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• Statement on prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance

As a member of the Division of Student Affairs, the University Police is committed to the following statement on prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance:

The mission of the Division of Student Affairs at the University at Buffalo is to contribute to the comprehensive educational experiences of students by promoting their intellectual, vocational, personal, social and cultural development in such a way that they will discover, accept, and assume responsibility for their uniqueness, their humanity, and their obligations to society. In our increasingly pluralistic world community, each of us has a responsibility to respect the rights and dignity of others. The University is a gathering of individuals representing great diversity. Forces which demean, isolate, and injure individuals threaten the larger constituency and, by extension, the entire higher education enterprise. Prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance are such forces.

When considering the issue of intolerance, we find it has many facets; there is the question of defining intolerance, and there is the critical and frustrating question of what differentiates intolerant behavior from freedom of expression or from academic freedom.

The challenge for UB is deciding how to channel its enormous intellectual resources toward the celebration of its diversity while maintaining an environment conducive to learning, but at the same time one that challenges the closed minds that foster the intolerance that has proven to be so detrimental to academic inquiry. Legislating for tolerance by the imposition of sweeping rules and mandates is less effective than creating a campus atmosphere supportive of human rights and dignity.

To this end, a committee for the promotion of tolerance and diversity was formed and long-range strategies to educate and raise the consciousness of the UB community in order to prevent or alleviate situations leading to intolerant behavior have been and are being designed. Another effort to promote tolerance on campus was the creation of the Intercultural & Diversity Center under the aegis of the Division of Student Affairs in the Spring of 1993. The mission of the office is to promote, support, and facilitate an appreciation of diversity among students and campus constituents and assist in developing a campus climate that celebrates difference.

Further, the University's Student Rules and Regulations (Article 5B), now provides a clear, definitive statement on UB's commitment to nondiscrimination that is supported by both the State University Trustees and the Governor relative to UB's commitment to nondiscrimination. The document specifically states:

"The University at Buffalo is committed to fostering a positive environment for learning, and to ensuring the safety, rights, and dignity of every member of the University community. It is the policy of the University at Buffalo to prohibit invidious categorical discrimination based on such characteristics as race, gender, sexual orientation, age national origin, religion, or disability in all matters affecting employment or educational opportunities within the University itself. It is the firm belief of the Council, the faculty, and the administration that judgments about persons within the University should be based on their individual merits, accomplishments, aptitudes, and behavior, and that invidious categorical discrimination is wholly inappropriate to the University's mission and values."

Almost every campus in the nation has had to confront the problems of prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance in one way or another; some have adopted educational strategies, some have tried policy changes, and still others have been forced to more drastic action in response to violent confrontations. In every case, however, successful resolutions have only been effected as a result of a collaboration between faculty, staff, students, and administrators. The issue is a sensitive one; intolerance and related acts are an emotional issue whether you are the victim or the perpetrator.

We must continue to cultivate a mind-set that recognizes diversity--the condition of being different with no pejorative connotation attached. By realizing success in this effort, we then promote unity without requiring uniformity among us and the institution will reap extraordinary benefits from our rich, natural diversity.

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