Solidarity and Action Must Persist

September 14, 2021

Dear LMU Community: 

Public Safety shared an advisory on Monday night with findings that concluded the investigation phase of the racist incident that occurred on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. 

First, to the three courageous and resilient Black women students who came forward to report this incident immediately, we recognize your fear and pain and appreciate your strength and courage. Our community will always stand with you against these despicable actions and those who perpetrate them. Even though the perpetrators were not part of the LMU community, the painful impact of the event reverberated across campus.

Words, indeed, have impact, and I am proud of our LMU community for taking care of one another in words and also in action. To everyone who was affected, I share my hope for our collective healing and renewal—a process we can and will navigate together. 

I am grateful to our LMU community for standing in solidarity against racism, and I am heartened by the passionate support of our anti-racist values by students, faculty, and staff, which remains in harmony with our mission. Our society struggles with racism and those struggles, unfortunately, do not stop at the gates of LMU. I will not tolerate acts of racism at LMU, and I have faith that, together, we will continuously work towards equality and reconciliation, fighting against the historical legacy of slavery and the many contemporary expressions of anti-Black racism—spoken or unspoken—and other forms of oppression.  

I thank Chief Robbie Williams of Public Safety, BIRT members, our investigators, student development professionals, and other LMU community leaders for working around the clock to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Though I am relieved that no LMU students were involved in committing this racist act, our dialogue, our learning, our collaboration, our solidarity and action must persist. 

I thank each of you for your commitment to helping shape LMU towards becoming a stronger, more diverse, inclusive campus where all can, and must, feel safe and thrive. 

With gratitude, and in solidarity,

Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.
President