University Of Michigan’s Equity And Inclusion Vice Provost Wants To Advance Anti-Semitism?

We all know that the University of Michigan (U of M) has or some now may say had a great reputation as an elite educational institution.  An institution that had many intelligent people who not only worked at the university but went to the university.

With so many intelligent people who work at and attend the University of Michigan, you would not think that they would make such a grievous error on a very important email that they sent to every single student attending their prestigious university.

Well, you would be wrong.

Robert Sellers, Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion at U of M, recently sent an email to all students from U of M’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion department that stated:

If we are to become a more diverse, equitable and inclusive University, we must continue our journey and renew our commitment to this work, which includes the advancement of anti-racism, anti-ableism, anti-Semitism, gender equity and building a climate resistant to sexual misconduct

Advancing anti-Semitism?

I understand that more than likely this was an accident.  Did they not proofread that email before they sent it out?  I also understand some things could be missed when you proofread something, that has happened to me before and will probably happen to me again.  The Equity and Inclusion department at U of M missing the part of the email in which they say they will work to advance anti-Semitism is quite a large miss.  With all the “intelligent” people they have working for them how could that happen?

Someone must have informed them of what they had emailed to every single student  because the department issued an apology that stated:

To the University Community,

Earlier today an e-mail was sent to our campus community outlining our commitment to the next phase of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the University of Michigan.

In our effort to communicate our commitment to advancing numerous DEI efforts, and the dismantling of antisemitism efforts, we clearly misstated our intentions and inadvertently suggested that we support antisemitism. That is the exact opposite of our intent. Thus, I want to make our intention clear:

The University of Michigan remains vigilant and actively engaged in dismantling antisemitism through our new and ongoing commitments to our DEI work.

On a personal level, I would like to apologize to all members of our community for this error and for the harm it has caused. As Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Michigan, my personal and professional commitments to the dismantling of oppression and discrimination in all forms including antisemitism are at the core of who I strive to be.

I want to point out that neither the Detroit News nor Detroit Free Press is reporting about this error.  I wonder why?  Perhaps they were too busy writing about President Trump.