Moving Maryland Forward

UMD President Darryll J. Pines, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Georgina Dodge, Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Perillo and Director of Athletics Damon Evans sent the following email to the campus community this morning: We have witnessed increasing incidences of transgender people publically harassed and ridiculed, and there has been an avalanche of antitransgender legislation proposed in dozens of states. A recent count indicates that there are at least 50 of these bills in 36 states, most of them focusing on health care and sports. While none of these bills has been proposed in Maryland, this spate of proposed anti-transgender legislation has created stress and a climate of fear among our transgender and nonbinary communities.

University President Darryll J. Pines, Interim Senior Vice President and Provost Ann G. Wylie, University Health Center Director Dr. Spyridon S. Marinopoulos and Associate Vice President for International Affairs Ross Lewin sent the following email to the campus community this afternoon: We are deeply saddened to see the devastating impact that COVID-19 is creating across India and other countries around the world. Although the pandemic has affected us all, the impact from COVID-19 continues to grow more severe outside the United States; in addition to India, parts of South America, the Middle East and other regions have witnessed a dramatic increase of serious illness that is overwhelming health services.

Forty-eight names. Forty-eight irreplaceable threads in the uniquely woven tapestry of the University of Maryland community. At the center of today’s UMD Memorial Celebration, the first staging of a planned annual event, university leaders individually called out the name of each Terp lost from January 2020 through last month. About 50 invitees, including family members and university leadership, listened to the toll in a physically distanced ceremony at Memorial Chapel, along with many more virtual attendees.