Support in the Wake of Tragedy

June 14, 2016

To the Yale Community,

Acts of unfathomable violence, such as the tragedy that took place in Orlando earlier this week, touch all of our lives. For some in our community, the impact is especially personal or immediate. I encourage everyone at Yale—faculty, staff, and students—to seek comfort from each other and to offer support to friends and colleagues. We cannot know all of the Yale family members for whom the mass shooting on Saturday struck close to home, but we can hold all of them in our thoughts and prayers, and we can particularly acknowledge the grief of our LGBTQ and Latinx communities, as well as those from—or with family and loved ones in—Florida. In the aftermath of this horror, our hearts also go out to the Muslim members of our community who have all too often experienced discriminatory backlash.

Yale has resources in place to aid the campus community in times of tragedy. Any student in need of support can contact Mental Health and Counseling at Yale Health, where assistance is available around the clock. (The telephone number is 203-432-0290 during business hours and 203-432-0123 after hours.) La Casa Cultural, Yale’s Latino Cultural Center, can be reached at 203-432-2913 or lacasa@yale.edu. The Chaplain’s Office (Old Campus, Bingham Hall, Entryway D; 203-432-1128) and the Office of International Students & Scholars (421 Temple Street; 203-432-2305) are among the resources available to all members of our community. The Office of LGBTQ Resources (203-432-0309) is holding office hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Thursday, and additional information is available online via YaleNews.

Many Yale faculty, staff, and students attended the community rally and interfaith vigil held yesterday evening on the New Haven Green. I encourage any campus organization planning additional gatherings of solidarity or support to write to Secretary and Vice President for Student Life Kim Goff-Crews at secretary.office@yale.edu so that she can help to share the information with our wider campus community.

Finally, I hope that all of us will seek in—and offer to—each other a reaffirmation of our collective humanity: compassion, care, and understanding.

Sincerely,

Peter Salovey
President and Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology