On Friday, Sept. 11, at 11:30 a.m., members of the Black Student Council will come together with President Michael R. Lovell and Rev. James Voiss, S.J., vice president for mission and ministry, for a prayer service oriented toward healing racism at Marquette and the university’s role in addressing racial injustice.
The Marquette community is invited to join virtually via the Mission at Marquette Facebook page.
Recognizing that the university has fallen short in its service to Black students and the fight for racial justice, this group will come together to name the experience of racism on our campus, to ask forgiveness for our shortcomings in addressing this injustice and to commit ourselves in a context of prayer to working together for positive, meaningful change. The hope is that this event will set the Marquette community on a positive path toward justice and healing as we enter into this school year.
As President Lovell and Provost Ah Yun shared in their message last week, as a Catholic, Jesuit university, Marquette is committed to respecting, defending and preserving the dignity of all people. That means we strive to provide a safe and welcoming environment where all can thrive. But the truth revealed in the experiences of our Black students is that, in far too many cases, we have failed. Our history makes that clear. We need to change.
Racism and discrimination cannot be tolerated on our campus. Whether in the form of individual actions or of racially biased structures, we must recognize what is at stake and work together to overcome such injustice. To those of our community, past or present, whom we have failed by not addressing the racial injustice in our Marquette community, on behalf of Marquette University, we apologize and ask your forgiveness.