Hello,

On March 16th, the horrifying news broke that a series of anti-Asian hate crimes took place in Atlanta, GA. We all are shocked and saddened by the news, and our Asian colleagues may have further felt unsafe and unsettled. As the president of Graduate Student Association (CS-GSA), I deeply sympathize with the Asian community of GSU, particularly the Asian/Asian-American graduate students, faculty, and staff of our department.

GSU is one of the most ethnically/racially diverse schools in the nation, and our department is certainly a major contributor to this diversity; an environment that during the past five years of my PhD program has greatly contributed to the personal and professional aspects of my life. This is why I believe I should share my condemnation here on any instances of racism that transpires in the outer society. We in CS-GSA recognize our differences and do everything we can to spot and eliminate the barriers that prevent the full participation of all races, ethnicities, nationalities, genders, and beliefs.

In this spirit, on behalf of CS-GSA, we are working to organize a friendly gathering to offer support and discuss the issues and concerns that all minority graduate students might face. All graduate students, faculty, and staff of the Department of Computer Science are cordially invited.

Time and date of the event will be announced soon.

Sincerely,

Azim Ahmadzadeh

PhD Candidate (2016-2021)

Computer Science Department

Georgia State University