9/15/2020
Please note the following statement, which corrects and clarifies recent exchanges on social media which included erroneous statements concerning Geneva College and the College’s Black Student Union.
As the Dean of Students of Geneva College, I want to confirm on behalf of the College, full support for the Geneva College Black Student Union. As an official College Club, the Geneva College Black Student Union affirms and works within the mission of the College.
We believe that the rich diversity of race and culture present in our world is a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ that reflects the image of God in all human beings and allows us to more fully understand His heart and creative nature.
At Geneva College, we affirm the statement “black lives matter” as a confirmation that all people are created by God for His glory, including people of color who have been subjected to injustice on the basis of their race. We affirm this statement as used by the Black Student Union as consistent with our mission.
We stand with our brothers and sisters of color in their quest for a healed and racially reconciled church and nation. Because under Christ and the Scripture we as a church are one people, their cause is our cause.
In our current climate of political polarization, we recognize that the organization, Black Lives Matter, holds values and promotes courses of action contrary to the mission of the College. We do not equate the statement and the organization. Instead, we affirm the statement “black lives matter” as a truth that is fully supported by scripture and relevant in current efforts to remedy racial injustice and to promote racial reconciliation in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We remain deeply committed to learning and growing as a College community in matters of racial reconciliation that all students may thrive in their learning and living at Geneva and that the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified.
On behalf of College leadership,
Jamie R. Swank, J.D.
Dean of Student Development
Geneva College
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