Rochester City Council Member Sandra Means' recent characterization of Rochester Community and Technical College's students, faculty and staff as unwelcoming in the context of its present leadership challenges was deeply uninformed and grossly unfair.
As a 12-year employee of the college who happens to be a person of color, I can attest that the RCTC community is not only welcoming but inclusive and nurturing. Moreover, they are skilled, seasoned professionals whose standards are high and ethics unassailable, as befits an institution of higher education that is a century old.
It has been my distinct privilege and professional honor to count RCTC community members not only as esteemed colleagues but also dear friends. They genuinely love the College, are proud of its heritage and have a profound sense of loyalty to its educational mission.
I would like to cordially invite Council Member Means to visit the RCTC campus at her earliest convenience in order to meet students, faculty and staff in order experience firsthand how sincerely positive, welcoming, inclusive, fair, dedicated, competent and principled they are.
Othelmo da Silva
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Rochester
