Statement from President Palmer on Events Happening in Washington D.C.

Dear Culver-Stockton Family,

As I sit here on the Hill watching protestors occupy the United States Capital building, I have a heavy heart. Peaceful transition of power is rare in history but since the founding of the American republic, it is how we have gone about political change. It is arguably the single most distinctive and special aspect of American democracy. I am confident that order and rule of law will prevail but events in our nation’s capital should disturb us all regardless of our own political opinions and beliefs.

We identify as a liberal arts institution. “Liberal” in this context is not meant as a political statement. Originating with Greek democracy and Roman republicanism, the liberal arts represented the knowledge citizens should possess to be free and active participants in our political processes. In education, liberal has the same root as liberty – the liberal arts is the knowledge one must have to enjoy the rights and the duties of having liberty.

Founded before the Civil War, Culver-Stockton College has faced division and disruption before. Our work, however, has never been more important. We must continue to be a place in which we discuss and debate important issues but we must also do so with respect – no, reverence! – for the diversity of opinion we all bring. We affirm with a voice that is loud and clear that we are all created in God’s image no matter our differences, including differences of political viewpoint, race, sexual orientation or gender.

Let this be our call then, broadcast from the Hill and echoing in the valleys beyond, we stand for unity, rule of law, and that we are all citizens forming one community, whether here on the Hill, in our great Nation and as part of a global community.