Opinion|From the University of Maryland
From the University of Maryland
Students of Bowie State University in Maryland at a vigil for Richard Collins III.CreditCreditKenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun, via Associated Press
Re "A Murder at College Park" (On Campus, nytimes.com, May 30):
The unprovoked murder of 2nd Lt. Richard Collins III shook the campus communities of Bowie State University and the University of Maryland, as well as the country. Now being investigated as a possible hate crime, this tragedy has changed us all.
The sentiments of the students featured in the article are profound and speak to concerns shared by many of our community members. I ardently denounced race-related incidents that have occurred on our campus, and I realize and acknowledge that our university must do more.
I recently announced an action plan to combat hate and create a safer campus. These actions, outlined at umd.edu/umdreflects, are only the beginning. These are fraught times on our campus, across the country and around the world. It is incumbent on all of us to stand up and fight racism, extremism and hate. They are cancers in our body politic.
I am more resolute than ever that we must be stronger than those who would divide us and subvert the values that undergird our university and our democracy.
WALLACE D. LOH
COLLEGE PARK, MD.
The writer is president of the University of Maryland, College Park.