Upholding What Endures
Dear students, faculty, and staff,
Welcome back, it's so good to see you again! I hope that you had a meaningful Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and a safe return to campus.
As we gather to begin the spring semester, I want to acknowledge the events of the last few weeks in Minneapolis and beyond. For some in our community, these events are unfolding with intergenerational impact; for others, they are unfolding for the first time. Grinnell is home to people from across the United States and around the world: our community is made up of colleagues, classmates, and friends who represent a multiplicity of lived experiences that, inevitably, will shape how these events impact them. Some may be affected by events in their neighborhoods, or that directly impact their loved ones, communities, or home countries. And so, we gather for each other; we gather to put our energies to what endures.
Gathering as a community of inquiry, made up of the bright and beautiful people that you are, is what endures. We can endure by taking the time to inquire about how people are experiencing events as they unfold. We can sustain each other by asking what is needed in the moment. We can be resolved and ready by learning more about the context for how society and individuals are engaging with crucial questions through prescient analysis and meaningful action. We can be sustained by taking time and space to acknowledge the humanity of every individual in all that we do.
We will begin the semester with this year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speaker, Jamelle Bouie, the award-winning opinion columnist for the New York Times, who will speak on campus this Thursday, and end it on the threshold of marking the 250thanniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July. Think of all that we will learn, question, rethink, and act upon in that time.
I thank the faculty of Grinnell for all of the discovery, knowledge, revelation, and resolve that you will foster this semester — as you do every semester so brilliantly. I thank the team in Student Affairs, and particularly the Office of International Student Affairs, for supporting international students and all who are directly and indirectly impacted by recent events. I thank everyone — students, faculty, and staff — working to bring speakers and events to Grinnell that can share insight to inform our thinking and action. I thank the team in Human Resources, as well as the Office of the Dean and academic department chairs, for their care for international faculty and staff and for assisting colleagues with specific concerns. I thank all those who staff the resourcesthat sustain us, and the many who have contributed to and continue to update the shared knowledge of our rights and responsibilities and of the actions we can take to safeguard rights of due process, student privacy, and academic freedom. In the coming days, campus leaders will be sending updated information in response to recent events.
Finally, my sincere gratitude to every member of our wondrous and resolved community for your engagement in our academic mission as it shapes our community and resolve for this moment and the work ahead. I think, as I always will, on Mrs. Renfrow Smith and the legacy of care and action that she has left to us to uphold and honor. Our commitment to be present for each other and engaged with the world is crucial; it is what endures.
Warmly,
Anne F. Harris
President