King's Principal's message to community on racist language
July 29, 2020
A message from Dr. David Malloy, King's Principal:
King’s has long been a place where members of our community are encouraged to engage in open discussions on difficult and challenging topics. Today, one such topic needs to be discussed.
Many of you may have been made aware, through media reports, of an incident involving a King’s professor reading aloud in class a derogatory term while narrating a historical novel, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899) at King’s last fall. While the incident in question was immediately and thoroughly investigated this past October, we will continue to strive to do better as an institution and as the members of this institution to provoke positive change to make King’s a safer place for all. Our staff are reaching out to provide ongoing support to the student.
On behalf of King’s, and myself, I apologize for the harm to our community by any mention of racist language. We take all such issues very seriously. King’s will continue to abide by our Harassment and Discrimination Policy and I encourage everyone to review the policy.
Together with our colleagues at Brescia, we are developing the King’s/Brescia Joint Principals’ Anti-Racism Working Group with the goal of working together on a common set of social justice values, stopping and preventing all forms of racism on our campuses. We seek to listen, learn and respond as we work to build an inclusive space for all. We encourage the members of our community to provide feedback on the Terms of Reference through an online form that will be available until August 12.
We continue to strive to create and maintain a campus where all members of our community will be welcome and safe, and where racism and discrimination has no place. Our students and our community deserve better.
I have been speaking with our community regarding this issue and our efforts to learn and move forward. I continue to welcome your feedback, concerns, and suggestions at principal@kings.uwo.ca.
We have continued to take care of this place, but we must also take care of ourselves and, more than ever, each other.