This is the text of a letter I emailed to President Favazza on the 11th of this month. His response expressed sincere sympathy for Charlie’s family and offered sensible encouragement for what I, and other students, might do in this time of hurt, but, most relevant to my letter, stated that, “While all acts of violence are worthy of condemnation, it would be neither practical nor effective to make a public statement on each of the numerous killings and mass shootings that occur each year.” In light of this refusal, I sought to present my perspective to the wider Anselmian community. I believe that after the recent anti-Catholic violence, the attacks on college campuses, and now even the tragic shooting in our own state, the administration has a duty to reassure the safety of students on campus. It is worth noting that I have written here on my own behalf, quite separately from any group on campus. That being said, I suspect these sentiments are shared by many: 

Dear President Favazza, I am writing to you today to express my dismay with the College’s response, or lack thereof, to the vile attacks on young people, especially Catholics and conservatives in light of the shooting at Annunciation School in Minneapolis, MN, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk yesterday in Orem, UT, on the campus of Utah Valley University. 

After both of these tragedies, which spit in the face of our College’s Catholic and Benedictine values, the administration has remained silent. Instead, your office sent out an email regarding the College’s partnership with the Moore Center. While a noble cause, the timing of not only being after a devastating, politically-charged murder but also on the 24th anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001, with no official statement on either is damning. The attack at Assumption occurred during Mass, the most sacred prayer of our faith, killing two small children, while the assassination of Mr. Kirk occurred on a college campus while tabling and trying to encourage an open public discourse. This has justifiably made students on campus uneasy, with some being afraid to express their beliefs on campus, whether by attending extracurricular activities or by merely engaging in the sort of civil discussion that a college education should be predicated upon, or even for doing something as fundamental as going to Mass. These abhorrent actions are everything that we, as Catholics, should rebuke and pray for protection from, yet there has been no condemnation, no reassurance, not even calls for prayer or memorial in the face of this evil. The College should be openly emphasizing student safety in the wake of these attacks on schools and Catholics across the country and has not been living up to that expectation. I call on you and the rest of the Saint Anselm College administration to not only denounce this violence for the horrific tragedies that they are, but to recommit the administration to student safety by ensuring Anselmians cannot be targeted for expressing their political beliefs or even practicing the religion that this College is founded upon.