Skip to main
University-wide Navigation

Campus Community,

Universities like ours are incubators of ideas and dialogue, places that create space for all identities and all perspectives.

We must work every day to ensure that regardless of race or identity, who people love or what they believe, everyone knows that they are a valued part of our community. To truly be a community of belonging, we must honor a responsibility we all share — to respect people for who they are and what they believe, even as we may disagree at times.

And, yes, amid the cacophony of ideas and noise, there will be times when we offend and hurt each other. I continue to believe that, in this community, most of the time the hurt we cause is unintentional. But when our people hurt, we must offer support. To that end, we offer a range of resources that members of our community can utilize. You can find them at this link.

There is a paradox inherent in pluralism: the very freedom to express ideas — boldly, loudly, without reservation — is what ensures we have the capacity to be open to everyone, no matter who they are or what they believe.

In fact, framed by history and informed by my years serving university campuses, I strongly believe that our sense of belonging and the freedom to fully express our ideas cannot exist without the other.

And it is our solemn, at times uncomfortable, responsibility to protect and promote both.

I see the tension between free speech and our community of belonging playing out across campuses throughout our country every day and at times, disconcertingly, with increasing vitriol and ferocity.

To be sure, free speech is a core value of who we are just as ensuring we create a community where everyone belongs. Yet, we must also acknowledge that the façade of keyboard courage on a social media platform — or as we have seen in some other places, the violent clash of ideas in protesting a speaker — is not an excuse for derision or dismissal. Courage and cowardice should never be confused.

Provocations to hurt people or promote violence or canceling someone because what they say is anathema to what we value — all of that is contrary to who we are and what we must be if we are to honor our promise to lead this state.

Words and ideas matter. They can shape and change opinion. They also can hurt and threaten people. We must find ways as a university and as a beacon of hope for our campus community and our entire state to reconcile what at times seems irreconcilable.

To that end, as we enter the next phase of our efforts around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), a committee, co-chaired by UK HealthCare Chief Diversity Officer Tukea Talbert and Associate Professor Leon Sachs from the College of Arts and Sciences, is wrestling with how our campus can and should navigate the issues around responsible speech — our freedoms and our responsibilities in this important space.

This, too, is what we do in a vibrant place of ideas. We examine and explore in search of, not only answers, but new ways to think about challenges.

A fast-approaching election next week, with contentious issues and hotly contested races on the ballot, will understandably stir feelings and passions. But I also hope that the election reminds us of our freedoms and our responsibilities to each other.

After all, we are people — all of us — of inestimable value. We need to respect and see, hear and understand. My hope for us is that as we do those things, we can find a way to honor the promise to be that beacon.

Even amid so much discord and distrust in our country and world, I believe in the power of that promise.

I believe in the potential of our community.

Eli Capilouto

President