Dear Honors College students,
I’m writing today to say clearly and loudly: Black lives matter, Asian Lives, and Asian-American Lives, Matter, too. We deplore, and pledge to work for an end to, violence and discrimination against Blacks, Asians, Asian-Americans, and all people of color. The horrifying deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others cry out to all of us to listen, learn, and act.
Our Honors College is an inclusive, mutually supportive community of students, faculty, and staff. We seek to prepare our students and ourselves to lead positive change in the world. Our Honors College must be a place where we learn to live together as anti-racists, and where we work together and with others to help create an anti-racist world that truly is just for all.
Moving forward, I pledge that the Honors College will continue to recruit and support Black and other minority students vigorously. We will create new spaces and opportunities within the Honors College for listening, dialogue, broader discussion, and concerted action. We will continue to offer Honors courses, and develop new Honors courses, that help us all better understand systemic racism and its effects, and work toward its elimination. And we will seek new opportunities through trainings and workshops to help us all develop the skills and tools we need to do these necessary and, yes, hopeful things.
Jeff Vahlbusch, Dean