Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate statement regarding embracing diversity and condemning bigotry

Identify Prejudice

People are harmed when others refuse to name hurtful statements and activities. Our campus community needs to recognize and acknowledge racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination. (In taking this step, we recognize that minority groups are more likely to be targets of negativity and violence.)

Speak up / Speak out

Silence perpetuates prejudice as it allows it to stand unchallenged. Your active, positive stance will help change the negative cultures of racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination.

Celebrate our Diversity!

Acknowledge our similarities and respect and honor all our differences. Challenge yourself Listen to others, and strive to understand their perspective and experiences.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

- Mahatma Gandhi

Faculty Senate Statement on Protecting the Interests of our International and Resident Immigrant Community

In August 2012, Colorado Mesa University passed a resolution embracing “its role as the cultural hub of western Colorado” and striving “to nurture a respectful, inclusive, physically and emotionally safe campus culture free of violence, physical or verbal abuse, intimidation or discrimination.”

As faculty, we are concerned about the evolving changes to immigration laws, policies, and practices that may affect the status and safety of CMU students, staff, and faculty, and their families. We the faculty believe we must state clearly that we intend to continue “to nurture a respectful… [and] inclusive … safe campus culture.” We believe students, staff, and faculty from other countries, documented or undocumented, are invaluable members of our community.

To this end, we resolve to welcome all of the members of the CMU community, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, country of origin, or status. We will work to protect and support students, staff, and faculty to the full extent of our abilities and the law.

A Resolution by the Faculty of Colorado Mesa University Supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Light of the 2022 Bomb Threats:

WHEREAS: We, as fellow faculty of higher learning – which supports and nurtures structural equity, inclusion, and diversity – we the faculty of Colorado Mesa University (CMU) stand in solidarity with the faculty, students, and staff of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), especially with the nearly sixty HBCUs targeted by bomb threats between January 1 and February 16, 2022; AND

WHEREAS: The perpetrators of these threats most likely planned them to coincide with Black History Month, making their hate-filled actions all the more reprehensible; AND

WHEREAS: Since 1837, with the founding of Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, HBCUs have been an essential part of the fabric of higher education in the United States; AND

WHEREAS: Today, the 107 public and private HBCUs enroll over 228,000 students, accounting for over 20% of all Black college graduates in the nation; AND

WHEREAS: The HBCU legacy includes the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, and Vice President Kamala Harris, a graduate of Howard University in Washington; AND WHEREAS: HBCUs do not exist as spaces apart; AND

WHEREAS: HBCUs are an integral part of American higher education, and threats directed towards them are an attack on all colleges and universities throughout the nation; AND

WHEREAS: The recent bomb threats against HBCUs – intended to create fear, stoke division, and silence Black voices – perpetuate a long history of racial targeting in the United States; AND

WHEREAS: Such actions demand that we speak out against these racially -motivated hate crimes;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE FACULTY OF COLORADO MESA UNIVERSITY strongly condemns all violence and threats of violence motivated by racism. Through our example, we will not only act against these crimes, but inspire others to stand for a more just society. As a regional educational leader, the faculty of CMU decries the strain that racist actions place on institutional resources and the debilitating stresses they generate in students, faculty, and staff at HBCUs and at all colleges and universities. We support wholeheartedly the statement made by Marian Turner, an International Studies major at Spelman College in Atlanta, who said, “I shouldn’t have to live in fear when I’m just going to get an education.”