To: The Wellesley Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Welcome Back
Date: August 31, 2018
It is my great pleasure to welcome you back to campus and to extend a heartfelt first welcome to those of you who are new—faculty, staff, and of course, the peerless purple Class of 2022. We are so glad that you are here!
This is a moment like no other in my lifetime. With all that is happening in the world, we are challenged as never before to hold fast to our deepest values: compassion, inclusiveness, openness to different perspectives and new ideas, a respect for all, and a belief that the pursuit of knowledge and the truth is an inherent public good. All of these are essential if we are to flourish, both as individuals and as a community.
To flourish: This is my overarching goal for all of you. It is in this spirit that I want to share some updates on projects, people, and priorities at the College. I hope you will find them as exciting as I do.
Building a Stronger, Healthier Community
Every single person at Wellesley brings a vast reservoir of untapped talents and powers. All of you deserve an equal opportunity to thrive. This can only happen if we live these truths in meaningful, concrete ways. The critical steps we are now taking include:
An expanded focus on health and wellness: Dean of Students Sheilah Shaw Horton and her team are leading the way in this area. Improving access to—and connections between—student health and counseling services reflects our commitment to a more holistic approach.
Stronger together: inclusion, equity, and free expression: How do we create a more inclusive and equitable campus experience everywhere, from our core academic programs to residential life? This question propelled a faculty retreat last May and will continue to be at the heart of our work in the year ahead. It is a challenge that can only be addressed as a community. I encourage all of you to share your thoughts and ideas.
Claiming our voices, together: When all voices are given room to speak, the result is better ideas tested by debate; innovative thinking sparked by difficult conversation; new lines of inquiry to answer unexpected questions; and, of course, enhanced educational outcomes, both organic and programmatic. At the same time, we are deeply aware of the power of speech to wound—that it can, indeed, become a tool for silencing other voices.
As this year begins, we are working our way towards policies that reflect Wellesley’s values and needs as they relate to free expression. This is challenging work, and there are likely to be bumps along the way. Just in the past few days there have been some regrettable mis-steps. The Senior Leadership and I adopted an interim policy on planning demonstrations with the goal of ensuring a safer and more secure campus environment Unfortunately, in an effort to give credit for helping us think about this policy, we attributed it to a group of administrative staff in a way that was misleading and unfair to those colleagues. We also made the mistake of associating it without their knowledge with the Task Force on Speech and Inclusion. These were significant errors, and I wholeheartedly apologize for them.
Some of you have also expressed concern that aspects of the interim policy’s content are at odds with our core commitment to peaceful protest. Please know that we hear you. The process of drafting a final version of the policy will be a broadly consultative one, with opportunities for our community to give input and advice. I have been impressed with the thoughtful feedback we have already received from both our student leaders and through yesterday’s open letter. I look forward to extensive conversations within the community, as the interim policy is revised during this academic year. As we move through this process, I encourage us all to assume the best about each other’s intentions.
The Task Force on Free Speech and Inclusion—composed of students, faculty, and administrative staff—was created in May by Provost Shennan and me. Its 12 members have developed a set of questions to guide their work and finalize its charge: to recommend ways our community can best foster and grow its capacity to engage in open and productive debate, especially about challenging issues.
As part of its mandate to hear from the community, the task force will convene a series of listening sessions across campus this fall. Again, I want to make clear that the work of revising the interim policy on planning demonstrations is not the work of the Task Force on Speech and Inclusion.
Caring for Our Environment: Creating a Sustainable Campus
Wellesley remains committed to sustainability as a central pillar in a 21st-century liberal arts education.
This year, we will build on the remarkable momentum created by the 2017-18 Sustainability Year at the College and continue our progress in key areas, from improving the energy efficiency of our buildings to engaging our students in research that will help make our campus more sustainable. Senior leadership and the Energy Working Group (aka Power4Women) are reviewing how best to move forward as we consider the energy needs of our campus, guided by the carbon reduction goals that are part of our 2014–2015 sustainability plan.
I want to thank the many staff, faculty, board members, and students who worked on these issues over the summer. You will hear more from me and from the working group as the year gets underway.
Building a New Science Landscape
We continue to move forward with construction that supports our efforts to reimagine science education, teaching, and research at the College.
A few highlights:
- Dome renovations at the observatory have started as we prepare to install a new 24-inch telescope.
- Over the summer, we broke ground for Global Flora, the innovative public greenhouse environment for teaching and learning.
- Renovations to the L-wing have begun and are bringing it into better alignment with how we teach, learn, and conduct research.
As construction continues, modular classrooms and laboratories in the Gray Lot will allow teaching, research, and collaboration to continue uninterrupted. We had a chance to test these spaces during our summer research program, and I’m happy to say that we are ready to begin teaching there on Tuesday.
I extend my sincere thanks for the vision and flexibility of our faculty and staff in making the transition to temporary spaces, including the outstanding work of the Core Project Team.
Articulating Our Values and Strategic Priorities
This fall will be an important moment in our cycle of reflection and renewal as we work to complete a self-study in connection with Wellesley’s 2019 accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), whose external evaluators are slated to arrive on campus next March.
This comprehensive report lets us demonstrate Wellesley’s strengths and challenges in each of the nine standards for accreditation as well as identify priorities for the College. The self-study offers an opportunity to articulate common goals for the future and to clarify the values inextricably linked to the College’s mission.
We will be holding discussions with members of the community this semester to better identify and understand our core values. Future conversations will focus on how that essential work will inform our strategic planning, a process that will begin in the spring. We are indebted to the self-study leadership team and the faculty and staff who have been working over the summer to produce a first draft. (If you have any questions, please email accreditationquestions@
Envisioning the Path Forward
This summer, the College surpassed its ambitious $500 million campaign goal, the largest fundraising campaign ever completed by a women’s college. The fact that we did so—one full year ahead of schedule—is a testament both to the passionate commitment that Wellesley inspires and to the unflagging efforts of many of you, most notably our Resources team.
Already our community is feeling the impact in the form of continued support for financial aid, a visionary career education initiative, a renovated Pendleton West, improvements to residence halls, new professorships, to name just a few examples. I am deeply grateful to all those alumnae, parents and friends who enriched our College in these and countless other ways.
But amid this very justified celebration, we must not lose sight of the fact that we still face significant fiscal challenges. While the successful campaign has brought us closer to where we need to be, we still have some ways to go to put Wellesley on secure financial footing, both now and for the future.
Even as we fully commit to making today’s Wellesley the very best it can be, we must also recognize our responsibility to future generations. As president, I am deeply aware of both of these critical goals and of the fact that they may sometimes seem in conflict. But this is our reality, and we have already proven that we will meet these challenges head on and together.
As we seek to more effectively leverage our resources, I welcome your ideas and suggestions. All of us share a common goal: a thriving Wellesley, both now and in the future.
* * *
At the start of this year full of promise, we also mourn the loss of a dear member of our community, Sama Mundlay of the Class of 2020. This brilliant young woman died in a road accident in Amsterdam, where she was to study this fall. For anyone understandably struggling with the shock of this loss, please reach out for any support you may need; there are more details on support services in my August 25 message to the community. Know that we are here for you.
And even as we grieve, let us draw strength from each other. Let us take this opportunity to remember what a gift it is to be part of the Wellesley community. Never before has the world more needed what we have to offer. May each of you flourish this year, and for all the years to come.
