saturday.
-- The Boulder Police are investigating the hate crime, and reportedly have
identified two new suspects. CU police are investigating the incident near
the Coors Events Center and are working with Boulder Police on identifying
suspects. Meanwhile, CUPD officers and community safety operations personnel
continue to proactively patrol the campus.
-- The Office of Victim Assistance is conducting ongoing outreach to the CU
student attacked on the Hill and to students from Africa. The latter efforts
have been supported by the Office of International Education and the Office
of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE).
-- CU's Office of Student Affairs sponsored a meeting with student leaders
and selected staff directors from 11 offices around campus to discuss
strategies to address the hate crime incident, its ramifications and an
appropriate individual and combined response.
-- The CU Student Government (CUSG) held a meeting to discuss the hate crime
incident and develop response strategies.
-- E-memos will follow this one reminding students about safety tips and
strategies for being safe and being an active bystander.
-- Various student groups on campus are planning individual and group
responses and actions. We will work to provide updates to you on these
events.
I am outraged, as many of you are, that an act of overt racial violence
victimized one of our students and, simultaneously, our entire international
student body and our valued community of diverse students. I am equally
outraged that a second act of violence has struck our campus community and
has caused generalized fear among many.
I want to declare my support for our students as they respond to these
combined acts in their own way, and, through their own organizations, work
to send messages that racism and violence will not be tolerated in our
community.
On an individual level, I want to encourage everyone to take action against
racism and violence whenever and wherever possible. When you see acts of
racism, move to stop them. When you hear racist remarks, challenge them.
Report racist and bigoted graffiti when you encounter it on campus.
Likewise, when you see violence brewing, move to stop it if you can - call
the police immediately or gather a group together to intervene. In your own
conduct, work to avoid violent confrontation and to help your friends and
colleagues avoid it too. In both cases, being an active bystander is a
statement of your values and of our community's values.
Events such as these strain the moral fabric of our campus. A university is
no place for violence of any kind, or for bigotry or racism: We simply
cannot elevate ideals and discuss ideas in an atmosphere of fear and
inequality. I want us to rise to this challenge together and individually,
and make a clear statement that we demand both a safe and a just community,
and that indeed, these two conditions are mutually dependent upon one
another.
Philip P. DiStefano, chancellor
University of Colorado at Boulder
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