Dialogue and Limited Presidential ‘Statements’

Friends,

I look forward to connecting with you in the coming days as we prepare for the start of our fall semester. Before I formally welcome you – or welcome you back – with a second all-campus message later this week, I would like to share my plans to prioritize dialogue as I limit my use of presidential ‘statements’.

I've learned with and from you over the past five years that there is no substitute for dialogue that happens when we gather together, in groups large and small, formal and informal, to share, learn about, and understand the world through each other. Seeing one another as people, in the seat next to and around us, is a powerful reminder of what we share. In seeking ways to elevate all our capacities to engage in dialogue across myriad perspectives, I have decided to foreground our connections through conversation and discontinue issuing presidential ‘statements’ except about matters that directly impact Haverford or higher education. I am motivated to lead and communicate in this way for multiple reasons.

First, the mission of the College and my role as president is to work with the faculty and staff to provide an extraordinary liberal arts education that supports our students’ – and alums’ – capacities to positively impact the world through their words, actions, and lives. That is a powerful mission. It is one that Haverford accomplishes beautifully through teaching and learning, as we can witness by the ways Haverford alums’ lives reflect their own values and continual learning toward making the world a better place. All of my work as president focuses on Haverford's mission and values. I consider the step of limiting my presidential ‘statements’ an embrace and centering of my role and responsibility in empowering student learning so that students’ lives may speak, through action informed by their learning and the College’s values, both at Haverford and throughout life after graduation. Limiting presidential statements allows me to be in the conversation with you rather than be the conversation point for you. I want us all to focus on the mission of the College.

Second, I am aware that no words I could choose on behalf of Haverford College would adequately embody and express our multitudes or represent a consensus about an emerging global or national matter. While I may find it important from time to time to offer written leadership positions on issues directly about Haverford or higher education, I will refrain from doing so about other topics.

Third, presidential ‘statements’ generally fall short of inviting people into dialogue and can even impede conversation. Being in conversation with you has always been my goal and is a strong part of my practice, consonant with Haverford values that center engagement, curiosity, and listening. Being in conversation with you expands my learning, joy, and effectiveness as president of Haverford. It is a model for how we stay in community with one another.

I am and will be in conversation with you in any number of ways, whether in person, on Zoom, or in writing. This will include a rhythm of regular (~quarterly) presidential email newsletters, starting with each fall’s welcome-back letter. My welcome-back letter later this week will detail many aspects of the coming year, including gatherings designed to help our community be in dialogue related to world and national events. My dialogue with you also includes Board reports following each meeting of the Board of Managers; an Alumni Magazine column; and regular virtual forums such as Ford Forums and Founders Porch.

Most importantly, our dialogue will include all the ways I gather formally and informally with you, whether in my office or the Dining Center, at faculty and all-staff meetings, campus talks and workshops, committee and leadership group meetings, Wawa with Wendy pop-ups with students, or celebrations in my home at 1 College Circle. Such settings stand in stark contrast to the often insulating and frequently anonymous silo of venues like social media.

In order to increase our opportunities to come together and speak person to person, Haverford Senior Staff and other leaders will be expanding the number and variety of ways we can gather in person. I hope you will join me in growing our muscles for gathering. This will allow us to learn together through listening, querying, and being present as we express not just our knowledge, feelings, questions, and experiences, but the values that inform them. In my view there is neither equal nor substitute. I look forward to occupying that space with you as we embrace curiosity rather than certainty, and voice query rather than statement.

Many thanks for doing all you can to advance our capacities to learn and grow in community.

Sincerely,

Wendy