Dear members of the FAS community,
As President Garber announced earlier today, the encampment of Harvard Yard has ended – peacefully, and without police action.
Watching circumstances play out on other campuses, we know this outcome was anything but assured and I am profoundly grateful to the many who helped make it possible. Over the last three weeks, faculty have invested long hours in providing insights, advice, and support. And staff from Harvard College and the Harvard Griffin GSAS have worked around the clock with FAS Physical Resources and Planning to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone in the Yard, in partnership with the University and the other Harvard Schools. These events played out right in front of University Hall, the historic home of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. On behalf of the FAS, I extend to them my sincere and lasting gratitude.
While the encampment itself has ended, the humanitarian crisis continues, as will our community’s efforts to grapple with its effects. Now is the time for true and meaningful dialogue, and I look forward to joining President Garber in discussions regarding academic matters relating to the longstanding conflicts in the Middle East. We began the spring semester with a commitment to dialogue and to strengthening the bonds that pull us together as a community. With these events, that commitment has only deepened. Coming out of a year where the challenges have felt relentless, we must now advance that work with intentionality, humility, and care, knitting back together the community that makes our academic mission, and all it contributes to the world, possible.
Sincerely,
Hopi Hoekstra
Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
C. Y. Chan Professor of Arts and Sciences
Xiaomeng Tong and Yu Chen Professor of Life Sciences
A Message from Dean Hoekstra
