We in the Center for Community Engagement were distraught by the invasion of the Capitol building and the congressional offices earlier this week, yet we’re not surprised. This was the logical conclusion and even the intended outcome of those in positions of leadership, especially Donald Trump, who propagated false conspiracies about the 2020 election to the United States populace.
Furthermore, we were dismayed to witness the disparities in how the violent insurgents were treated by law enforcement officers at the Capitol in contrast to how law enforcement has responded to nonviolent protestors for racial justice in Washington, DC, and around the country over the past year—and for decades prior. We recognize that this inequity is deeply rooted in our society and all too familiar to disenfranchised and marginalized groups.
We have much work to do to uphold and advance the University’s Meliora values that we hold dear: equity, leadership, inclusion, openness, respect, and accountability. We believe in the power of people to effect positive social change through active participation in established democratic processes and institutions, as well as through non-violent direct action that seeks to make those intuitions ever better and more accountable to the needs of the people. We acknowledge that policies that have been (and continue to be) put in place to prevent some (notably people of color) from having access to these mechanisms of power, and we dedicate ourselves to advancing equal access, and to promoting liberty and justice for all.
We uphold the statement of University President Mangelsdorf in response to this week’s attack, and we embrace the work of our partner organizations and want to share their messages in response to the violence in Washington, DC, yesterday. These include Campus Compact, the Andrew Goodman Foundation, and 540 West Main.