President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. sent an email to the MSU community linking support resources following the release of video footage of Patrick Lyoya's death. Lyoya was a young Black man shot by a Grand Rapids police officer last week.
“In the coming days and weeks, we will learn more about this tragedy, while I know that this incident has immediate impacts on many of us,” Stanley said in the email. “It brings forward painful memories of past and present trauma rooted in racism and inequities, especially among our Black community.”
Stanley also said the College of Human Medicine, headquartered in Grand Rapids, has kept in constant communication with its faculty, staff and students.
Deputy spokesperson Dan Olsen encourages the MSU community to support each other after hearing this news. He said because people process trauma differently, MSU wanted to remind the community of the resources available to them.
“Timeliness is certainly something that was important here,” Olsen said. “Making sure that our students and faculty and staff had resources available to them as soon as possible was important. And of course, as always, our foremost priority is the well-being of our campus community.”
Stanley linked resources for students and employees, including:
CAPS will be working with campus partners to create “gathering spaces” with continued support. Olsen said there will be a CAPS Connect virtual session at the Multicultural Unity Center on April 19.
“We have a responsibility to one another to respond to these injustices by acknowledging them, empathizing with one another and accepting each other,” Stanley said in the email. “To our Black students, faculty and staff, know that I stand with you, and so does your university.”
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