Letter from the President

The following letter was sent out campus-wide via email and also appeared in the Drury Mirror online.

To Members of the Drury Community,

As a university committed to building an environment of inclusion for all persons, we deplore the recent acts of vandalism against posters produced by the Drury University chapter of Amnesty International. The posters, encouraging personal expressions of support for ending violence against women, were powerful statements of inclusion. That some members of the Drury community saw fit to rip them from walls and destroy them in a disgraceful and insulting way is reprehensible. We have asked Drury Safety and Security to review videotapes from the buildings in which the vandalism took place, and every effort will be made to identify and sanction the perpetrators. Domestic violence is a tragic epidemic in our community and region, and must be acknowledged and addressed.

Just as important is the necessity to decry these actions as inconsistent with the university's commitment to civil discourse. Each member of the Drury community has a voice and must feel free to use it to express her/his identity. We need not all agree on every subject. However, those actions which serve to silence or marginalize members of the community are antithetical to Drury's traditions of inclusion and civil dialogue -- and to the highest calling of a university education.

Plans were already well underway for a visit to campus in late April by Dr. Karen Kaivola of Stetson University, an expert in gender issues in higher education to begin a constructive assessment of the Drury community. This most recent incident testifies to the importance of remaining vigilant on such matters. We are committed to assuring that this incident becomes a powerful teaching/learning moment, one that promotes a dialogue committed to more fully realizing our responsibility to create a more inclusive university community. Anything less is simply not acceptable.

Todd Parnell, President
Tijuana Julian, Vice-President for Student Affairs
Charles Taylor, Vice-President for Academic Affairs