President Hitt responded with a letter to the UCF community regarding the death of one of those young men, Mr. Tyler Clemente, and to the issue of bullying. The reactions to Dr. Hitt's letter have been as varied as the students, faculty, and staff who make up the community.
Many of you have posted your comments on facebook. Let's put them here so we can talk about your comments in a place of anonymity. Following the statement released by the President, I will post some of the comments presently sent to me by students, faculty, and staff. Please add yours!!
10/01/10Submitted by: Sandra Cherepow
Submitted for: John C. Hitt, President
Subject: Message from UCF President John C. Hitt
The tragic death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi has shocked
millions of people around the country. On behalf of the entire UCF family, I
send our heartfelt sympathies to his family, his friends and the Rutgers
community.
Though Tylers death focuses attention on the challenges faced by members of the
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, bullying and harassment
know few bounds. Tylers senseless death is a reminder that we must treat
everyone with dignity and respect.
At UCF, we are committed to providing students as well as faculty and staff
members an inclusive and accepting environment, free from the type of
reprehensible conduct alleged in Tylers death.
In fact, inclusivity and diversity have been one of our universitys five goals
since I came to UCF in 1992. Inclusivity and diversity were important then, and
they are equally important today.
Thanks to the resources available at UCF, there are many opportunities for
students, staff members and faculty members to feel welcome or to find help.
For example:
* The UCF Counseling Center offers a range of services, and I encourage anyone
who needs its assistance to call 407-823-2811 or e-mail councntr@mail.ucf.edu.
* The trained professionals at the UCF Police Department are available to
investigate any alleged criminal conduct of bullying or harassment.
* University organizations such as ALLIES and Equal provide acceptance, a safe
haven, a listening ear and support for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender
persons, and to those exploring their sexual identity. More information can be
found at: http://counseling.sdes.ucf.edu/?id=diversity_allies and
http://www.equalucf.org/eq/node/124
The considerable resources the university devotes to these issues are in
addition to those available elsewhere in Central Florida, including support
groups, religious organizations, community programs and more.
Finally, one of the core values of the UCF Creed is Community, which charges us
to promote an open and supportive campus environment by respecting the rights
and contributions of every individual.
Accordingly, we will continue the important work of making UCF a welcoming and
compassionate university where bullying, harassment and intimidation are
unacceptable.
The following are some of the comments:
"It's finally great seeing our UCF President care about our GLBT students"
"I don't understand why he sent it out. This didn't happen on our campus."
"Did anyone proof this before they sent it out? It looks really bad coming from the President's office."
"I think it's a great start. I really appreciate him calling that out."
"The freakin' website for Equal isn't even right. There goes your credibility, John!"
"People need to know this stuff goes on all the time. Thanks!"
"Let's see. My first two choices are to 1) go to the counseling center because I might be sick, and 2) go to the ucf police department because they might treat me like a criminal. Not much of a choice."
"Hitt lost his credibility when it got to the line about the "professionally trained police officers."
"We have to do something about this problem of bullying, especially our gay kids. No one deserves to die so young. Thank you for putting it out there."
"It's about the most unfeeling statement I've ever read. Did he really write this?"
I appreciate that Hitt sent out the statement and that he wants LGBT students to know where they can find help, if they need it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think we all know that UCF is far from being the most "inclusive and diverse" campus. A lot of that has to do with students' attitudes, but it also has much to do with UCF policy. Hitt has a lot of power to influence policy that would help the UCF LGBT community (both that of students as well as faculty and staff), which he has failed to do in the past. It's one thing to talk the talk, but will he walk the walk? (Please excuse the cliche.)
It's politically correct institutional bullshit. If UCF were truly trying to be inclusive, Dr. Ehaz would have never vetoed the bill from SGA's senators trying to include gender identity and expression as a protected class. The LBGT community does not consider our policies inclusive. President Hitt is just trying to officially say something nice and pretty while our university is currently getting a lot of bad media attention.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree. Hitt's statement is well-meaning, but it is vague and does not convey an objective to make UCF MORE inclusive by overriding Dr. Ehaz's veto and including gender identity and expression in our non-discrimination policy.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, I'd more like to respond to certain comments:
ReplyDelete-The Equal website is correct. It goes directly to the leadership page, which is the best place for someone who is looking for a place to be and people to meet - send them an email if you need to talk to someone.
-I agree, Dr. Hitt's message is more of the appearance of action, than action itself.
-I feel this is a strong issue that crosses every boundary - just because we are fortunate enough to not have a student commit suicide on our campus in the recent past, does not mean we should discount it or forget.
-The Dr. Vest issue and the GIE seem to be going hand in hand. What Dr. Hitt says on one topic discounts what he says about another.
He says that UCF is all about diversity, but the GLBT student population is not even protected in the UCF creed.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought that we should thank the President's office for speaking up on Tyler's death in the interest of positive reinforcement. It's a small step in the right direction and I don't think that we should slap down leaders when their steps aren't big enough.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the more I think about it the more angry the letter makes me. The self-congratulatory tone churns my stomach. No mention of what the university plans to do in the future to expand diversity and inclusion, and to ensure that students uphold the Creed value of Community. If Hitt (or rather, his writer) had even mentioned "...and we have an LGBT task force studying the campus climate and working on ways to improve policies" I would be significantly more satisfied. Just something, anything, to acknowledge that UCF needs work. I think I would rather have Hitt remain silent than put out such an insulting letter.