By Kristin Hawkins Cavalier Daily Staff Writer The U.Va. Alumni Association offered a $5,000 reward Friday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who has committed acts of racial intolerance on campus or in the surrounding area.
University President John T. Casteen, III also issued a videotaped message on the University's diversity Web site Friday stressing the importance of tolerance and diversity in the community.
"There is no place for intolerance, for bigotry, for hatred and the reason is that each of those behaviors or attitudes deprives others of the capacity to learn, to teach, to exercise the freedoms that universities are committed to," Casteen said in the message.
The strong response by Casteen and the Alumni Association was welcomed by many members of the University community.
The response is "highly commendable" and is "evidence of the concern everyone around here feels for this [issue]," Board of Visitors Secretary Alexander "Sandy" Gilliam said.
The administration will focus on ensuring student safety in light of the racial incidents and educating students on how to go about reporting racial incidents to the police, said Christina Morell, assistant vice president for student affairs.
Students are being encouraged to report any incidents to the police, to focus on the facts and to support each other, Morell said, adding that the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs is leading the effort.
"Our primary focus has and will continue to be to ensure that our students feel safe," she said. "Our office will also continue to meet with student groups, parents and other members of our community to brief them on our protocols and to reinforce the message of the rector and of the president that we do not tolerate these acts, which in no way represent the values of mutual respect and civility that define our community."
The University Police, in conjunction with the Charlottesville Police, have increased foot patrols Thursday through Saturday nights in the area around the Corner, Rugby Road and Central Grounds.
Casteen likened the effort to enhance tolerance as the University's next great contribution to reshaping the social landscape more broadly.
"To take something as old and as venerable as the University of Virginia and to build in it a platform for a republic in which all of us have an equitable share, in which the values of diversity are in fact the values of the republic, is a wonderful thing," he said. "Let me invite you to join us in doing your part"
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