Dear Carolina family,
This past week, our core values of personal integrity, respect for dignity and commitment to learn from differences in others were challenged by incivility and indecency. I hope to join you in conversations about what our appropriate response, as a student body, should be.
I am proud of the community we have built here. As an out-of-state, insecure and introverted freshman leaving home for the first time, it is hard to describe the relief and joy I felt upon stepping on campus to finally feel welcomed and truly valued by a community of students who I could grow to care for. It has been my honor to serve our family here in a variety of roles, from university ambassador to student body president, and I love to share stories about the sincere, welcoming and beautiful family centered around our identity as Carolinians.
We are now faced with decisions to make — about our resolve, our unity and our response to a true challenge. How do we respond when racism surfaces? What do we say, what do we do and how do we act, when hate and bigotry appear next to our alma mater in news networks across the country? How do we treat members of our community who, even after pledging to uphold the Carolinian Creed, make decisions to ostracize individuals or people groups?
Our community must use this opportunity to educate. I urge you to use this challenge, this violation of virtue, to build a stronger, more resilient and better-educated campus and community. All of us must take action to make sure that every student at our university values the creed we live by; we must ensure that we are truly living by the standards we’ve set for ourselves.
The best aspect of the University of South Carolina is that we are a family. We have all heard stories about the crazy grandfather — the one who, no matter how wrong, holds dearly the racist values taught to him in a reprehensible age of the past. Many times, that grandfather remains unchallenged — it is too hard, too offensive to raise the the issue to his face, and we are certain that we will never change his mind or beliefs.
Today, from now on, let us throw away those excuses and confront what is wrong with our community. Let us seek out those who hold intolerant and hateful beliefs, find them and grab their hand tightly, walk with them and debate with them and learn with them exactly what it means to be a Carolinian: to respect the dignity of all persons, to discourage bigotry and to demonstrate true concern for others. Then, and only then, will we have learned from differences in people, ideas and opinions. Then, we will we have truly obtained for ourselves an education.
— Jonathan Kaufman, Student Body President