A Message from the University President on the importance of voting

An important message from University President Tony Allen concerning the importance of voting and the University operations next week in light of the elections.

October 30, 2020

To the University Community:

We have a historic election in front of us!  And your participation is required!

That you vote is of consequence to you, your family, and your community.  Regardless of your choice of candidate, you should exercise that right with great pride and an acknowledgment that many of our people – the American people – gave their very lives for moments like Tuesday, November 3. I encourage you to take that sacrifice very seriously.  

As you know, the University will be closed on Election Day. On Monday, November 2, and Wednesday, November 4, I am asking you to stay home as well. Because our country still faces real division as well as continued social and civil unrest, it is important that immediately before and following the election that you be with your families. All virtual classes will continue Monday and Wednesday, and most employees who have been working remotely will continue to do so, but unless you are deemed essential personnel by your supervisor, we do not want you to return to campus until Thursday, November 5.   

Until then, know that whatever happens on Tuesday, the fabric of our country is this:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

Stay safe, stay connected — and VOTE!

Signed,

Dr. Tony Allen