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It's Election Day

November 3, 2020

email banner message from the president with university seal

It's Election Day

Dear DePauw Campus Community, 

 

Today, Tuesday, November 3 is officially Election Day.

The right to vote, for those of us who are eligible is an incredible privilege, particularly given that voting has not always been and is still not possible for particular members of our communities. It has been incredible to see voter turnout at such high levels and voter determination such that people have been willing to stand in line for however long it takes to make sure their vote is recorded. I have loved seeing all of the “I VOTED” posts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and have been so impressed that the majority of DePauw students with whom I have spoken are among those who have already voted or plan to vote today.

Having witnessed a hard-fought presidential campaign, we will be, quite naturally, eager for the results. However, as we are all aware, there may not be a quick declaration of the winner, as sometimes happens when every ballot, cast in one of multiple ways (absentee, mail-in, in person, early), in every community in every state must be counted.

At DePauw I encourage us, regardless of the outcome, to respect all viewpoints. In communities as diverse as DePauw and Greencastle, individuals may view the eventual outcome of the presidential election and other national and local races from very different lenses. Some will be elated with the results, others disappointed or perhaps even frustrated and angry if their chosen candidate does not win. Some may choose to openly celebrate. Others may engage in various forms of what I hope will be peaceful “good trouble” protests. Here, we are committed to supporting freedom of expression and also will not tolerate harassing or threatening behavior directed toward students, faculty or staff by any members of the DePauw community. However, we are limited in our ability to respond to those not affiliated with DePauw unless such actions rise to the level of illegal behavior.  Please do report concerns to our bias reporting site or Police@DePauw.edu  and as always, use 911 in an emergency.  

Our Student Academic Life and Critical Incident Management Teams have been meeting to ensure we are ready and available to support our community -- and SAL has also planned a variety of election and post-election day activities, about which Vice President Hill sent a message yesterday.   

For those whom this election feels deeply personal, the eventual outcome may be one you find discouraging. Please do not allow disappointment to lead you to believe that your vote did not count or opposing views are “wrong.” Instead, the results should galvanize all of us to hold elected representatives accountable to our democratic ideals of liberty and justice for all and to continue to support candidates who believe everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, religious background, sexual orientation and all other identities, is entitled to equitable opportunity and access that enables them to pursue hopes and dreams throughout their lives. 

No matter who eventually becomes our nation’s next president, at DePauw we will remain steadfast in our commitment to our transcendent priority of diversity, equity and inclusion and our core mission of providing a superior liberal arts and sciences education.  As a means of uplifting the motto on our university seal, “The College is the Light and Splendor of the Common Good,” we will continue to:  

  • Welcome and support all students of all backgrounds, identities and beliefs and to challenge and actively work in opposition to actions that might impede their path to achieving a degree, including currently proposed legislation and executive orders that target or are harmful to our DACA and international students.   

  • Value a curriculum that invites questions and values facts, critical inquiry, history and science; is supportive of opposing viewpoints; and seeks truth, even when the truth is unpleasant and uncomfortable.

  • Build on DePauw Dialogue as a catalyst for conversations and to provide a general education curriculum that examines power, privilege and diversity, thinking, reasoning, debating, written or spoken language. 

  • Remain resolute in our belief in free speech and academic freedom.  

Along these lines, I am working on a new collaboration with other presidential colleagues, a soon-to-be-announced Liberal Arts College Racial Equity Leadership Alliance, partnered with the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center; and also serving on a bipartisan, national task force dedicated to campus free expression. Additionally, I am providing resources to the Division of Diversity and Inclusion to strengthen support for new inclusion initiatives.   

What remains most important is our capacity to learn and work together with empathy for one another. I encourage each of us to ask what role we envision for ourselves for the next four years and beyond, in our country; likewise, what role do we envision for ourselves for the near- and long-term future of DePauw as we engage in creating a strategic plan to set us on a  forward-thinking pathway? How can we seek to understand and support each other? Because, whatever role we play in America’s next chapter or DePauw’s, we will not be able to do it alone.   

Our mission is to prepare leaders for a world that craves great ones, which means we will continue to have difficult discussions and to not only accept but embrace difference. That must be the DePauw way, and we will not veer from it.

Sincerely, 

President White