In the tumultuous first half of 2020, we’ve all had to make changes. The powerful movement that has grown and gained traction in the wake of George Floyd’s murder is also about change—long overdue, systemic change. It’s time. Let’s not miss this opportunity.
While magazine production schedules dictate that I write my message many weeks—even months —in advance of when you will read it, I always strive for timely, relevant messages.
The cover of The New York Times Sunday Review section on May 24, 2020, read: “No One Knows What’s Going to Happen.” And recent months have proven, again and again, how true that is.
2020 has given us a pandemic resulting in illness and loss of lives and livelihoods. The pandemic forced schools, including URI, to quickly shift to remote education, and resulted in a virtual recognition ceremony for our 2020 grads that was nothing like what they dreamed of, expected, and deserved.
Then, the murder of George Floyd, documented on video, in Minneapolis in May sparked worldwide protests demanding change. The video was shocking to many of us. But what we saw was only one heart-wrenching example of yet another manifestation of the systemic racism that has plagued the United States for over 400 years, as both Black Americans and Native Americans know all too well.
Research universities must live in the real world—we must deal in facts, data, and truth, even when these are uncomfortable, inconvenient, or inconsistent with the myths we tell ourselves about who we are, and what our country is.
Let us not miss this opportunity to move the United States closer to becoming a country with “liberty and justice for all.” We have seen enough horrific videos that capture violence and injustice. Black lives matter.
Angela Gonzalez, aka AGonza ’16, featured on this issue’s cover, is not missing this opportunity. An activist whose tool is a paintbrush, she is moving us closer to liberty and justice for all through her murals. In the wake of recent vandalism in Providence, she saw boarded up storefronts as opportunities for community-focused art that would generate conversation and connection. “I am a protestor,” she says, “a revolutionist’s artist. My passion is changing things.” Gonzalez is an example of how each of us can contribute to positive change.
URI, and American higher education more broadly, has missed or mishandled too many opportunities to help guide our nation to becoming a just and humane society. Let us not squander this one. Let us agree that URI should exemplify a clear and consistent commitment to anti-racism, to equal justice, and to liberty and safety for Black Americans and other marginalized groups.
Let us not forget that research universities must live in the real world—we must deal in facts, data, and truth, even when these are uncomfortable, inconvenient, or inconsistent with the myths we tell ourselves about who we are, and what our country is. And we must prepare our students to live in the real world, to critically examine their own myths and assumptions, and to be prepared to succeed and lead in the global effort to overcome the challenges of the times in which they live.
Our transformation, in many ways, is just beginning.
Thanks to the Campaign for the University of Rhode Island—which we are proud to officially launch with this issue of URI Magazine, we will continue thinking and dreaming big. The campaign will allow us to expand student access to a URI education, boost innovative scholarship and research, strengthen programs that distinguish us among public research institutions, extend our global reach and influence, and develop the leaders who will solve tomorrow’s complex problems.
We remain committed to researching, thinking, leading, creating, reflecting, and inventing. We do these things to make the world a better place. We do them to make the world a more just and humane place for all. We do them to make the world a safer and healthier place for all. And never has there been a time when what we do here is needed more.