Chancellor's Message About Mali Massacre

Dear Rutgers University – Newark community members,

We join the global community in horror and sadness as details continue to emerge regarding the circumstances of the massacre of more than 150 people in Maliover this past weekend that targeted a Muslim village, adding to the mounting toll of innocent lives lost in the region’s complex conflict. It compounds the wounds that had barely begun to heal in the wake of the killings at two New Zealand mosques less than two weeks ago that were motivated by White Supremacist ideology a half a world away.

The human suffering we have been witnessing in the Sahel region of Africa, extends back decades, but has been intensifying, exacerbated by layers of other human-made calamities from inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflict to high poverty with worsening wealth inequality to food insecurity and other environmental disasters brought on by climate change.

The motives for hatred may be as numerous as the differences among us, whether they reflect beliefs or life circumstances. In the face of hatred of any kind, we need not only name it, but resolve to work against it.

For that reason, I could not be more proud of our undergraduate student leaders who will hold a vigil this Thursday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m. on the Samuels Plaza to do just that. I plan to join them, coming together to ask our campus community to recommit to working across difference at Rutgers-Newark, in our communities, and in the world.

In solidarity,

Nancy Cantor

Chancellor