Dear Campus Community,

 

Today, we received notice from one student who reported being threatened and racially harassed by a group of people on campus and four campus climate reports from students who reported receiving harassing and racist text messages. We later learned of reports of the same or similar racist text messages being sent across the country.

 

These reports are heart wrenching and we are obviously taking them very seriously. Investigations into these reports began immediately, including alerting our state’s Attorney General and the FBI. Importantly, we are also providing care and resources to these students and will continue to support them following these incidents.

 

We share this information with our entire GVSU community to ensure that everyone is aware, understands the steps being taken, and is reminded of the various resources available at the University to support our faculty, staff, and students. If you experience harassment of any sort, we encourage you to use our website to report any such acts. 

 

If you are in need of community support, please know that the social justice centers located in the Kirkhof Center on the Allendale Campus and in the DeVos Center on the Pew Campus are standing by to help.  As a reminder, Grand Valley has many student resources for support and for faculty & staff, Encompass, our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offers resources for support as well. 

 

As leaders, we join President Mantella in our expectation that our faculty, staff and students feel safe and cared for as part of this community. We also all expect everyone to behave with civility and in a manner consistent with our values as an institution. We are committed to making sure both things happen for every single member of GVSU and that people are held accountable to these standards.

 

Choosing to care is the bedrock of who we are and we hope and encourage you all to care for each other. To engage in learning and dialogue as a community, please participate in next week’s Teach-In occurring on the Pew Campus on Wednesday and on the Allendale Campus on Thursday. 

 

As a community, we all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

 

 

Jenny Hall-Jones, PhD
Vice President for Student Affairs

 

Robert Shorty, PhD

Vice President for People, Equity and Culture

Chief People and Inclusion & Equity Officer