Students,
As we undergo a transition of leadership in our nation, we must strive to continually embrace diversity of thought. We are an institution of higher learning and our campus community is comprised of students, faculty and staff from various walks of life, different backgrounds and unique personal experiences. As a result, we may not always agree with one another. However, it is imperative upon us all to remain committed to the idea of civility.
What does the concept of civility look like in our society? From my view, it means identifying the things that bring us together, as opposed to what separates us. The pursuit of commonality is not easy. Most of us gravitate toward what is comfortable and what we know, not necessarily to what we don’t know. Civility can be less comfortable in that regard, but it is absolutely critical as we talk about what it means to be part of a global society.
This week and beyond, we will continue to have difficult conversations like universities have done throughout the course of their history; we welcome and promote that as part of the Clemson experience. In all situations, though, we expect members of our campus community to espouse the institution’s core values of honesty, integrity and respect. Behavior which is counter to these values is unacceptable.
I ask each of you — especially as you engage in any type of political discourse leading up to, during or after Wednesday’s inauguration — to be thoughtful and measured with any and all interactions. Please know I believe in you, trust you and value you and am confident you will continue to engage one another in a way you have always done in the past.
