The past three weeks following the altercation at Campus Copy have
been challenging for the Penn community. Issues of violence and race have
been raised and debated, students have been active, and many voices have
been heard. As troubling as these issues may be, however, the serious manner
in which they have been taken up and examined has been very encouraging.
We have begun to have conversations with members of our community on issues
of great importance to all of us, and we intend to continue the dialogue.
Today the Division of Public Safety has issued the final
report of its investigation of this incident. It confirms that Gregory
Seaton's account of the incident, and the account of the Campus Copy witnesses,
are irreconcilable, and there is not sufficient testimony or evidence from
any other quarter to confirm one account over the other.
So it will be up to Mr. Seaton and Campus Copy to decide whether
they will pursue further private legal action of any kind. We can only
hope that, whatever decision they make, the "after-life" of this
incident will not be prolonged.
This does not mean we should forget or push aside the issues that
have been discussed so vigorously on campus. Everyone must enjoy respect
and feel safe. We are personally committed, and the University must be
committed, to ensuring that the Penn community is safe and welcoming--to
everyone.
We do need to move ahead as a University community. To help us do
that we will take the following steps. Many of these suggestions are a
result of the conversations that have been held during these past three
weeks:
- The University will add additional Programs for Awareness in Cultural
Education (PACE) training for Resident Advisors and Graduate Advisors.
- Penn will review New Student Orientation to ensure that its diversity
initiatives are fresh and relevant to the needs of our community.
- Penn's Division of Business Services will develop a code of conduct
for vendors that clearly articulates the University's expectations of how
they will behave towards customers.
- Administrators will continue to hold regular, informal discussions
with students to discuss and address concerns and issues related to diversity
on campus.
- Penn will continue to work with the Pluralism and other existing
committees to continue to develop and implement suggestions that have been
made by students and others in the campus community as a result of this
incident.