FSU President Issues Statement on Racial Injustice

In the very late hours of the evening on May 29, 2020, FSU President Ron Nowaczyk issued a statement regarding the racial injustices that have been highlighted by the recent murder of George Floyd, an innocent black man, by a Minneapolis police officer. President Nowazcyk links University Police Chief Smith’s statement from earlier Friday as well.

Two versions of the email were sent out in a matter of minutes, the second of which correcting mistakes made in the first, including misnaming George Floyd as “George Lloyd.” The full statement, titled “FSU Leadership joins with USM in condemning racism, bigotry and the killing of George Floyd,” is below:

To the FSU community,

I am writing this letter in solidarity with the leadership of Frostburg State University and with the chancellor and leaders of the University System of Maryland institutions. We are in a moment where it is imperative that we recognize and confront the evil that embedded racism and bigotry has on our society.

We have a responsibility to nurture and develop free-thinking individuals who can take the cultural, economic, racial, religious, political and social differences that come with being one of the most diverse college campuses in this state and bring them together under our common values of decency, justice, civility and truth in all that we do.

We echo the sentiments shared by Chief Smith in her email earlier today, attached to this message, which says, “law enforcement officers must hold themselves to a higher standard.” We, too, must hold ourselves to a higher standard because we are one university with a world of experiences. This is more than a notion.

We join the USM in stating: We stand in solidarity as we speak out against racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, discrimination against our LGBTQ and immigrant communities, religious intolerance, and bigotry of any kind. Please read the full USM message here: https://www.usmd.edu/newsroom/news/2050

We look forward to bringing all of our voices together as one on this issue and working together with our university community to address these challenges.