Dear Colleagues,
At my invitation, 45 UMD faculty and staff participated in a two-day workshop entitled
Creating an Inclusive Campus Environment. The goal of this late-August workshop
was to begin the work to address issues laid bare by the racist homophobic Facebook
incident last spring. Two excellent consultants from the Social Justice Training Institute
provided education and awareness around the issue of racism and facilitated our efforts
to build community and to create a rich set of strategies and action steps that will help
us achieve a socially just campus. In addition, I want to acknowledge the contributions
of Chancellor Martin and several others to the work that was initiated in late spring and
continued over the summer.
The Chancellor's Cabinet and I will take a leadership role in creating an inclusive campus
environment, and we will work with the entire campus community to plan and implement
actions that will move this agenda forward this fall. I encourage all of you to join me in
the work to create a campus that is respectful and supportive of all of our members.
Sincerely,
Lendley C. Black
Chancellor
