Chair Talk 3.10 Post Election

Our Responsibility

The long, fractious presidential campaign and divisive election have challenged us as a nation, and prompted many of us to reflect upon our values and ideals. Who are we as a nation? How can our perspectives be so divergent? How can we forge consensus and unity? 

Regardless of our political beliefs, we have some important questions to consider:  Will we reaffirm our commitment to being a community that respects and cares for all of its members?  Will we take the lead in creating safe spaces for dialogue and spirited conversation? Will we use our teaching, research, outreach and service to explore and craft a better future for each and every one of us? Will we stay strong should our core values of diversity, inclusion and access be challenged?  Will we protect the most vulnerable amongst us?

The answer to each of these questions must be an unequivocal Yes. We will.

By way of thinking about a path forward, I share with you a message penned by Jesus Trevino, Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence and Senior Diversity Officer, addressed to the UA community:

“There is much work to be done in healing our country from the contentious presidential election that ended this past Tuesday. At a time like this, I believe that as an institution of higher learning we must turn to our core values and mission of teaching, research, and service to guide us as we work to find answers about the future of our country.  That is, we must rely on what we do best: education, teaching, and learning.  I want to encourage the UA campus community to use our intellectual resources to engage in dialogue with students, staff, and faculty to create greater understanding and clarity around the issues raised by the election.  The great American Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr once professed “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”  Let us proceed in the next weeks and months to practice true education by encouraging dialogue, supporting our community (in particular those students who are feeling vulnerable), and forging ahead.  We care. We support. We learn. We love. We are UA."

This is, amongst other things, a teaching moment.  What will we be teaching our students, our friends, our children, our nation?  We must rise to the challenge and continue the steady (if bumpy) progress towards a better, fairer, country for those on both sides of our current political divide.  Each of us must do what we can to uphold the values of our institution, for our students’ sake, for the sake of the civil society we all share, and for those higher values we subscribe to.

Lynn Nadel
Chair of the Faculty
nadel@u.arizona.edu​