President Morehead made a statement one week after offensive Facebook posts were directed at the Black Affairs Council. On Tuesday, UGA’s President sent this statements to the BAC, the Black Faculty and Staff Organization, the LGBT Community, and the MPS Presidents’ Roundtable:

Although I am at the Board of Regents meeting in Atlanta today and Wednesday, I wanted to reach out to you and share my great concern over the recent incidents that have impacted you and the entire University community. It has become apparent through these outrageous online postings that our University of Georgia community is being targeted by individuals intent on spreading a message of hate. We do not know the origin of these messages, but a criminal investigation is underway by University of Georgia Police in consultation with other law enforcement agencies. I join with other members of the University community in condemning these actions, which do not reflect the culture of unity and inclusion which we support on our campus.  I hope that you will share my sentiments with others within your respective organizations.

Then, on Wednesday, November 13, President Morehead sent an email to every UGA student, faculty, and staff member.

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff of the University of Georgia,

As many of you already are aware, the University community has been targeted recently by criminal acts of identity theft by perpetrators who have used those false identities to post hateful speech on Facebook pages and Twitter accounts of some UGA student, staff and faculty groups.  I wanted to reach out to you and share my great concern over these recent incidents that impact not only these individual groups but also the entire University community.  It has become apparent through these outrageous online postings that those responsible, as-yet unknown, are intent on spreading their message of hate.  When any member of our community is attacked in such a hateful way, we all are affected.  We all share their hurt; we come together in their support.  I join with other members of the University community in condemning these actions, which do not reflect the culture of unity and inclusion which we support on our campus.  A criminal investigation is underway by UGA Police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in consultation with the security departments of Facebook and Twitter.  While we hope and expect that anyone responsible will be identified and held accountable for their actions, we should not allow them to achieve the goal that seems their intent: to divide our community and divert our attention from the pursuit of an open, unified campus.    Let us work together to keep that from happening.

Sincerely,
Jere W. Morehead
President

The BAC still plans to hold a silent protest outside of the President’s office TODAY at 2:30 p.m.