Saint Mary’s College Responds to Derek Chauvin Verdict
Dear SMC Community,
With the announcement of today’s guilty verdict, we acknowledge the pain, trauma, and stress that the Derek Chauvin trial has had on our community. While we recognize that justice has been served for Mr. George Floyd, our hearts are still heavy with the news about the recent deaths of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo. Let me be clear; Black Lives Matter and systemic racism is real. We recognize the pain and anger experienced by many throughout our country’s long history of violence against Black people.
Saint Mary’s is committed to the Lasallian core principles of respect for all persons, inclusive community, and social justice. We strive to eliminate inequities in educational access and promote positive educational outcomes for students from all backgrounds. As such, we firmly denounce racism and violence in all forms, and we unequivocally support the Black members of our community. We are committed to valuing diversity and integrating an understanding of the attitudes, values, behavior, and histories of our BLM community members and reject prejudice on campus and beyond.
The College Community on Inclusive Excellence (CCIE) invites our campus community to continue the conversation—to ask questions, reflect, and be intentional with engaging with this kind of self and community work toward a more equitable world. We can move to take significant action toward positive and sustainable change throughout the Saint Mary’s community.
To keep the community abreast of racial equity issues at Saint Mary’s, the CCIE recently launched a new website named: "Response to Campus-Wide Demands: A Call for Racial Justice.”
In addition to the new website, the CCIE offers additional helpful resources for our community to gain knowledge about diversity and inclusion for all members of our community and ways in which to get involved. The Black Lives Matter subcommittee of the CCIE has also provided a list of resources and action items.
Counseling services are available should you need support at this time or any point during the year.
For Faculty and Staff: The Claremont Employee Assistance Program is a 24 hour, seven-day-a-week resource for short-term and immediate-need mental health support that can lead to on-going sessions with a counselor. Please review their website at https://www.claremonteap.com/ and use the company name, Saint Mary's College to register for their services, if needed. The contact number is (800) 834-3773.
For Students:
Counseling and Psychological Services on Campus: Please call us at 925-631-4364 or email caps4364@stmarys-ca.edu to make an appointment. You can also schedule non-urgent appointments online by clicking on the "Online Scheduling" button on our homepage.
CAPS Healing Circle: This drop-in group is for African American and Black identified students. It meets Wednesdays from 1-2 via Zoom: https://bit.ly/3pw0r6m
The Saint Mary’s College community stands together against racism.
Sincerely,
Margaret Kasimatis, PhD
Interim Executive Vice President