President Trauth denounces hateful communications

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students:

I am writing to you concerning the hateful, racist fliers that briefly were posted on our San Marcos Campus about a week ago. These anti-Semitic fliers appeared very early in the morning and were immediately removed by university police who found them when they were on routine foot patrols. Additionally, we have found other similar types of communications on campus and have moved quickly to remove them.

All of you know that the deplorable sentiments contained in these communications violate our university core values. And I want to stress that religious intolerance is no less reprehensible than that focused on other classes within our nondiscrimination policy.

The individual or individuals responsible for posting these offensive communications seek to divide our Bobcat community. We should not let that happen. The Anti-Defamation League has reported at least 107 incidents of unauthorized flier postings across more than 60 U.S. universities since the beginning of the current academic year.

Our university police continue to investigate these incidents. Although I have shared my thoughts on this type of reprehensible activity numerous times, I cautiously do so today because it gives the perpetrators the attention they so desperately seek.

I want to thank those of you who have contacted me about these offensive communications and ask you to continue to care deeply about our university. Just as we are committed to supporting freedom of expression as protected by the First Amendment, we also are committed to ensuring an inclusive and supportive environment for all religions, and we vigorously condemn actions that aim to divide our university community. Once again I ask you to recommit to the values that have made Texas State a great university. Please do not let people outside our university define who we are as a community.

Sincerely,

Denise M. Trauth
President