UPDATE: Student Letter of Clarification
Image taken from the United North Park Instagram page.
Copy-Editor, Olivia Price, will be following the story as it continues to unfold.
Over the course of the last week, following the release of the Letter to the Board of Trustees (see Vista’s coverage of the initial letter), the United North Park movement has expanded to other platforms.
On the same day the letter was released, an Instagram account called “unitednorthpark” was created. In the account's bio, they stated they are a “concerned community” with the intent to “hold North Park accountable.”
There is a link in their bio to a website that has a copy of the initial letter and instructions for how to get involved with the movement. On the website, they also asked for students, faculty, and staff to share stories of their North Park experience. Throughout the past week, they posted one to two anonymous quotes a day coming from what may be students, faculty, or staff.
On November eight, around eight in the morning, the account put a new link in their bio with what they called a letter of clarification about the initial letter to the Trustees.
The student Letter of Clarification outlined the events of the last week and the purpose of the initial letter from the perspective of the NPU undergraduates involved in its writing and distribution.
The students who wrote this clarification letter (who referred to themselves as the United North Park Student Coalition) stated in it that the purpose of the original letter was for President Surridge to release a public response by November eighth, affirming she had read it and would enter into conversation with faculty and students.
In addition to recapping the original letter, the clarification letter detailed the events of harassment in the Chemistry department referenced in the first letter. They stated that North Park failed to respond to these events adequately, and didn’t list them in the online crime report, despite them being reported to the university.
The students from The Coalition then enumerated ways in which they believe the university is not fulfilling the promises it made to students as stated in the student handbook.
They noted that they love North Park, and it is because they want to see it grow that they helped spur this movement.
The students ended the Letter of Clarification by asking that the student body stands with them by sharing the movement with others and sending encouragement.
Later, during the evening of November eighth, around six, the website and account were updated with posts acknowledging that the administration had not yet responded. They stated underneath the post that since President Surridge didn’t respond, they created a private Facebook group to provide updates as the situation continues to unfold.
Vista will continue in its reporting as more information becomes available.
