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Students, faculty and staff gathered in the Glenn Miller Ballroom on the morning of St. Patrick's Day for a discussion on campus social climate with Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, joined by ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉäSG executives Joseph Soto and John Lurquin.

As a campus community, we still have work to do to ensure that all of our students, faculty and staff can safely and meaningfully work together to make ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder the kind of welcoming environment where everyone can thrive both academically and socially. That work begins with open and candid discussions of what our issues are and how we can work together to address them. Toward this end, ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉäSG, BFA and the Office of Faculty Affairs are co-sponsoring a two-part series of campus discussions focusing on Social dynamics inside and outside of the classroom . Part 1 will be held on March 9 at 3 p.m., in the UMC Ballroom.

You may be aware that we had an incident of hateful speech posted as graffiti in a campus bathroom yesterday. Regardless of who wrote these hateful words on the walls of a bathroom stall, we find speech like this reprehensible and demeaning to all members of our community and we completely reject it.

¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder Today sat down with Senior Vice Chancellor and CFO Kelly Fox to discuss the campus’s request to the Board of Regents for a final $6.3 million in additional funding needed to complete renovations and expansions of Folsom Field, which was approved today.

On Friday afternoon, the University of Colorado Board of Regents heard a proposal for a new tuition plan for ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder, which offers resident students a fixed tuition guarantee for four years from the date that they matriculate. ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder Today sat down with Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano to discuss these proposed changes and what they mean for students.

In recent months a debate about wages has begun across the United States. At ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder, questions have been appropriately raised about our pay structures and the cost of living in our communities. We used these questions as an opportunity to carefully review our pay practices, the market value of work performed and an occasion to increase the total rewards of working at the University of Colorado.

On Jan. 21 we released the results of two student climate surveys – one for undergraduate students and one for graduate students. The two surveys were conducted at the end of 2014, and we are committed to addressing the key findings. Our goal is to ensure all students at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder experience a welcoming environment that maximizes their academic performance and prepares them for success after graduation. In the coming months, you should begin to see and hear more discussions about our campus culture and inclusive excellence. Every one of us needs to make a commitment to creating the type of place where everyone can thrive.

As you likely realize, last Thursday, Dec. 3 was the launch date for the upgrade to the campus PeopleSoft Human Capital Management System (HCM). This will be followed on Thursday, Dec. 10 by the launch of the upgraded PeopleSoft Financials (FIN). These two dates also mark the completion of nearly two years of effort on the part of the ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä System and a wide range of individuals on the Boulder campus.

With the end of the semester in sight and the holiday season approaching, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to each of you for your work and dedication to the university over the past year. As a way to show that appreciation beyond just words, I am pleased to announce that the ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder campus will extend the university New Year’s holiday this year to include Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 as a university holiday.

As we mourn the loss of life in Paris and conduct outreach it is important that we re-affirm our values as a campus by providing support to the French students studying with us in Boulder, to our American students studying in France, and to the valued members of our Muslim community on campus. I want us to rise to the challenge of this difficult international moment by greeting tragedy with healing and conflict with understanding, and by refusing to inject more rancor and reprisal into the mix.