August 17, 2017
The recent remarks by St. Mary’s Professor of Law Jeff Addicott at the Travis Park Confederate Monument last weekend are deeply troubling to me, as well as to many in our St. Mary’s community. The University is and should be strong and steadfast in defense of all St. Mary’s faculty members to speak and to write on campus, through their scholarship and in the public square, whether faculty communications are reasonably conveyed or not, whether we agree with the substance or not.
St. Mary’s does not, however, support or defend hateful and violent speech. And, hence, we do not support a specific comment made by Professor Addicott during his speech in Travis Park. After questioning whether any among the assembled crowd were racist, Professor Addicott said:
“If any of you are racist in here please see me afterwards. I’d love to beat the living daylights out of you.”
At St. Mary’s University, we promote and foster reasoned and respectful dialogue with our neighbors, including with those with whom we may disagree.
The University is addressing this matter and engaging in discussions about Marianist values and how Mary, our patroness, calls us to treat as family our neighbors, strangers, everyone we encounter in our daily lives.