June 16, 2016

To the John Jay College community:

News of Sunday’s mass murder in Orlando has sent shock waves around the world.  While I am currently out of the country – attending the Stockholm Conference on Criminology where John Jay’s Distinguished Professor Cathy Spatz Widom has received the Stockholm Prize – this profound tragedy is uppermost in my mind. I write to let you know my thoughts are with the entire John Jay community as we mourn the loss of our fellow Americans in this senseless act of terror and hate. Once again, as a nation and as a College community, we are forced to confront another horrific act of violence, and our sense of outrage grows. As a College dedicated to educating fierce advocates for justice, we are called upon to recommit ourselves to finding ways to pursue policies that will make it harder to access assault weapons, carry out such acts of mass violence and commit crimes motivated by hate.

This tragedy affects so many members of our diverse community – LGBTQ, Latino/a, Muslim, and others – and I grieve with you. I applaud those members of the John Jay community who joined the recent demonstration of solidarity at the Stonewall Inn or found other ways to show support for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. I affirm the strong bonds of sympathy between the John Jay community, comprised of so many Hispanic students, faculty and staff, and the Latino community in Orlando that was hit hard by this attack. I recommit our institution to being a welcoming college for Muslim students, faculty and staff.  I commend our colleagues who have redoubled their efforts to counter acts of terrorism. I support a renewed sense of urgency in our nation to demand policies that limit access to assault weapons.  This is a time to turn grief and anger into action.

Above all, this unspeakable and horrific tragedy reminds us that we must respect one another as human beings, and that we must reaffirm our strong and steadfast commitment to diversity and non-discrimination. Student Affairs has already been in touch with many of you, offering counseling and support services, some of which are listed here. Please do not hesitate to access these services. CUNY Chancellor Milliken has published a statement that I urge you to read. Together, we can work to ensure that our respect for diversity, human dignity and a welcoming democracy will ultimately prevail over expressions of violence, hatred and exclusion. In short, this is a time for us to rededicate ourselves to our core mission to “build and sustain just societies.”

Sincerely,

Jeremy Travis
President

Link to College Responds to Orlando Nightclub Shooting.

Link to Chancellor James B. Milliken’s Statement on Orlando Shooting.