UMS Colleagues,
We all have different burdens, challenges, and responsibilities, and the differences that arise between us because of them can sometimes be the source of tension.
And then there are moments when we are all bound together in a common feeling or purpose. Too often, it's tragedy that binds us.
In just the last 10 days, we’ve been bound together in three of these moments, our hearts heavy from the news of horrific, senseless shootings that have robbed Buffalo, Laguna Hills, and Uvalde — communities just like ours — of schoolchildren, teachers, churchgoers, neighbors, and friends. We mourn together in quiet shock and numbness, asking ourselves how many more times we must bear such horror, our sense of security shattered.
It's been nearly 10 years since I grieved with the families of the victims of the worst school shooting in U.S. history. The sense of grief and shock never goes away, and I am heartsick that more families just like ours are waking each morning — if they’ve slept at all — without their children or loved ones. It never becomes easier.
These lives ended for no other reason than shopping at the neighborhood grocery store, worshiping, or going to school. We cannot accept a world in which such everyday activities can lead to such tragedy.
All of these incidents so close together are a reminder of how far we need to evolve as a society. I know we all share a common purpose of wanting to do something to finally stop the carnage — to not just grieve, but to find a common resolve in our collective humanity that defeats once and for all the hatred fueled by racism, anger, and darkness so evident in these otherwise senseless acts.
In my Imperative for Change message to the UMS community two years ago, I noted that equal and inclusive access to public education is a great equalizer. By itself, of course, education cannot stop such senseless gun violence. But it can show us how to listen to different viewpoints than our own, which creates space for respectful dialogue. It can show us how to think critically about actions we might take as a society to reduce the likelihood that more families in the days and years to come will bear such unbearable grief.
Our universities work daily toward these goals, and we have no higher purpose together in this difficult moment.
Today, we mourn, and I know together we hold the families who are suffering in our hearts. Tomorrow, let's keep on with the great equalizing task of education and turn our collective grief to common resolve to make our society better.
Sincerely,
