Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,
Since April 30, we have worked diligently to uphold our Vincentian ideals by identifying a resolution to the encampment in the quad on our Lincoln Park Campus. We are extremely disappointed to share that discussions with the Divestment Coalition student leaders are at an impasse.
Together with the Board of Trustees, we have worked to substantively respond to each of the demands the students have put forward. However, at this point, we are concerned that we are not on a path to understanding. For a complete view of the ideas and solutions we offered to the Divestment Coalition, please view our original response to the ten demands of the coalition here. You can also see additional solutions offered by the engagement team here. We believe many of these ideas will be beneficial to the university and intend to pursue them.
For the past 12 days, we have been determined to lead as humanists and pragmatists, using our Catholic, Vincentian mission. We believe students with the Divestment Coalition initiated the encampment with sincere intentions to peacefully protest. However, the responses to the encampment have inadvertently created public safety issues that put our community at risk.
We are very grateful to those at DePaul who worked tirelessly to keep open conversations and open minds over these last 12 days. We will share updates as new information is available.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Manuel
President
Salma Ghanem
Provost