Dear Tulane Community:

We are writing to follow up on our message about yesterday’s protest.

To reiterate: the security and well-being of the Tulane community is our top priority. Protecting all our students, faculty, and staff is a daily and ongoing commitment.

We fully recognize that our community was deeply affected by yesterday’s violence and that we must ensure it does not happen again. This was a serious and deeply troubling moment for all Tulanians, and we will respond accordingly.

To be clear, there are no active threats and campus is secure.

Given this incident and the challenges we’ve seen at other universities across the country in recent days, we want to be thoroughly prepared. We are taking the following steps effective immediately:

You will notice a significantly increased security presence around our campuses.  

The Tulane University Police Department (TUPD) is:

The several individuals who have been arrested in the last few days have been issued a restricted presence by TUPD, which prevents them from entering and engaging on any of Tulane’s campuses.

In addition, we have activated the Tulane Campus Safety Task Force, a cross-section of university departments charged with ensuring that Tulane’s efforts to keep our community safe are aligned and proactively communicated. This task force is similar to the one we established to monitor, plan, and respond during Covid.

The Campus Safety Task Force is adding additional measures should any other protests be planned:

Tulane will continue to enforce the Student Code of Conduct and the staff and faculty handbooks. Any member of our community found violating these policies will face appropriate disciplinary action. The outcomes of any disciplinary proceedings are confidential.

We have resources available for anyone affected by these events. If you have information on an incident in which you or someone you know has been harassed or targeted in any way, fill out a concerns report.

Students in need of support resources can call our Student Affairs Professional On-Call at 504-920-9900. Someone from the Office of Case Management & Victim Services will contact you directly and connect you to the resources you need, whether academic, counseling, or something more specific to your situation. In addition, the Counseling Center has great resources available. Even more support resources for students can be found here.

Faculty and staff in need of assistance can call 1-800-624-5544 or visit this website.

We are engaged in continued conversations with the Office of Student Affairs, The Carolyn Barber Pierre Center for Intercultural Life, the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, as well as Jewish and Muslim student associations and religious organizations to learn how to best support our students who have family, friends or deep religious and cultural ties to Israel or Gaza.

We must unite in our efforts to protect one another and to stand against all forms of violence and hate including antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism.

To reiterate: there are no active threats and campus is secure, but we want to be prepared. We thank you for your commitment and partnership in helping to keep our community safe.

Michael A. Fitts, President 
Robin Forman, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost 
Patrick Norton, Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer/Treasurer