Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley emailed Boston College faculty Thursday to express his dismay at recent racist incidents at BC and encourage faculty to attend tomorrow’s “Silence is Still Violence” solidarity march through campus. Read the full statement below:
Dear members of the Boston College faculty:
I write to my faculty colleagues to affirm our concern for all members of our community in light of several racially motivated incidents that occurred on campus over the past week.
The defacing of several Black Lives Matter signs and a racist social media post sadly remind us that our nation’s original sin—racism—remains a grave threat in 2017, and that we must confront this evil as individuals and as a community at both the local and national levels and reject emphatically language and actions that seek to deny the humanity of any individual within Boston College.
Our tradition demands that we love one another, and we are called, as members of the BC community, to a higher form of solidarity and welcome.
In particular, I call on each of you—regardless of your scholarly expertise or course responsibilities this semester—to explore ways to give voice to our core values of welcome and respect, and to use the classroom and your office hours to engage with our students and with faculty colleagues about the difficult but critical work of grappling with questions of race, difference, justice, and the common good.
I thank a number of you for initiating such conversations this week, and I’m confident that our faculty, along with colleagues in Academic and Student Affairs and in Mission and Ministry, will rise to the challenge of the moment. I hope to see many of you at tomorrow’s UGBC-led solidarity march; it will begin at McElroy at noon and will conclude at Corcoran Commons.
Boston College rejects all acts of hatred and intolerance, and we are called as educators, this week as much as ever, to proclaim our values of love, respect, and inclusion.
Sincerely,
David Quigley
Provost and Dean of Faculties
Featured Image by Julia Hopkins / Heights Editor
