Dear Campus Community:

As many of you may be aware, tomorrow from noon to 8 p.m. some SCU students and faculty have organized an event entitled “All out for Gaza.  A teach-in on Gaza.  A call for solidarity, resistance and collective liberation.”  

Santa Clara University is acutely aware of the heightened emotions, fears, grief, and concerns at universities nationwide about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and its impact for so many globally and here in the U.S.

Our Jesuit mission calls upon us to be fully committed to the caring and accompaniment of every person in our community. This includes finding ways to bring empathy, healing, understanding, and knowledge into our community.  For a list of some ways Santa Clara’s leadership is supporting our community, please read this March 12 campus article. 

As an educational institution, Santa Clara University respects and supports the rights of all members of our campus community to gather to express their viewpoints and deeply held concerns.  We also are committed to ensuring the safety of all on our campus—be they in classrooms, residence halls, attending a protest, or engaging in cocurricular activities.

Please understand: 

• The safety of all members of our community is of paramount concern.  Our campus safety officials are putting in place comprehensive safety plans, in light of national events and tomorrow’s planned teach-in. 
• The University’s leadership continues to be in regular contact with student leaders and organizations most impacted by the current global conflict, to offer our resources and support.  
• We have time, place, and manner restrictions for expressive activity, in order to balance the twin rights of members of our community to protest and to pursue their education. 

As we observe what has occurred on other campuses and the hate that has characterized some interactions at those campuses, please remember that Santa Clara University is our home.  We are committed to the caring and accompaniment of every person in our community.  I would like to close on the words of St. Francis, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

Sincerely,

Julie Sullivan
President