To Our Students, Faculty and Staff:
I write today to condemn the anti-LGBTQ flier recently posted on the campus of Cleveland State University (CSU) and to reaffirm Case Western Reserve’s commitment to support diversity and inclusion.
The flier, discovered as CSU’s first LGBTQ+ Center opened, includes a silhouette of an individual hanging surrounded by figures supposedly reflecting rates of suicidal thoughts or actions among LGBTQ individuals. Its headline is “Follow Your Fellow [Bigoted Term Deleted].”
This flier is reprehensible, but even more, it is threatening to specific members of CSU’s campus community. I am saddened that this document was posted, and express profound sympathy to all of those affected by it.
Given this development at a nearby university, I want to remind our campus community of our own university policies, which ban any behavior that is threatening. Encouraging violence—through a poster or any other means—is absolutely prohibited at Case Western Reserve.
In addition, I encourage those on our campus in need of support to seek out available services, including the LGBT Center (case.edu/lgbt/) and Flora Stone Mather Center for Women (case.edu/centerforwomen), both in the Tinkham Veale University Center. Walk-in services also are available weekdays in Sears 220 at University Counseling Services (students.case.edu/departments/wellness/).
Finally I want to reiterate the message I shared as students arrived on campus in August:
Case Western Reserve embraces people of all racial, ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, national and international backgrounds. We support diversity of thought, pedagogy, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, political affiliation and disability.
Sincerely,
Barbara R. Snyder
President