Thoughts on Campus Walk, Action Steps Update

A note to the campus community from President John Ettling:

I want to thank those who joined last night's “We Walk Together” event. Several hundred people participated, with students, faculty, staff, elected officials and many others from the wider community walking to promote inclusion in our area and stand against racism and hate. I appreciate the work of Plattsburgh Cares, I Am an Ally and local faith leaders in bringing us together. 

Earlier this week, I announced that Maxine Perry '01 and Dr. Jonathan Slater would co-chair the Social Justice Task Force. They and some members of the new group met today with Dr. Carlos Medina from SUNY administration. I expect to finalize the composition of this group next week and will put the full list out to campus then.

Other updates as we head into the weekend:

•A campus group to guide us in forming a bias response-and-referral process to address bias incidents should also be in place next week. We are finalizing the composition of that group as well.

•A Black Lives Matter flag and a LGBTQ+ flag have been placed in the Angell College Center by the main stairwell. We will still be, as noted in our action steps, sending a letter to the SUNY Board of Trustees advocating for a change in the Display of the Flag Policy to support raising the Black Lives Matter flag and other flags that are representative of our student body.

•SUNY has given us feedback from their site visit a few weeks ago. Many of their approaches are included in the steps we are already pursuing. 

More information on action steps and updates are online.

John Ettling
President