Why COMM Students Started this Campaign

Rather than the idea of tolerance, which implies suffering someone’s existence, this campaign seeks to promote and foster inclusive community. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., people are judged by their character, actions, and accomplishments rather than by their race, ethnicity, age, gender, dis/ableness, or sexual orientation. While we're not responsible for our biological conditions or for those with whom we share them, everybody is responsible for creating a world in which we all want to live in. Our better nature drives us toward inclusion and acceptance, but we need to be vigilant in reminding ourselves to extend the kindness and acceptance we desire to those around us.

The campaign is based on concise and consistent messages distributed via all college and department media channels. These messages are based on two core precepts.

1. Fighting discrimination and derogatory language and actions is everybody’s business. We have a collective and individual responsibility to confront intolerance whenever we encounter it or we become complicit in it.
2. Denigrating and derogatory humor is not acceptable in interpersonal interaction.