April 6, 2020
To: All campus community
April 6, 2020
Dear Campus Community,
I am impressed and proud of how our campus community is navigating these challenging times. Though we face many challenges, our resilience and commitment to each other continues to shine. Our office in collaboration with Student Affairs and many others are proud to support our campus community by providing resources and support in a variety of ways. We encourage your participation and active support of each other. Here are a few opportunities to explore:
This Week:
- Virtual Healing Circle, led by Onar Primitivo, Director of Social Justice Initiatives, will be held at noon Monday, April 6 for any student impacted by Zoom hacking. A flyer with access information was sent to all students last week via Happenings.
- PEN America’s Webinar Series ”What Professors Need to Know About Online Hate and Harrasment" from 1-2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7.
- Virtual Dialogue Series hosted by the Office of Equity Diversity and Inclusion. The first session will be led by Jonathan Grady, Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students from 1-2 p.m. April 9 and will address “Radical Healing Through Strategic Conversations for Staff & Faculty.”
Ongoing:
- Monthly drop-in hours for faculty and staff, hosted by Dania Matos, Associate Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer.
- Weekly office hours for students, hosted by Charles Nies, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs.
- The Office of Information Technology in partnership with the Chief Diversity Officer is arranging the distribution of the app Calm for all faculty, staff, and students. Calm is the No. 1 app for Sleep, Meditation and Relaxation and has been named by the Center for Humane Technology as "the world's happiest app." We thank Interim Chancellor Nathan Brostrom and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Gregg Camfield for their generous support of this project. Look for more details coming soon.
Additionally, campus safety is a top priority for leadership. Zoom — which as become the platform we utilize to connect for classes, meetings, celebration and so much more — has fallen prey to uninvited individuals who threaten to disrupt these spaces through trolling, racism and vulgar content.
We are aware, tracking and taking action against this emerging phenomenon. We actively denounce these heinous acts, as they stand against who we are. We recognize the impact to those who have experienced them and are providing support and resources.
Every day, but even more so during this time, we are striving to promote safe, affirming and inclusive communities for all of our staff, students and faculty to thrive in their learning, working and researching, grounded in our Principles of Community.
Harassment, belittling, and attacks against any member of our community will not be tolerated. We want to take a moment to share campus support and resources that are available.
- How to Protect Your Zoom Sessions, available from the Office of Information Technology.
- Connect with resources designed to support you if you are impacted by these acts. For students, our Counseling and Psychological Services Office is aware and prepared to provide support via telehealth. For faculty and staff, our employee assistance program is available
- Incident reporting is being developed to help monitor this activity. While it is usually external hackers who are trolling for links to these Zoom meetings around the world, if the university finds that a member of our community is involved in these acts, appropriate consequences would result.
Thank you for your help as we work diligently to prevent these intolerable acts from occurring.
We will continue to provide support and resources and keep you informed as they become available.
Thank you,
Dania Matos
Associate Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer
Pronouns: she/her/hers
