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Date: June 19, 2020
Dear Milligan Community,
As we previously shared, we believe that Milligan can do better to equip our community to listen to others, to empathize, to walk with, and to stand up, and to speak up for those whose voices are often ignored.
Below is a message from our Goah Scholars Program that Milligan stands behind. I encourage you to read it and join in praying for peace and equality in our nation and on our campus. We also ask you to join us in action.
This past year, our Multi-Ethnic Resource Team (MERT) of faculty, staff, and students worked on recommendations for ways Milligan can do better. While this group’s work was halted by the closing of campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our commitment to these efforts is not halted.
We have tasked a work group to assist the administration this summer in developing an action plan for specific strategies and tactics that help Milligan in our work of promoting justice, reconciliation, understanding, and most of all, love for one another (read about our institutional goals at www.milligan.edu/diversity). This group includes:
- Dr. Lee Harrison, VP for Marketing & Enrollment
- Garland Young, VP for Academic Affairs
- Mark Fox, VP for Athletics and Student Development
- Gwen Ellis, Director of Multicultural Engagement
- Rich Aubrey, Campus Minister
- Ron Kastens, Director of Ministry Leadership Program
- Tony Jones, Dean of Students
- Rebecca Sapp, Director of the MS in Counseling Program; Director of Counseling Center
This group will start by reviewing the recommendations from the Multi-Ethnic Resource Team (MERT) and developing an action plan that can be implemented as quickly and as judicially as possible. This group will seek the input and feedback from our students, faculty, and staff along the way.
This work requires tenacity and collaboration. As our Goah Scholars remind us below, please join us in our commitment to listen, learn, and serve.
President Greer
Milligan University Goah Scholars Diversity Program
On behalf of the Goah Scholars Diversity Program, we feel we must address the current racial tensions in our country. As Goah Scholars, one of our roles is to be cultural ambassadors while also becoming servant-leaders to our fellow students and community.
As we all know it has been a season of great loss and hardship. Now more than ever it is apparent that we must stand with the Black community. We want to empower the voices of our minority students, especially those that have been oppressed.
The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other innocent African Americans has created a movement all across the United States, and the Goah Scholars will not remain silent on this issue. We see the struggle that the Black community faces every day, and although we have not all experienced this racism personally, we will not be bystanders.
We are committed to making Milligan University a place where all voices are heard and valued regardless of skin color. As Goah Scholars, it is our joy to stand with the Black community in this fight for justice and equality.
In Galatians 3:28, we are reminded “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus,” and we must love one another just as He has loved us.
We will continue to stand with the Black community even if our nation pushes this issue aside, and it no longer appears in the headlines. We call on the rest of the Milligan community to rally behind them as well. As this injustice continues, we pray for peace and equality in our nation and on our campus.
Our support does not just end on Milligan’s campus, but extends internationally to all Milligan students worldwide. As prayers and vigils are important in helping unite the spirit of our fellow Americans in pain, we also want to encourage everyone to put that prayer into a form of action and charity.
As you return to campus, please join us in our commitment to listen, learn and serve. Please support our Goah-sponsored events as we strive for a more unified campus environment. If there are other specific ways you would like to see Milligan make a change or show support, please feel free to email us or contact us through social media.
Thank you.
Alexandra Reynoso, President, areynoso@my.milligan.edu
Aamir Bullitt, Vice President, adbullitt@my.milligan.edu
Mallory Fehl, Junior Class, mafehl@my.milligan.edu