This is actually the kind of letter I like to see.
Dear Chancellor Ericksen and the University of Minnesota Morris community:
Today, I want to extend my sincere apology on behalf of the Board of Regents following Regent Sviggum’s apology yesterday. As you know, last Thursday Regent Sviggum asked a question regarding Morris enrollment. We all bear responsibility for speaking up and condemning the question, whether on Thursday or in our Friday meeting. As the leader of our board, I should have done better and I am not proud of my inaction.
Our Board is committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and it is a central anchor of the president’s MPact 2025 strategic plan, which the Board has fully endorsed. We are inspired every day by the diversity of thought, of inquiry, of vision, and of presence that drives our institution forward.
In March of 2023, we will hold the Board of Regents meeting on the Morris campus. With the full Board on campus, we will focus on engaging with the Morris community, including students, faculty, staff, and the broader Morris region.
In addition, I am committing today to provide DEI training to the entire Board of Regents that will help us more fully understand and reaffirm the power that different perspectives bring to our shared success. Diversity is not a challenge, it is a strength that makes our institution—and Morris—one of the most highly regarded universities in the country.
Consistent with the educational mission of our great University, the Board of Regents recognizes that we must acknowledge our failings and learn from them. Hopefully, our sincere efforts to do so will serve as an acknowledgement of our responsibility and commitment as Regents to advance the University’s land grant mission of teaching and service for the benefit of all Minnesotans.
Our mission is your mission. We look forward to meeting with you in March to further discuss the importance of diversity and how we, as a Board, can support you in your efforts, as well as to listen to your stories of the many ways that the Morris campus embraces the University mission and inspires us all.
With thanks,
Ken Powell, Chair
Board of Regents
I think maybe Sviggum was chastised by the board — I don’t think he is well liked.
Although…they’re all coming out to Morris in March? We’ll still be frozen and under the snow, and we don’t have a star chamber quite as intimidating as the one they’ve got in the Twin Cities. Maybe they can meet in my lab, surrounded by spider cages instead.
That’s the rare actual apology. I really expected to see a not-pology when I saw this on MPR. I am pleasantly surprised.
The lab sounds optimal.
Get a wrong answer, emulate a scene from Willard, albeit with spiders, rather than with tame rats.
I agree, that is a real apology that not only admits to a mistake, but promises action to correct the mistake.
Admitting mistakes and taking responsibility.
I am impressed.
“unintended hurt my questions may have caused”
It is not a real apology though it looks like one.
Nowhere does he say what he did was wrong nor does he say he should not have said it,
but he is sorry that it caused harm to those to whom it caused harm.
Claims to be a lay person in a church so he should know that an apology must have an admission of wrongdoing and not being sorry just for the harm done.
9 white guys, 4 women, 1 poc.
Might be part of the problem.
Wow, your spiders look seriously deformed…