Jackson Free Press

Verbatim release:

Statement from Dr. Robert W. Pearigen, President of Millsaps College

http://jacksonfreepress.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/v3/images/uploads/Rob-Pearigen_t670.jpg" align="right" />

January 31, 2017

“Millsaps College is an impressive collection of individuals from Mississippi and around the world. Our strength as a community comes, in large part, from our diversity—our different socio-economic backgrounds, faiths, races, cultures, political viewpoints, sexual orientations, and yes, nationalities. This diversity makes us a more interesting, tolerant, and dynamic place, and equips us all—students, faculty, and staff alike—with the sort of understanding needed to make a positive difference in the world.

“Our ‘commitment to good citizenship in our global society,’ as outlined in our vision statement, is revealed in moments like these by the way we teach, work, study, play, and live together. It is my hope that our commitment will be made stronger by the challenges now before us and that we can agree to peaceful, heartfelt, and honest discussions about those challenges.

“Millsaps welcomes students from all countries, and will continue to support all of our students and protect their privacy to the fullest extent under the law.

“Our institutional vision is rooted in a conviction that our differences make us stronger and should be a cause for celebration, not a source of concern or fear. I am deeply grateful for the diverse contributions that each of you brings to our campus family, and I reaffirm our collective commitment to a campus that honors justice and the dignity of all.”