Dear members of the Kenyon community,
As we head into the final stretch of an academic year that many of us will not soon forget, I wanted to take a few moments to share some thoughts with all of you. Over the past seven months, through your words and your actions, you have taught me much about what makes this place so very special. You have also shown me that the fabric that holds this community together is strong, even in the face of world events that none of us could have ever imagined when this academic year began.
Colleges should be places of debate and discussion, where students and other members of the community can stand up for what they believe in and protest peacefully. At the same time, colleges should be places where students are free to attend their classes and participate in campus activities, and where all students feel welcomed and a sense of belonging. Kenyon has strived to be such a place for 200 years and I feel the weight and the strength of that history today.
What we see at Kenyon is very different from the scenes dominating the national news. Last week there was a peaceful demonstration outside of Ransom Hall that concluded with an organized march to two of our other administrative buildings, Eaton Center and Bailey House. I am grateful for the measures everyone at Kenyon took — organizers, participants, non-participants, Campus Safety and colleagues across the College — to hold a space for free and passionate expression, without escalation.
While I was pleased that the rally on Wednesday did not result in confrontations like we have seen on other campuses, I was saddened to hear reports that the chants included phrases that many in the Jewish community consider deeply offensive, even antisemetic. I do believe that words matter and that we must choose our words carefully to ensure that we are not threatening any individual or group while standing up for the causes we care about. I believe that it is possible to do both — support a free exchange of ideas and ensure that our community members do not feel threatened or targeted. Everything I have seen thus far at Kenyon has shown me that coming together as a community is more important than tearing it apart.
It has always been clear to me that my first job as Kenyon’s president was to listen and learn. Throughout the year, I have sat with students to hear their views on many issues. In every case, it was a dialogue. Even if we each came to the conversation and left the conversation with different perspectives, I believe we also came away with a fuller understanding of one another, the issues at hand, and the complexities that make them challenging to resolve. In many ways, a liberal arts education trains us to have the courage and the capacity to lean in and hear one another, to be open to new ideas and perspectives, and to be ready to work towards a solution.
I have thought a lot about what has kept our community steady in these turbulent times. Over the last few months, my answer to this question has been shaped by the many wonderful conversations I’ve had with members of the Class of 2024, more than 200 of them over a series of dinners at Cromwell Cottage. I’ve heard about what it was like to arrive on a strangely empty campus in the fall of 2020, existing in a six-foot bubble only to leave after a semester and have to start the community-building process all over again as sophomores. And yet, these seniors told me that the relationships they have built and the community they have forged here in Gambier are among the most important aspects of their experience at Kenyon.
I believe that these are the ingredients that make Kenyon so special — connections that run deeper and stretch farther into the future than I think any of us would have expected. It is what allows us to lead with curiosity and empathy when times are hard. And it is what moves us to celebrate one another’s achievements when we reach significant milestones. At the end of a year that was both challenging and inspiring, I wish nothing more than to celebrate our graduates for all they have achieved and to thank each of you for what we have achieved together. We have more work to do, to be sure, but I believe firmly that the Kenyon community will continue to rise to the challenge.
I wish all of our students success in their exams and final projects and I look forward to seeing you all around campus in these exhilarating final days of the year.
Sincerely,
Julie Kornfeld
President