Campus Safety
On September 12, President Grasso shared an important message regarding campus safety. The safety of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors is of paramount importance and the only condition in which all people can teach, learn, and thrive.
Recent events and rhetoric have demonstrated the tension we often see on college campuses between free speech and the expectation that all members of our vast community engage in civic discourse—with a shared understanding of its definition.
Academic freedom and freedom of expression are core values here at U-M. This freedom is essential to learning, discovery, and growth. At the same time, exercising free speech carries responsibility. Civic discourse hinges on engaging one another with respect and a willingness to listen. Upholding both the right to speak and the duty to engage constructively allows campuses to remain vibrant communities where diverse perspectives are heard, challenged, and better understood.
As President Grasso and other university leaders have stated, we must reject calls for violence or expressions of support for violence. I join the president in the unequivocal condemnation of violence. It has no place in the community we are trying to build.
All members of the U-M community deserve to feel safe, valued, and respected. That is the charge of the university’s leadership, work for which our entire community must share responsibility, and an obligation that I take very seriously.