We Hear You

Many of you have reached out to the university in the past several hours regarding a post made on our BSU Student Mobile App last night which pictured one of our white students in blackface. The photo also included a deeply offensive racial slur. This message is abhorrent and degrading and strikes at the very core of our university community.

During this national crisis, when we are all coming together in solidarity to remind our country that black lives matter, such a message only exacerbates the pain and anger we are already feeling.

Racial justice is integral to the mission of our university, and at BSU we take these matters very seriously. The message is hateful and violates the official values statement of Bridgewater State University, as adopted by our Board of Trustees and undersigned by hundreds of employees and students. In that statement, BSU reaffirms “its own values of diversity, inclusion and equality” and rejects “all forms of bias, discrimination, xenophobia, and violence.”

I want to express my gratitude to members of our community for alerting us to this racist post. We heard your voices loud and clear. We have already been in contact with the student and the student’s family. Our Office of Community Standards and our Office of Equal Opportunity is investigating to verify the validity of all elements in the image, including the text, and will be addressing this matter promptly.

We are committed to the values expressed in the university’s official values statement and to the principles of social justice. We must do better, and we will do better.