Dear Campus Community,
Yesterday we witnessed the shocking act of insurrection as a riotous mob breached our nation’s Capitol, the very symbol of our representative democracy. Twenty-four hours have passed and I remain stunned by images of fellow Americans climbing walls, breaking windows and storming the halls and offices of Congress while members of Congress were in session. The photo of four men, behind the barricaded door in the Senate Chamber, with guns drawn to protect themselves. We were witness to attacks on men and women of the press and destruction of their equipment. Pipe bombs found. Did this really happen in our country?
How did it come to this? As with any election, we can expect that there will be voters who are unhappy with the results of our long-held democratic process. But never have we seen hordes of angry citizens expressing their displeasure in violence and demanding a different outcome after the votes were cast and counted. Yesterday was not a proud moment for us. Historic events such as this must cause us to stop and seek greater understanding about how we arrived at this moment in our history, its impact on us and be resolved to address what ails our country.
The United States of America is often cited as the greatest democracy in the world. It took nearly two and a half centuries to evolve into a country where the freedom to vote is available to all our citizens, regardless of race or religion. Our government was formed as a power-to-the-people, a majority-rule system under which citizens could express their desire for change through periodic elections. We hold true to the checks and balances of the courts and legislative process. We expect that we will follow the rule of law even when we do not get the outcome we wanted.
What we saw yesterday, however, was an expression of desire and activism gone awry – an example of how incendiary rhetoric can lead to unexpected horrific responses that turn ordinary people into overpowering rioters and giving people permission to attack others and instill fear. We watched citizens disregard our democratic tradition for dangerous actions that were blindly motivated to serve themselves and not our country. While our ideas of what fuels our actions for the greater good can be very different, it is our responsibility to learn to channel that passion in ways that focus on unity rather than discord.
Events such as these remind us that a St. Cloud State University education involves exploring different ideas and points of view about politics and issues that affect our families, our careers and our communities. Activism is more broadly embraced by the concept of civic engagement that leads to activities and experiences that appreciate perspectives and protect democracy. Most importantly, democracy starts right here, with our campus community.
As a university, we have a responsibility as educated citizens to nurture our democracy, engaging in the kind of activism that involves understanding and awareness of what’s happening in our communities and our country. It is our duty as members of this democracy to listen to each other and learn from each other, to be open to compromise and engage in peaceful, lawful processes to pursue change.
We also have a responsibility to view what happened yesterday through an equity and diversity lens. When we do, we understand that the rioters’ actions had an additional harmful impact on our black, brown, and indigenous community members. Carrying a confederate flag down our halls of Congress was designed to hurt and instill an on-going sense of fear. In the aftermath of recent events including the taking of George Floyd’s life, members of our campus community expressed their pain and anger and desire for change in a variety of ways. We reached out to each other, listened and expanded our anti-racism education, networks and resources for support and advocacy. At Tuesday’s Convocation I spoke about how we will advance our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion which is embedded in our It’s Time framework. We must remain committed engaging in intentional actions to examine and address systemic inequities throughout the university and our country.
I encourage us all to focus on protecting each other and protecting our democracy through education and civic engagement, to empower ourselves with knowledge, sensitivity and consideration.
Take care and stay safe.
Robbyn R. Wacker
President
St. Cloud State University