Encampment Update
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Dear DU Community, As microcosms of the communities around us, institutions of higher education are not immune to complex political and social issues. We – like many other colleges and universities - are seeing these realities play out on our campus. That said, times of challenge give us the opportunity to come together and bring out the best in our world, our nation and our DU community. As I have shared several times over the past week, the University of Denver remains deeply committed to free expression and pluralism. Student voice is a critical component to the DU experience, and we appreciate those who have peacefully, passionately and respectfully expressed their perspectives. However, we have received reports of behavior that may be discriminatory and harassing by encampment and non-encampment participants, and they have been reported to our Office of Equal Opportunity & Title IX for review. We will be looking carefully and thoroughly into these matters and will act as appropriate under our procedures. In addition, we have become aware of a video containing remarks made by a professor while engaged with the protest encampment on campus. While we support freedom of expression, some of the professor's remarks crossed a line. In particular, it is wholly unacceptable for a faculty or staff member to speak about or to a student in the manner he did, and the University disavows his comment. It is critical that all incidents of discrimination and harassment are reported quickly to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX (EOIX). Students with concerns about their environment, faculty, or anyone else involved in their DU experience can reach out to Student Affairs by submitting a Student Rights and Responsibilities incident report for assistance and support. In our effort to support free expression, DU provides many opportunities for students to engage in free expression, and our policies allow encampments, as long as they can be safe and not disruptive to our 12,000+ students’ studies or university operations. Frequent identification checks are paramount to maintaining safety within free expression activities, and we often require IDs at speaker events and other free expression activities. Choosing to violate University policy is not a form of free expression, but rather civil disobedience, and such choices knowingly result in disciplinary actions. In that vein, the University has begun issuing interim actions (discipline) for students participating in the encampment who have chosen to violate University policy and the student honor code. In this type of situation, actions can range from warnings and location restrictions to interim suspensions and trespass violations. University policies and potential disciplinary consequences have been provided to encampment participants and the broader campus community, starting last week. Any student who has violated the University's rules around the encampment has done so willingly, and with the knowledge that their actions would have consequences. Finally, vandalism of any kind is not acceptable on DU’s campus. As a community, we share these beautiful spaces and we respect them, together, to ensure they may serve as a home and house of learning for many generations to come. Moving forward, we have an opportunity to model what free expression can look like at a university, and more so, to advance our University culture by engaging in passionate and thoughtful debate while respecting and showing empathy for one another. We hope all involved on all sides of this complex issue will choose to move forward in a way that embraces the true intent of free expression and reflects the values of this great University community. Sincerely, Jeremy Haefner Chancellor |