President's Message

Dear Campus Community: Earlier this week, flyers appeared on campus featuring the image of one of our professors and characterizations purporting to represent his views related to the Hamas/Israel conflict. I know these characterizations are false and I experience them as antisemitic threats. While we unequivocally embrace freedom of expression, it is deeply upsetting that flyers were created and posted displaying the photograph of our faculty member and suggesting that he doesn’t belong at…

Dear Beach Community, Welcome to the Spring 2024 semester. I so look forward to working with each of you in this New Year! Despite the heartbreaks that characterized last semester, I ground myself on the campus triumphs that we earned together. Students across all our colleges distinguished themselves in regional and national competitions. Faculty members won prestigious career awards. Staff members continued the strong tradition of supporting community members, especially foster children.…

Dear Beach Community:    Many in our community continue to be affected by the war in the Middle East.    The deadly terrorist attacks and kidnappings brutally perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli civilians beginning October 7 were unspeakably horrific. Retaliatory actions by the Israeli government have killed Palestinian civilians in great numbers and have prompted a humanitarian crisis.    The conflict has also surfaced both anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim rhetoric…

Dear Beach Community, A student group here at the university recently posted messages on social media that expressed support for recent attacks against Israel. For many, those posts — and an event the group is planning for this afternoon — are deeply offensive in light of the loss of life and unspeakable violence during this conflict. We reject any glorification of war or celebration of death, and we acknowledge the pain caused by speech that does. While we work to foster an environment of…