Eastern Nazarene College’s Commitment to Human Rights

Saturday night, around 8 p.m., a group of approximately two dozen individuals connected to white supremacist ideologies, demonstrated outside the Family Welcome Center and Temporary Shelter operated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the campus of ENC. The demonstration lasted approximately fifteen minutes before the group dispersed; at no time did they directly engage any of the family guests in the shelter or any ENC students. The Quincy Police Department and ENC Security both responded immediately and remained on site to maintain public safety, and we are grateful to them for their ongoing assistance. We are also grateful for the many statements of support we have received from individuals, churches, and other organizations who reject the ideology motivating these demonstrators.

As we have said before, our agreement with the Commonwealth reflects our mission and historic identity as an institution of the Church of the Nazarene. Saturday night’s events, motivated by the racist views of an extremist fringe minority in our region, don’t change our commitments to that mission and identity. We remain dedicated to working with all our partners, the Commonwealth, the City of Quincy, local churches, and others to ensure that this program is a success.