May 3, 2024
Dear Colleagues,
I want to reach out to each one of you today in gratitude for all you have done to support our graduating seniors and make their celebration of achievement on May 18 possible. This is a very special cohort of graduates, including, as it does, those who completed their bachelor’s degree four years after the pandemic prevented them from having a high school graduation ceremony. These young people have been in my mind greatly over the past weeks, with tragedies in the world disrupting yet again their celebration of academic accomplishment. Atrocities underway in the Middle East and elsewhere have created a context that can make the celebration of academic accomplishment feel somehow out of place – but I think the exact opposite is true.
Academic accomplishments of students of every age around the world must not only be celebrated but cherished. We see clearly every day that the world needs leaders with the knowledge and skills that our graduates have developed through their work with faculty and staff, and with each other – becoming ever-more critical thinkers with essential strengths in oral and written communication, quantitative reasoning, and information literacy. These are tools for healing, growing, and contributing, and I am incredibly proud of º£½ÇÉçÇøCI’s role in adding to our society’s overall skillset in these areas. Again, I am grateful to each of you for making this possible.
Also to be celebrated and cherished are the words and actions of advocates for justice, and the First Amendment that guarantees the freedoms of speech and peaceful assembly. On the vast majority of campuses across the country where protests and sometimes counter-protests are taking place, we are seeing cooperation with policies establishing the appropriate guidelines that guarantee First Amendment protections while also prioritizing safety and the continuity of campus operations (refer to ). It has been painful to see actions and outcomes on campuses within and beyond California where peace has not prevailed. I ask that you join me in holding these campus communities in your heart as they go through the painful experiences they are navigating.
I do want you all to know that º£½ÇÉçÇøCI’s planning for the possibility of disruption to campus operations began at the early outset of the Cal Poly Humboldt situation and has continued throughout the days that have followed. Interim Chief Massey and other campus leaders continue to closely monitor incidents occurring at other college campuses across our state to help inform our own planning efforts. I am proud that our campus has navigated several challenging moments very well this year through open communication and cooperation of leaders in the units involved.
I encourage you to do what you can to take good care of yourselves and each other in these final weeks of the 2023-24 academic year. If you need support in doing so, I encourage you to reach out to our campus resources included below.
Employee Assistance Program
Title IX & Inclusion
University Ombuds
Sincerely,
Richard Yao, Ph.D.
President