Dear Student,
This weekend our country experienced firsthand another horrific response against our core democratic values of justice and equality. The escalation and violence of white supremacists left not only the community of Charlottesville, Virginia, and our nation grief stricken, but has shaken our confidence in the ability to protest without the loss of life or human dignity. Colleges are targeted by such hate groups because our very mission is dedicated to exploring and debating controversial ideas. Unfortunately, what we saw this weekend was not just about exercising the right of free speech and the right to bear arms, but promoting hatred and violence.
At Shoreline, we have taken dramatic steps to uphold our deeply held values of respect, inclusion, and student engagement. Our Shoreline Community College Community Standard reflects a process that we engaged in winter and spring 2015 and captures in words the values that are reflected on our campus. Drawing on our Community Standard, we took the following actions in the last academic year:
- We created a #YouAreWelcomeHere video and are sharing it on social media and in various venues across campus.
- We have #YouAreWelcomeHere t-shirts and buttons for sale in the bookstore ($5 per t-shirt, $1 per button). We encourage employees and students to wear their #YouAreWelcomeHere t-shirts and buttons each Wednesday, as well as general Shoreline gear you may have, to show we care about each other and our collective values of respect, inclusion, and student engagement.
- There is a Community Standard response protocol in place to address any acts of intolerance if they unfold on campus.
- We offered bystander training to the administrative team, classified staff, and faculty so we can better respond if we hear or see someone taking actions that are contrary to our Community Standard.
- We held interactive conversations on the value of Free Speech and joined the Margin to Center series put on by the Office of Student Life to continue being in dialogue about these important issues confronting our nation and college community.
Just a reminder, if you see and/or experience an incident that needs to be reported, you can follow the steps below:
- Alert Safety and Security (or law enforcement if needed)
- Report the incident to the Community Standard email box we have established: communitystandard@shoreline.edu
As we prepare for the 2017-18 academic year, we will continue to look for ways to share our ideas on respectful actions we can take to better serve and support our students and each other.
Respectfully,
Cheryl
Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.
President
