Landmark College’s Response to Current National Events
Dear Friends of Landmark College:
As a most difficult and trying semester has just come to an end, we wish that we could rest on the triumphs we’ve experienced—a celebration of our collective resilience and adaptability, culminating in graduation last weekend.
At this moment, however, it is important to recognize the pain, anger, confusion, and suffering going on in this nation and related to the senseless death of George Floyd (and other, recent acts of racism and violence). When combined with the protracted coronavirus pandemic, we seem to be experiencing and fighting multiple, almost existential threats to our being and well-being. It is exhausting and anxiety-provoking, but we cannot let it pull us from our core belief in fairness and diversity as a strength.
Landmark College and our community believe in and try to model safety and inclusion, which seem to be threatened on an increasingly broad scale. Our RUSH principles—Respect, Understanding, Safety, and Honesty—point at what we know inherently: that we must be better and can be better as human beings, even with challenges every step of the way. Yet, words are one thing and actions are another. Therefore, any actions we can take collectively and individually, to reject and intelligently combat bias and violence, will provide meaningful improvements in this world.
While more progress is always needed, Landmark College has worked continuously to create and sustain an inclusive community, embracing diversity in all its iterations. The tireless efforts of those associated with our growing Centers for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI), such as Director Marc Thurman and others at the College, help us greatly in this regard. Marc and the CDI have been working to embed a spirit of education and empathy throughout campus, fostering in our students and alumni a determination to not let discrimination, bias, and violence win.
Thank you, and please support those in need of help or simply words of hope and reassurance.
Sincere regards,
Peter Eden
President
Landmark College