President Creed’s message to Campbell community: Black lives do matter and racism has no home here

Greetings, Campbell Community,

I am speaking today with a heavy heart. We are watching unsettling events unfold across the country following the tragic, senseless, and brutal death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week.

His death highlights the uncomfortable truth about the disparities people of color face within our society.  I join you in your concern and sorrow and in your desire and longing to seek a better world where all people are welcome and valued. 

There is much work to be done.

Campbell University is an institution of higher education inspired and informed by its Christian mission and identity. Christian truth and biblical teaching affirm that the Kingdom of God in this world is rooted and grounded in the Christian community. In this community, all people, created in the image of God, are valued, treated with dignity, and cherished. This is a compelling vision to which we aspire and into which we grow.

Campbell provides opportunities for all members of our learning community to develop “moral courage, social sensitivity, and ethical responsibility.” Those very words are from our university mission statement. In our desire to be open and inclusive, we strive to be a diverse community of learners, pledged to a common purpose and common effort on common ground.  

Black lives do matter and racism has no home here. 

The diversity of our students, faculty, and staff, when we work together to fulfill our mission, can reflect the unity, truth, and beauty of the Kingdom of God.

We learn best when we listen, even when what we hear challenges our assumptions, confronts our attitudes or makes us uncomfortable. But listening that leads to self-reflection and self-examination can be a bridge to greater understanding, especially of those who have experienced discrimination and injustice and suffered because of it.  

During this very challenging time, let us commit ourselves to this noble purpose, and pray for justice, peace, and consolation for those who are suffering. In the days ahead, let us walk together in kindness, respect, and truth in our desire to be a learning community where we advocate for equality and seek justice for all people.

Let us resolve together to be, as the Bible says, “Ambassadors of reconciliation.”

Thank you, and God bless you all.

J. Bradley Creed
President, Campbell University