With anger and frustration, we are heartbroken and condemn actions of racial injustice in our nation. We support and encourage the need to peacefully protest and bring further awareness to atrocities that take place.

Phil Schubert, president of the university, sent an email Tuesday morning addressing the crisis this country faces. While speaking up on the matter, the email was vague and failed to motivate any form of action against racial injustice in America.

While organizations and universities are all experiencing the push to address the matter, the email did not present any form of resources where students could implement change.

“There is no doubt that our country is at a pivotal moment, and we are hurting,” Schubert said in the email. “We must always respect one another, and choose love and compassion over hatred and violence. The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor are a tragic, and all too frequent, reminder that there is still much work to be done.”

These are true statements. We must choose love over hatred, but what work will be done? The email doesn’t offer tools or resources being presented to combat racism and hatred.

We encourage the university to offer further resources to help in this fight against hatred. 

In fact, an alum has already produced resources to combat racism. Karissa Nickish, a 2020 graduate, created a petition that you can visit here. It asks that students have a multicultural education unit requirement.

We all encourage change and believe that promoting these ideas in our classroom can help deter racism from advancing to the next generation.

The email did no harm, but it could have accomplished far more with the platform it has. It was safe and concise, but the student body wants to know that black lives matter to the institution. 

We want to encourage Schubert and the university to continue doing more for its minority students, faculty and staff. This is not a bi-partisan issue, and we want to promote progress. Let us address these concerns together as one.