Message from President Ramsey

Feb. 11, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

Last week, Provost Willihnganz sent a letter to the campus community about vandalism to a campus kiosk and KKK flyers appearing on our campus. Since then, we have found two additional KKK flyers, both of which appeared to have been on the ground for some time. These disturbing incidents have raised concerns across campus, and we continue to vigorously investigate and respond to the serious concerns they have raised.

In order to hear more personally from you, the provost and I will be hosting a forum on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. in the Allen Courtroom in the Brandeis School of Law for students, faculty and staff who want to talk with us. We welcome your input, ideas and thoughts about this issue.

I would like to address the presence of the KKK on our campus. Today, KKK representatives contacted university officials to state that they were not responsible for the kiosk vandalism and that they are planning to come on campus sometime next week to pass out flyers offering a reward for information leading to the conviction of those who did. First, I encourage anyone with information concerning the vandalism to contact the university’s Department of Public Safety directly at 852-6111.

I also want to make it clear that the views of the KKK are in direct opposition to the values we hold as a university, which are expressed in the Our Highest Potential vision statement at www.louisville.edu/president/special/ohp.html. We do not welcome the KKK on our campus for many reasons, most importantly because their very presence makes people feel uncomfortable and threatened given the history of the organization and the views it espouses.

However, even if we do not welcome or agree with them, we have an obligation to allow them to exercise their rights to free speech just as we would any other individual or group who comes to our campus and abides by our guidelines. This does not mean we have to listen to what they say, and it does not mean we cannot respond with additional free speech expressing differing views.

Our goal is to allow for free speech at the same time we work to protect the safety of everyone on our campus. To do this, we will respond immediately to unlawful behavior of any kind. We also remind students, faculty and staff that they can contact the Department of Public Safety’s escort service at 852-6111 any time they feel uncomfortable on campus.

As a campus community, we must not let hatred and fear promoted by others deter us from our mission of working together to build an environment that celebrates and promotes diversity, respect and understanding. Our new campus diversity plan, located at www.louisville.edu/provost/files/DiversityPlan.pdf, is an important step in making this happen, but it will take every one of us to ensure its success. We welcome your continued commitment and support.

Sincerely,

James R. Ramsey
President