In Wake of Black Americans’ Killings, Campus Leaders Call for Action

Student leaders and administration officials sent the following email to the campus community last night. 

Dear University of Maryland community,

We are grieving the killing of George Floyd, McKinsley Lincoln, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop and Ahmaud Arbery, and all who came before.

We are deeply concerned about insufficient police accountability across the country, systemic racism, and the social, economic and health inequities that have led to protests born of despair, anger and hope. We support the many peaceful demonstrations for justice across the United States.

We acknowledge that we have our own painful history at UMD, which includes the tragic murder of Lt. Richard Collins III.

The University System of Maryland (USM) chancellor and all the presidents of USM institutions recently stated publicly: "We acknowledge with one voice the structural racism that’s taking the lives of our fellow citizens, and we stand in solidarity as we speak out against racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, discrimination against our LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, religious intolerance, and bigotry of any kind."

Our university must be even more committed to creating a more inclusive, respectful and supportive environment, and follow up with actions that will help shape a more just and equitable campus community and society.

We would like to inform students, staff and faculty of the following campus opportunities, and invite your participation as a step toward taking action:

• If you are interested in being in community with others, to process the pain, exhaustion and fear, email the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at DiverseTerps@umd.edu.
• If you seek individual support, email Dr. Chetan Joshi, director of the Counseling Center, at cajoshi@umd.edu.
• If you seek spiritual support, email campus Chaplain Holly Ulmer at ulmer@umd.edu, and she will connect you to other campus chaplains as needed.
• If you are interested in reading “White Fragility” or “Me & White Supremacy” and discussing it with members of the community and leaders from embraceRace@umd, email Student Affairs at vpsa@umd.edu.
• If you are interested in working with your leadership team, unit, department or division to strengthen cultural competency, and engage in doing the work, email Dr. Carlton Green, director of Diversity Training and Education, at cegreen@umd.edu.
• If you want to connect with and/or receive support from leaders within our Nyumburu Center, email director Dr. Ron Ziegler at nyumbz@umd.edu.
• If you are a member of a cultural student organization, and want to be in community with others, email Brandon Dula, assistant director of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy (MICA) at bdula@umd.edu.
• If you have concerns or questions about current policies that could negatively impact you and members of your community, email Dr. Andrea Goodwin, director of Student Conduct, at agoodwin@umd.edu.
• If you would like to know more about our University of Maryland Police Department and its policies and protocols, email Chief David Mitchell at UMPDchief@umpd.umd.edu.
• If you are interested in organizing other efforts that help our university become more of what it professes and aspires to be, email any of us your ideas and we will help you organize and connect with others.

In community and solidarity,

Dan Alpert, Student Government Association, President
Annie Rappeport, Graduate Student Government, President
Laura Dugan, University Senate, Chair
Wallace D. Loh, President
Mary Ann Rankin, Senior Vice President and Provost
Carlo Colella, Vice President for Administration and Finance
Georgina Dodge, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion
Damon Evans, Director of Athletics
Jeffrey K. Hollingsworth, Vice President for Information Technology
Jackie Lewis, Vice President for University Relations
Laurie E. Locascio, Vice President for Research
Patty Perillo, Vice President for Student Affairs
Mike Poterala, Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel