Campus leaders react to Kenosha shooting

Fellow Badgers,

Like many of you, we are deeply concerned by the shooting of Jacob Blake of Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday, and are waiting with hope as he recovers from gunshot wounds inflicted by police.

We all await and expect a full and complete investigation and accountability for all those involved. We know the list of Black victims of police violence in our nation’s history has grown unconscionably long.

We want you to know that whatever you’re personally feeling right now — whether it’s sadness or anger, frustration or bitterness, determination or numbness — those feelings are valid, and you have every right to feel them.

Spaces for students to process their thoughts and feelings will be announced later this week. We encourage you to reach out to our campus resources for support: Dean of Students Office, Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement (DDEEA), University Health Services, Multicultural Student Center and the Employee Assistance Office.

What we do with our feelings, as we move forward together as a campus community, will help shape and define us.

It is on each of us to come together — united in our differences and committed to learning from one another — with persistent resolve to make this a safe and welcoming campus community for all. Together we have the power to heal, the power to work for justice and the power to make meaningful change.

In the coming days, please take care of each other, listen to each other and lift each other up — this is what makes us a community. This is what makes us Badgers.

In community,

Lori Reesor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Cheryl B. Gittens, Interim Deputy Vice Chancellor for Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer