Posted on 11/09/2016 10:08:27 AM PST by stayathomemom
To All Members of the University Community:
As I’m sure many of you did, I watched the election coverage late into the night, and had the opportunity to visit with students and staff at a results-watching event sponsored by the Ginsberg Center at the Michigan Union.
It will take quite some time to completely absorb the results from yesterday’s election, understand the full implications, and discern the long-term impact on our university and our nation. More immediately, in the aftermath of a close and highly contentious election we continue to embrace our most important responsibility as a university community.
Our responsibility is to remain committed to education, discovery and intellectual honesty – and to diversity, equity and inclusion. We are at our best when we come together to engage respectfully across our ideological differences; to support ALL who feel marginalized, threatened or unwelcome; and to pursue knowledge and understanding, as we always have, as the students, faculty and staff of the University of Michigan.
There are reports of members of our community offering support to one another. Students are planning a vigil tonight on the Diag at 6 p.m. Our Center for Research on Teaching and Learning also has numerous resources available for faculty seeking help in cultivating classroom environments that are responsive to national issues.
I also want to make everyone aware of some of the plans and events we have had in place for today and beyond.
· Our Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy is holding a Post-Election Analysis from 4 to 5:30 p.m. today in the Weill Hall’s Annenberg Auditorium. Speakers include former U.S. Congressman John Dingell, former Ambassador Ron Weiser, and faculty members Mara Ostfeld, Betsey Stevenson and Marina Whitman.
· Our History Department has organized a community discussion led by faculty and students to include historical perspectives at 6 p.m. tonight in 1014 Tisch Hall.
· The Office of Student Life will provide resources and referrals for support on campus to students, faculty and staff at a location in the Michigan Union’s Willis Ward Lounge. It will be open today from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
· Our Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs is offering an open space of support to help members of our community connect during open hours today. MESA’s office is in the Michigan Union, Room 2202.
· Tomorrow, our Ginsberg Center and Counseling and Psychological Services office is facilitating a Post-election Dialogue: Impact, Perspective-taking, and Moving Forward. This event is part of the Student Life Professional Development Conference at 1 – 2 p.m. in the Michigan League’s Henderson Room.
I know that other schools, colleges and offices across our campus are planning events as well. I thank everyone who is helping us come together and ask anyone scheduling a post election event post it on the University of Michigan Events Calendar.
I hope all of us will continue to proudly embrace the opportunities before us as the students, faculty and staff of a great public research university governed by the people. Elections are often times of great change, but the values we stand for at U-M have been shaped over the course of nearly 200 years.
Our mission remains as essential for society as ever: "…to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future."
I look forward to working together with all of you to advance the work we do in service of the public – and to ensure that the University of Michigan will always be a welcoming place for all members of society.
Sincerely,
Mark Schlissel President
Dedicated to intellectual honesty....
Bwahahaha
Ditto that
Ginsburg Center
Will someone please cuddle the snowflakes ?
My, how times have changed.
Back in ‘84, I recall no rioting or protests at the University of Minnesota when Reagan won handily over Mondale.
No one needed counseling because they were afraid or were feeling marginalized.
How can I put it any other way? These kids really need to grow up fast and the administration shouldn’t be offering counseling or group discussions.
Dedicated to intellectual honesty....
**********
What a crock of BS that is. Real diversity of political thought is discourage and/or suppressed. The Left is pampered and the Right is punished.
What did they offer to conservatives when Obama won?
The Wolverines are a lot different today than they used to be! Change the name to Weasels or is that an insult to weasels?
“What did they offer to conservatives when Obama won?”
A shoe with a foot in it.
The dean at my college would have told us to shut up and get to class. Of course in those days flunking out could mean getting drafted.
A friend of mine was a lucky number 10 and became a marine. He came back Ok in 2 years.
Half of the departments mentioned here should be cut, with a corresponding savings passed to the students and taxpayers.
Organized pity parties? Awwwwww....
Trump needs to clean up academia too.
Except for Christians and conservatives and Israel supporting Jews.
Oh did I forget straight white men?
Remember Bush Derangement Syndrome. It will look like the common cold when compared to TDS.
Sounds like an attempt, at least, at balanced discourse, and a discussion of how democracy is **supposed** to work.
Republican academics are actually invited to participate.
I’m thinking (hoping) that more than a few university presidents are secretly heaving a sigh of relief at Trump’s win. What does this mean for them?
It means they’ll no longer be forced to cower to the PC police, in peril for their jobs. They can return to true academic discourse.
He did consider going to one event that was scheduled late enough in the day for him to attend, just to hear what they had to say and perhaps ask if the same would have been offered if the situation were reversed. I did mention to him that the University may be dealing with a lot of suicidal students. As you hinted, they have helped create this climate.
What happened? Was there a terrorist attack? A mass shooting? Are we at war? Did some beloved member of the Michigan community meet an untimely end? No? Oh, the election didn’t turn out the way they wanted. Now, I know that in a truly just and equal society, all of the candidates you vote for should get elected — it’s practically a right — especially on your first vote. But we don’t have a truly just and equal society, so that’s not how it works. You win some and you lose some, snowflakes. That’s life. I don’t want to discourage you from voting in the future by telling you my own sad tale, but you might benefit hearing from a much older and much more experienced voter. Are you sitting down? I voted for YEARS without having ANY of my candidates elected to office. Not a single damned one. Somehow, I got over it without a large, supportive community, without meetings and discussion groups, without safe places, and without years of expensive psychotherapy. It’s true. And if I could do it, you can do it too.
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