One Community, Together

By Eric F. Spina, President of the University of Dayton

Clad in “Dayton Strong” shirts, the women’s soccer team stood together in a moment of silence before playing the Cincinnati Bearcats to a 1-1 tie in a Sunday night exhibition game on Baujan Field.

In a prayer service in the chapel last week, a diverse crowd of faculty, staff, students, and community members sang “The Prayer of Peace.” They quietly listened to the names of the victims of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, gave thanks to the first responders, prayed for healing and action, and reflected on Father Jim Fitz’s opening prayer:

“Christ who came to bring us peace,

We turn to you in overwhelming sorrow.

How can we end this nightmare of violence,

How can we build a world of inclusion, of solidarity?”

Just like other faculty, staff, and students who come to the city of Dayton from elsewhere, Karen and I have embraced this city as home. This city of great history. This city of innovation and industry. This city of collaboration and partnership. This city of grit and determination. This city of great people. Our love has only deepened with the community’s response to unimaginable adversity in the months since spring semester ended.

When a small KKK-affiliated group from Indiana came downtown in May to espouse hate, we countered with an enormous display of love through numerous peaceful gatherings throughout the month, including one near the Blessed William Joseph Chaminade statue on campus.

When 15 tornadoes ripped through the fabric of Dayton’s neighborhoods at the close of Memorial Day weekend, we banded with our neighbors, delivering thousands of meals to hard-hit areas, offering short-term transitional housing for the displaced, and cleaning up debris. Through service-learning courses and outreach efforts through the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community and Center for Social Concern, our students will continue to partner to help rebuild parts of our community.

When terror struck the Oregon District, our well-trained public safety officers immediately responded to help Dayton police and the victims. We came together in community and prayer, with the conviction that we can create a world where all, especially children, are safe. Taking a leadership role, the Student Government Association, in a letter to the UD and Dayton communities, promised “to work toward forging a new path” after senseless killings around the country. “Hate,” our SGA leaders wrote, “has no home here.” As a campus community, we will take special care that our Latinx students, faculty, and staff feel Mary’s motherly love and compassion, in the wake of the El Paso shooter’s hateful anti-immigrant writing. In the coming week, we will communicate information to students, faculty, staff, and students about how we can continue to work together to keep our campus safe.

English poet John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island.” Blessed Chaminade, founder of the Society of Mary and an inspiration for our times, brought diverse people — laborers, teachers, chimney sweeps — together in a common mission, knowing that society cannot be transformed by any one individual. It takes a community.

Dayton is a resilient community. We have shown grit, strength, faith, and togetherness in a time that might test the resolve of other cities.

In Dayton, we are builders of community. We are one community, together.

(Vice President and Director of Athletics Neil Sullivan provided all UD student-athletes with a "Dayton Strong" shirt, and the Flyer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is leading the charge in selling additional shirts for $15 through UD’s Bookstore. Recent UD graduate Dani Ruffolo, the winner of last spring’s Business Plan Competition, has created a “Dayton Strong” Handy Hat to encourage unity and healing. All proceeds from the shirt and hat will be donated to a Dayton Foundation fund to benefit the families of victims. This piece originally appeared on my blog.)