UW-L chancellor sends letter addressing racism

Letter includes link to reported
hate/bias incidents on campus

In response to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse administration asking someone to remove a confederate flag from the front of their semi-truck (picture above, story to right), chancellor Joe Gow has sent the following letter to students and colleagues.

“Dear students and colleagues:

Although we are not the University of Missouri, I would be disingenuous if I did not acknowledge that we have our own serious challenges with discrimination and racism here at UWL. Our students and employees of color report being frequently subject to aggressions, both large and small, in our classrooms, residence halls and in the greater La Crosse community. One need only look at the summary of disturbing incidents posted on our Hate Response Team website to see clear evidence of what is taking place on a regular basis at our university:

https://www.uwlax.edu/Campus-Climate/Overview-of-hate/bias-incidents/

And I’m sure there are many more incidents that go unreported, but have just as devastating an impact on those who experience them.

Our alumni of color report that these kinds of hurtful and isolating incidents are not new to our campus and community. Thus there can be no denying the fact that our efforts to eradicate racism and discrimination here at UW-L have not been as effective as we have hoped they would be.

We must and we can do better.

Over the past few days I’ve been grateful to meet with several groups of UWL students and staff who’ve proposed the following kinds of ideas:

Requiring all UWL employees to participate in diversity training

Creating a new cabinet-level Chief Diversity Officer position

Refining our general education curriculum to place greater emphasis on diversity

Formulating more effective strategies to recruit and retain more faculty, students and staff of color

Holding regular all-campus open forums about inclusion and discrimination

Making a more diverse campus a top priority in our upcoming strategic planning work

As chancellor of our university I remain firmly committed to making UWL as inclusive and hate-free as it can be, and I am eager to explore the implementation of the suggestions I have received. Because I am equally committed to our rich tradition of shared governance I am writing today to ask for your assistance as our conversations and policy considerations unfold. For if our new diversity and anti-racism strategies are to be truly effective then we must secure a firm commitment from our entire campus community. I’ll have more to say about this in the weeks ahead; but for now I hope you’ll join me in both acknowledging the need to confront issues that hinder the education of all our students, and working to create a more inclusive campus community for everyone.

Thank you,

Joe Gow, Chancellor

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse