To the Editor:

We write in support of the recent victim of a hate crime on the SUNY Potsdam campus, where we work. On April 26, College President Esterberg emailed an alert stating, “Over the weekend, a faculty member received a disturbing note that included racist and homophobic vitriol, as well as threats of violence both to the faculty member and their family. Not only is this a [heinous hate] crime, but it is also an attack on the heart and soul of the SUNY Potsdam community and all that we value.”

We understand that this threat is no prank, and that its author has chosen to be extremely pointed and directly threatening. This threatening behavior is totally unacceptable to us as human beings, educators and leaders in the North Country. It represents a direct effort to disrupt an individual’s life and work -- and that of all people of color and LGBTQ people in our community. We are outraged by all such acts, wherever they occur and whatever the level of threat.

To the victim: we sincerely wish we could protect you from the hateful threats of violence directed at you and your family. We stand with you and are thinking of you. We will renew our efforts to create a community which treasures and protects the humanity, dignity, and safety of all of its members.

This event must be a wake-up call to the SUNY Potsdam community to tackle the issues even more directly, issues of exclusion and slurs, issues which have been simmering since our student body became dramatically more diverse. We invite concerned members of the Potsdam village community to contact us about future discussions about responding as a larger community to fully embrace the change these students bring.

It is 2015, and students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds are stimulating positive change in our growing, dynamic college. We will continue to move forward in welcoming and nurturing change.

SUNY Potsdam faculty and staff: Jennifer Mitchell, Carol Franck, Libbie Freed, Latesha Fussell, Francois Germain, Alan Hersker, Sharon House, Nancy Lewis, Sheila Marshall, Bethany Parker, Tom Nesbitt, Oscar Sarmiento, Shaili Singh, Susan Stebbins, Heather Sullivan-Catlin and Lonel Woods