SEPTEMBER 6, 2024 — Editor’s note: The following message was sent via email from President Taylor Eighmy, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Shipley and Interim Vice President for Business Affairs Mary Hernandez to all faculty, staff and students.
UTSA is an institution dedicated to creating a dynamic campus experience focused on dialogue and discovery. Today, we write to you to confirm our shared commitment to civil discourse through peaceful assembly and free expression while simultaneously prioritizing campus safety.
Creating a community actively engaged in civil discourse is part of our mission to prepare our students to thrive in this complex world. While we embrace free speech and expression, we want to remind you that our campus policies and procedures state we will not tolerate disruption, harassment, vandalism, building occupation, encampments or violent protests on our campuses.
Together, we have navigated many complex issues, and we are confident that our community will continue to engage in open discourse with civility and respect. In that spirit, we encourage you to engage with the various programs and initiatives we’re continuing to build to help inform our community.
You may have already read about the Honors College’s pilot educational programs that focus on methods to advance civil discourse and civic engagement, and you’ll learn more about those offerings in the weeks to come. We also recently announced the new Center for Dialogue & Deliberation (CDD) to equip students with the needed skills to discuss difficult topics and learn how to constructively disagree.
As we work to create even more educational opportunities for our students and the campus community at large, we encourage you to stay informed and engaged. We look forward to sharing more as the semester unfolds.
Thank you, as always, for all you do to support our Roadrunners.
