Condemning violence; supporting our community

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 6, 2022) — University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto sent the following message to the campus community today.

Campus community, 

Early this morning, an incident involving violence against our students, racial slurs and offensive language occurred in one of our residence halls. One of the victims was a student employee who was working an overnight shift at the front desk.

From my view of a video of the incident, the student worker acted with professionalism, restraint and discretion.  

UK Police arrested the perpetrator, who faces criminal charges, and the investigation is ongoing. Our Office of Student Conduct also is conducting an immediate review, and our Student Success teams are reaching out to the student victims who were subject to this behavior to offer support. 

To be clear: we condemn this behavior and will not tolerate it under any circumstance. The safety and well-being of our community has been — and will continue to be — our top priority. 

As we know more details about what happened, we will share more information. 

On Friday, I shared with the campus the responsibilities we have to each other as a community — to protect the free expression of ideas and opinions and to respect each other — everyone on this campus — as we strive to create a community of belonging. 

The video images I have seen do not honor our responsibilities to each other.  They reflect violence, which is never acceptable, and a denial of the humanity of members of our community.  They do not reflect civil discourse. They are deeply antithetical to what we are and what we always want to be as a community.  

We will fully investigate what happened last night, but we also must learn from this moment and do better as a community.

There is no more important responsibility we have — or commitment we must make — than to treat each person — each person — on this campus as people who have equal intrinsic worth and value.  

Let us take this moment, painful and ugly though it is, to remind ourselves of the work we must remain committed to as a community where everyone is welcome and feels that they belong.

Again, we will keep you informed as we know more. 

Eli Capilouto 

Additional Resources

• Read Vice President for Student Success J. Kirsten Turner's email to students with resources and support here.
• Read Provost Robert S. DiPaola's email to faculty here.