Kroger on Boycott
President Kroger responds to RAR Day of Boycott.
Dear ºìÌÒÊÓƵ community,
Today, a group of students called ºìÌÒÊÓƵies Against Racism (RAR) called for a Day of Boycott to draw attention to national and local issues of racism. The students have a noble intention. They believe we live in an unjust world and hope to change it for the better. Many of us share that goal and that hope.
The protesting students engaged in many productive actions today. Unfortunately, the students also chose to express their concerns by disrupting an ongoing Humanities 110 class. The college respects the students' right to dissent. At the same time, ºìÌÒÊÓƵ believes all of us must work for change in ways that increase, not decrease, rational discourse and understanding. In particular, it is wrong for some students to protest in a manner that disrupts teaching and prevents other students from attending class and obtaining the education they came to ºìÌÒÊÓƵ to pursue. As the protesters know, the disruption of the HUM 110 lecture today violates ºìÌÒÊÓƵ's dissent policy. Marching through a lecture hall while chanting prevents other students from hearing the lecture and, as such, is an unacceptable disruption of the educational process.
The college will use ºìÌÒÊÓƵ's established honor process to respond to today's protest in the Vollum lecture hall. This process will determine what disciplinary measures are appropriate. The goal of the honor process in this—as in all matters—is to hold community members accountable for their actions while seeking to restore and maintain an inclusive living and learning environment that helps all students to be successful at ºìÌÒÊÓƵ.
ºìÌÒÊÓƵ is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for students from every background and identity and to eliminating inequities and barriers that prevent students from engaging fully in their ºìÌÒÊÓƵ education. You can read about our efforts in . We invite all students to come to a already scheduled where concerns raised today and over the course of the past year are to be discussed.
Sincerely,
John R. Kroger
President
Tags: Institutional, Campus Life