President Mohammad Qayoumi emailed the following message on today’s student protest to all faculty, staff and students.
Dear Campus Community,
Ensuring a tolerant, inclusive and welcoming environment for every SJSU community member is a campus and personal priority. A group of concerned students has announced its intent to gather today to discuss an incident of concern that occurred earlier this year.
Although confidentiality considerations limit what can be shared today, I want to do my best to clarify what has been and is being done to address this situation.
The incident itself involves remarks by a member of the Tower Foundation Board during a meeting in February with a small group of SJSU staff members, including a member of my Cabinet. These alleged remarks were the subject of some follow up discussion, and informal remedies were discussed at various levels.
In August, a formal complaint was lodged with our Human Resources office and a formal external review has been ongoing since then. A report based on that review was provided to my office just days ago, and we are now closely reviewing it to determine appropriate next steps.
We are especially sensitive to issues of tolerance and civility in the wake of the racially motivated actions against a student in our residence halls in 2013. Although I know some have been frustrated by a perceived lack of action since this incident occurred, we owe it to everyone to thoughtfully, thoroughly and factually determine what occurred before taking action.
Thank you for your patience.
Mo Qayoumi
President