December 14, 2016
Dear graduate students:
As you know, my office received both a letter from the faculty and a petition from you related to supporting alternative events on the day that Milo Yiannopoulos is scheduled to speak.听First, thank you for the consideration and thought put into your petition and the issues you addressed about how to prove our commitment to the safety of students (faculty and staff) and to the vibrant diversity of the campus.听Your commitment to creating an alternative event is key, as well.
As I said to the faculty, it certainly was not my intention in the communications to 鈥渆ncourage鈥� members of our community to listen to Milo Yiannopoulos nor to normalize the type of vitriol or personal attacks he has evidenced in prior speeches.听The intention was to honor free speech, even if personally offensive to many of us, and to ensure that we do not create litmus tests for who can and cannot speak on the campus at the invitation of student groups or faculty.
Having said that, I also told them, as I will tell you, that I agree that it is important to clearly demonstrate our values as defined by the Colorado Creed.听I appreciate that you are coordinating with the faculty and other student groups and you can count on the full support of the university in putting on the events you suggest that can demonstrate those values.听We think this is a prime opportunity and we would be glad to personally participate and help plan the events as needed.
We would like to meet with you and the faculty to discuss how we can be supportive.听Additionally, we have been looking at security and safety for the campus overall during this and other events.
Thank you.听We look forward to meeting with you.
Sincerely:
Dr. Philip P. DiStefano, Chancellor