Statement on George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery

June 1, 2020

Dear GPS students, alumni, staff, faculty and friends,

We thought the global pandemic was a test of our limits, but now we are faced with cities across the nation burning and people in pain lining the streets. Similar protests are erupting around the world.

I call our community’s attention to the UC statement and statement of UC San Diego leadership on our latest national confrontation with the continuing legacy of what one historian has rightly dubbed America’s original sin, slavery. This legacy’s bitter fruit has spilled over from the condition of Black Americans to taint the treatment of many other groups in American society. This is why the School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) joins the rest of the campus in seeing the whole of the challenge as one of making equity, diversity and inclusion into beacons for our action.

We owe it to ourselves to be honest in addressing the issues and to be kind to those in distress. I encourage you to seek the support you need. These times are difficult, and simply getting through them may be all you can manage.

We share a common mission at GPS—to use the fruits of our research to empower our graduates as problem solvers whose work advances the best ideals of a global society. Our work is a testament to the belief that progress may sometimes be tortured, but it is possible.

Yours in sadness and hope,

Peter F. Cowhey
Dean and Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy