This morning the following message went out to the campus community. Written a few days ago, it arrives in boxes amidst more tragic news from Gaza and intense uncertainty here at home. What can we do in such times? We can commit to education — to learning from one another, from traditions that inform our lives and through modes of inquiry that will shape our futures. I am so happy that tomorrow we will begin classes, and I am thrilled to be meeting my new Virtue and Vice students for the first time. Across this beautiful campus and beyond, we will learn together.
Dear friends,
To the Class of 2028 and our newest transfer students—welcome! I hope by now you have settled into your dorms, begun to make connections, and are feeling ready for the journey ahead. To our returning students, faculty, and staff—including those who have worked tirelessly this summer to prepare for the fall semester—welcome back!
We are starting the 2024-25 academic year at a time that feels immensely consequential. With America in the throes of a heated presidential election and global conflict at dangerous levels, there is much to be concerned about—and much to attend to. At Wesleyan, we believe that our work should be committed to both the good of the individual and the good of the world. Here we seek to empower individuals through a pragmatic liberal education that also cultivates our ability to attend to one another, understand broadly diverse perspectives, and engage with the issues in positive ways. To do this, we foster an environment that supports free inquiry and expression and that is “safe enough,” encouraging passionate debate free of intimidation or harassment.
We are excited by the arrival of Khalilah L. Brown-Dean as the Rob Rosenthal Professor of Civic Engagement and the Executive Director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life. Dr. Brown-Dean has already developed some stirring initiatives to encourage students to take action at this important moment for American democracy, which you can read more about in a recent post. I hope you will find meaningful ways to engage with Dr. Brown-Dean and her team’s work in the months ahead as well as our broader programming through the Democracy 2024 initiative. Remember that National Voter Registration Day is Sept 17!
At the Center for the Arts, we can look forward to inspiring programming from this year’s CFA Artist-in-Residence Anna Deavere Smith and a new music theater work by Sunny Jain that looks to performance’s power to assemble community across diaspora. The new Pruzan Art Center will soon feature an exhibit from the Davison Art Collection featuring works by Glenn Ligon ’82, Hon. ’12 and Jasper Johns. At the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism, Merve Emre’s speaker series, “The Art of Editing,” will welcome to campus the likes of Emily Greenhouse ’08 (New York Review of Books), Radhika Jones (Vanity Fair), and Kaitlyn Greenidge (Harper’s Bazaar), among other important figures.
And make sure to catch some athletics action this season—perhaps a field hockey game on our brand new blue AstroTurf field. You may have seen a similar one this summer at the Paris Olympics. Or catch the night game that opens our home football season on September 21. Our athletes do us proud!
Given the times, this will likely turn out to be a political semester as Wesleyans engage with important local, national, and global issues. We will not protect individuals from opinions they don’t like, but we will protect each and every person from harassment and intimidation. There will surely be protests, but we will not allow these to disrupt the educational mission of the University. That mission includes cultivating attentiveness and care for one another across our many differences. We shouldn’t just expect agreement, but at Wesleyan we trust that disagreement can lead to learning.
I look forward to the exciting semester ahead.
Sincerely,
Michael S. Roth
President