President Julie Sullivan issued a statement on Thursday expressing the university’s solidarity with Muslims in the St. Thomas community.
Here is the statement:
“The University of St. Thomas community is fortunate to include many Muslims. Muslim faculty teach and research here, Muslim students learn and grow here, and Muslim staff contribute to our mission in many other ways.
“At a time of deeply troubling anti-Muslim political rhetoric in American society, we at the University of St. Thomas reiterate our welcome to Muslims as members of our community, our gratitude for the many contributions that Muslims make to our community, and our unwavering support especially for our many Muslim students.
“Muslims, Jews and Christians have common roots of their faith in their father, Abraham. Nevertheless, no matter what our sameness or our differences, the inherent dignity of all people is a constitutive tenet of our Catholic tradition and teaching.
“In the midst of all the negative noise in our society, we as an institution take this opportunity to reaffirm our fervent commitment to diversity and the inclusion with full dignity of people of all creeds, races, and nationalities. We will continue to spend our energies building a welcoming community that holds the promise of a bright future for all people.”
Faculty, staff and students who would like to publicly express agreement with the statement should send an email to firstname.lastname@example.org requesting that their signature be displayed with the statement, which will be posted on the Office of Mission website.
Community members also are invited to sign the designated whiteboards in Anderson Student Center to show their support of the statement.