CU Boulder Faculty: TO SIGN THIS LETTER, please visit:

https://goo.gl/forms/KCFQTbhmRIy1293m1
____________________________________________________________________________
December 8, 2016
To: Chancellor Philip DiStefano, Provost Russell Moore, Senior Vice Chancellor Kelly Fox, Vice
Chancellor Robert Boswell, Vice Chancellor Christina Gonzales, Vice Provost Mary Kraus, Dean
Akirah Bradley, Dean Steven Leigh, Dean Katherine Schultz, Dean Robert Davis, Dean Ann
Schmiesing, Dean James Anaya, Dean Robert Shay, Dean Sara Thompson, Dean James
Williams II, Dean Lori Bergen, Dean Sharon F. Matusik
Regarding: Promoting Community and Upholding the Colorado Creed
Dear Campus Leaders,
We, the undersigned members of the University of Colorado Boulder community, are writing to
express several ideas and positive suggestions related to inclusion, diversity, and the climate on
campus. Our unified expression of the following concerns was initially catalyzed by the planned
January 25th campus visit by a speaker known to denigrate members of multiple protected
classes at the University, but we wish to stress that these issues are much bigger than any one
speaker. Our intent in this letter is to request your support for positive, proactive measures in
the spirit of higher education, our University's mission, and the Colorado Creed. In many
important ways, campus leadership has taken admirable steps to promote inclusiveness and
diversity, for which we wish to express our gratitude. For example, a number of us found the
Chancellor's message1 on November 9th (about the election and the Colorado Creed) to be
both comforting and inspiring. However, we believe more work can be done collaboratively with
you to further improve our campus climate.
We first wish to address two main concerns as issues for further consideration, thought, and
open discussion.
1. Recent University communication may have inadvertently normalized hate speech
The Chancellor's message of December 1, 20162 called Mr. Yiannopoulos -- whose visit is
planned for January 25, 2017 -- a "conservative journalist", and noted that, "Yiannopoulos is not
the first controversial speaker we have had on our the campus, nor will he be the last. Prior
1

http://view.communications.cu.edu/?qs=d34dddcf03abffcc3b84380b3e6995ec084753f1401c5fc9bf52b9c252
b293a5569ff663b8c7e00e7d640f99515a41602eb4606f5b85c77235c4de5a2932821e1034d11d60b0b8d9
2

http://www.colorado.edu/today/2016/12/01/chancellors-corner-embracing-free-speech-and-listening-different
-viewpoints

speakers espousing a broad spectrum of positions and political views include Edward Snowden
(via video-conference), Antonin Scalia, Karl Rove, Howard Dean, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, John Ashcroft, Ann Coulter and Rudy Guiliani to name only a few." As an open
proponent of a "post-truth", fact-free society 3 and someone whose Twitter account has been
suspended because it was found to propagate hate speech4, Mr. Yiannopoulos is not a
journalist in any traditional sense. Furthermore, we feel that likening Mr. Yiannopoulos' visit to
that of Supreme Court justices and elected officials is inappropriate and further normalizes him
as some kind of respected authority, when in fact, even Mr. Yiannopoulos characterizes himself
as a professional "troll."5, 6
Additionally, the Chancellors statement encouraged members of the University of
Colorado community to listen to Mr. Yiannopoulos. This may seem to perhaps be a semantic,
subtle point, but we do not believe members of our University community should be encouraged
to listen to hate speech, which might normalize "troll" behavior on our campus. We respectfully
suggest that University communications in the future, when relevant, should differentiate more
clearly between free speech and hate speech. Such communications could also explicitly
acknowledge -- as the Chancellor's message from November 10th pointed out -- that hate is not
part of the Colorado Creed.
We believe that the December 1st message from the Chancellor's office was only
attempting to be fair to people of all viewpoints, but in this case we are also concerned that
some kinds of perceived "fairness" inadvertently serve to normalize behavior and speech that
are antithetical to the goals of higher education and to our University's Colorado Creed7. We
believe the Creed provides a very strong and unambiguous foundation for campus
communications to support some philosophies of discourse and oppose others.
2. Turning Point USA, one of the groups sponsoring Mr. Yiannopoulos' visit to CU, is
behind the notorious Professor Watchlist
Turning Point USA is responsible for the McCarthyist website known as "Professor Watchlist,"
about which all campus leaders should know, especially given the national coverage that the
issue received very recently8. In other words, the co-sponsor of the event is a group that
actively encourages college students to "submit tips" and report professors to the list. This
3
4

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-america-divided/milo-yiannopoulos/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/07/21/what-it-takes-to-get-banned-from-twitter/
?utm_term=.f24f98565f16
5
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-america-divided/milo-yiannopoulos/
6
According to the English Oxford Living Dictionary, a "troll" in this usage is: "A person who makes a
deliberately offensive or provocative online post", https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/troll
7
http://www.colorado.edu/creed/
8

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/us/professor-watchlist-is-seen-as-threat-to-academic-freedom.html?_r=
0,
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/01/harvard-law-professor-are-put-conservative-group-watch-lis
t/NomiHFng2zFEERBpdk01NN/story.html

attempt to silence and intimidate professors is something we hope would be publicly

condemned by all of our campus leadership, in accordance with Article 5 of the Board of
Regents' Laws and Policies9. Just to be clear, we are suggesting that specific behaviors and
tactics be condemned; we are not suggesting that any members of our community be
condemned. In case any speakers, student groups, or outside groups advocate such tactics,
we are seeking your leadership in publicly reaffirming academic freedom of thought, which the
CU Board of Regents also recently reaffirmed10.
With those concerns noted, we wish to act from a place of hope, and not a place of fear
or apprehension. We want our campus to be a nationally recognized model of inclusion,
discourse, critical thinking, and positive climate.
Our concerns above arise from our care for and pride in our wonderful University of
Colorado Boulder community. As members of this community, many of us have recently been
discussing ways to celebrate our community and make positive statements that enhance
inclusion and climate on campus. Thanks to your leadership, we already have many examples
of excellent events and messaging on campus, such as the Diversity and Inclusion Summit11,
and Chancellor DiStefano's affirmation of the Creed on November 9th12. Similarly, Senior Vice
Chancellor Fox very recently (11/28) discussed additional admirable efforts on campus and the
importance of "Celebrating the community we build." 13 We wish to do exactly that.
During the week that includes January 25th and beyond, we ask for the support of
campus leadership for events that we and student groups are in the midst of organizing.
Several of us have been discussing organizing teach-ins on topics of diversity, race, and
inclusion. We have also been discussing an alternative event for students, faculty, and staff to
attend that would happen specifically on January 25th. A number of us believe that, to live the
Colorado Creed and to make our community members feel valued, included, and safe, we are
obligated to create such events in order to affirm values of our community that might otherwise
be taken for granted. Administrative support for events like this would be a powerful way for our
campus leadership to affirm commitments to the values of our institution and our Creed, and to
the goals of higher education, without inhibiting anyone's right to free expression in the least.
We wish to thank you for your leadership through these challenging times and issues.
We also want to stress that we would welcome your participation in any events and efforts to
come. Please let us know if and how you would like us to share information about planned
9

http://www.cu.edu/regents/laws-and-policies/regent-laws/article-5-faculty

10

http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_30558681/cu-board-shows-support-faculty-students-academic-free
dom
11
http://www.colorado.edu/odece/diversity-inclusion-summit
12

http://view.communications.cu.edu/?qs=d34dddcf03abffcc3b84380b3e6995ece7b4e71e938bb8c9d29b3945
6dfe8016bbfe3a9046e0b641e55d8d1d5c7df619769ad6e33f58db2da145a7ce8006f8d456ba2a72ca8500be
13
http://www.colorado.edu/today/2016/11/28/svc-celebrating-community-we-build

events with you. We would also very much like to hear about any initiatives you are considering
that would benefit from faculty support.
Sincerely,
[signatures submitted electronically via sign-ins at the Google Form linked above]
Signed by 219 faculty members as of last update (12/13/2016 14:48:59)