As coordinators at Multicultural Student Affairs we are concerned with the recent incidents that, intentionally or not, may create an unwelcoming campus environment at Iowa State. We speak specifically of the posting in the Iowa State Daily “Just Sayin'” column on Feb. 21 in which an anonymous person used language which was seen as offensive to Asians/Asian Americans, as well as an opinion piece on Feb. 29 by Ian Nichols stereotyping Latinas/os and promoting the use of derogatory language to label undocumented persons.

We recognize a person’s right to submit an opinion letter to the Daily, regardless of whether or not we agree with that opinion. However as members of the ISU community, we also hold certain shared values and expectations for ourselves and others — students, faculty and staff. Those values include mutual respect and the recognition of the right to human dignity for all members of our community. The use of hurtful, stereotypical and inaccurate language (such as “squinty” or “illegal alien”) to demean and dehumanize particular groups of people should ring an alarm regarding the state of our community.

This is an election year for our nation, and we have seen the vitriol hurled by opposing sides of many controversial issues, including immigration. At Iowa State we can either choose to fall into the pattern of demeaning others to make our own opinions and views appear stronger, or we can choose to dialogue as a community in a respectful manner as we provide Iowa, the nation and the world with creative ideas and solutions to vexing issues. We choose the latter.