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Last Friday, a student reported to the Miami Police that she had been verbally and physically attacked around midnight on the Western campus by six persons. During the course of the attack, she reported that the assailants used racist, homophobic, and sexist language. Our police department continues to investigate this incident.
As an academic community which seeks to prepare students to excel in a global economy, there simply is no place at Miami for such acts of intolerance toward any group. Miami belongs to each of its students, staff and faculty members and each has the right and should expect to be treated with dignity and respect.
Over the summer, in my new role as associate vice president for Institutional Diversity, I will be joining with others to begin developing strategies which will assist us with developing a more just and diverse community. The results of our recently administered survey of Miami University's climate will inform the framework for our discussions and subsequent plans.
Ensuring that Miami is a welcoming and supportive environment is our collective responsibility. As a first step I ask that you join me in building a more inclusive, just and diverse Miami by doing the following:
1) Acknowledge that you, along with all the members of the community, have a personal responsibility to make this campus community more inclusive and welcoming, embracing our differences;
2) Have the courage to speak up and speak out against acts of intolerance in public as well as private settings; and
3) Provide feedback to my office with ideas or suggestions on how we achieve this important goal.
It must be our collective goal that all students, faculty and staff on this campus feel that Miami is "our campus."
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