To the FSU community,
I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you my goal for our community when it comes to matters of diversity and inclusion. You may have already heard me discuss how it’s my hope to build our agenda for these issues around the statement, “At FSU, we respect every single person.”
It’s a simple statement, but it can have a profound effect on our community if we all strive to live up to it. If all of us commit to respecting each other, we will feel collectively empowered to intervene or speak up when we see people who are violating this core value. Whether it’s an incident of racism, sexism or sexual violence, we all can play a part in preventing these things from happening.
In many ways, FSU is already a tight-knit community. My observations and interactions with students, faculty and staff on campus have been extremely positive. But I believe we are capable of doing even more to respect and look out for each other.
I hope you will join me in this effort to foster a culture of respect for all at FSU. I encourage you to get involved and take advantage of the resources we have on campus. Take part in one of our Diversity Dialogues, attend a meeting of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion or take a training session offered through Campus Police or Residence Life. We want to hear from you.
As you may know, we recently began the process of hiring a Chief Diversity Officer for the University who will move us in the direction of producing measurable, data-driven outcomes when it comes to these issues. Everyone will have an opportunity to hear from the finalists before the position is filled. I encourage you to attend these public forums, which will be scheduled at a later date.
If you have some thoughts about any of these issues that you would like to share with me, please feel free to e-mail me at jcevallos@framingham.edu.
F. Javier Cevallos
President of FSU