Statement by the President on
Community and Respect for Diversity and Difference

At the University of North Dakota, our core mission revolves around educating tomorrow's leaders, advancing knowledge, and serving our communities. Our mission statement embraces and embodies the value of diversity as well as lifelong curiosity and learning, service to others, and shared responsibility for the betterment of our communities and the world around us. We learn best when we learn from one another, and it is imperative that we create - together - an inclusive and respectful educational environment in which all of us in the UND community thrive.

All members of the UND community are welcome throughout our campus and are valued for the diversity of their thoughts, beliefs, and ideals. The diversity of our background and experiences, culture and heritage, race, gender, religion, national origin, orientation, and other dimensions of personal identity is a strength of our community and a cause for celebration.

As a university, we bear a special responsibility to be aware of and sensitive to the ways in which teaching and learning are enhanced by the values of respect and inclusiveness. At UND, as throughout the national community of colleges and universities, we foster awareness, understanding, and appreciation of difference throughout our world. These are more than ideals in higher education; they are imperatives in our increasingly global society.

As we return from spring break refreshed, renewed, and recharged, I call upon the entire UND community to stand with me in embracing and exemplifying the best we have to offer: an educational environment that is open and inclusive, and is truly exceptional for its respect for and appreciation of a diverse and multicultural world.

Robert O. Kelley, President