President Rick Bailey has a single topic for his February video message, and it gets straight to the heart of SOU: love. “We are built on a principle here at Southern Oregon University that everyone is deserving and worthy of love and respect and kindness and support,” President Bailey says. The university has love for all, regardless of where they are from, their last names, how they identify themselves, their abilities, their military status, their hometowns or how they choose to vote. “You still have a home here at SOU,” the president says. Current events have highlighted the divisions throughout society, but SOU provides an environment where people of all stripes can live and learn together with respect – and love. “This is not a political stance, and it certainly is not a political act of defiance,” President Bailey says. “I think we can do two things at the same time. We can be honorable, and we can make sure we’re following all of the federal and state laws. And at same time, we can hold true to the principle that everyone is deserving of love.”
