Division News & Statements
Message from Provost Cimitile & Vice President Bernal: Free Speech & Expressive Activities
August 28, 2017
Colleagues – As we begin the new academic year, we want to reaffirm the message President Haas shared many times at start-up events over the past few weeks. Grand Valley State University will protect free speech, but we stand by our values in being a place of inclusion. As we also communicated, we have developed an FAQ document for faculty that we hope will help in the classroom and in conversations you may have with students (here). Keep in mind that this is an initial document and more questions and information will be distributed; however, we wanted you to have resource information as quickly as possible. The FAQ document also is imbedded here on the webpage of the Division of Inclusion and Equity. This webpage includes multiple resources pertinent to all members of the campus community. Much of the FAQ and other resources will also be helpful to non-academic employees. So, we encourage everyone to review these materials.
We want to acknowledge the collaborative work of and thank the many offices that came together to work on this important issue: the Office of the Provost, the Division of Inclusion and Equity, Faculty Governance leadership, Dean of Students Office, Enrollment Development Division, and the Division of Legal, Compliance, and Risk Management. Together we can continue to educate our students and ourselves about full inclusion and understanding, so that we can continue to live out our mission of educating students to help shape their lives, their professions and their societies.
Sincerely,
Maria Cimitile, Ph.D.
Provost and Executive Vice President for
Academic and Student Affairs
Jesse Bernal, Ph.D.
Vice President for Inclusion and Equity