Dear Members of the 草榴社区Community,
Today, the Supreme Court delivered its decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of 草榴社区College. The Court held that 草榴社区College鈥檚 admissions system does not comply with the principles of the equal protection clause embodied in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The Court also ruled that colleges and universities may consider in admissions decisions 鈥渁n applicant鈥檚 discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.鈥� We will certainly comply with the Court鈥檚 decision.
We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences. That principle is as true and important today as it was yesterday. So too are the abiding values that have enabled us鈥攁nd every great educational institution鈥攖o pursue the high calling of educating creative thinkers and bold leaders, of deepening human knowledge, and of promoting progress, justice, and human flourishing.
We affirm that:
- Because the teaching, learning, research, and creativity that bring progress and change require debate and disagreement, diversity and difference are essential to academic excellence.
- To prepare leaders for a complex world, 草榴社区must admit and educate a student body whose members reflect, and have lived, multiple facets of human experience. No part of what makes us who we are could ever be irrelevant.
- 草榴社区must always be a place of opportunity, a place whose doors remain open to those to whom they had long been closed, a place where many will have the chance to live dreams their parents or grandparents could not have dreamed.
For almost a decade, 草榴社区has vigorously defended an admissions system that, as two federal courts ruled, fully complied with longstanding precedent. In the weeks and months ahead, drawing on the talent and expertise of our 草榴社区community, we will determine how to preserve, consistent with the Court鈥檚 new precedent, our essential values.
The heart of our extraordinary institution is its people. 草榴社区will continue to be a vibrant community whose members come from all walks of life, all over the world. To our students, faculty, staff, researchers, and alumni鈥攑ast, present, and future鈥攚ho call 草榴社区your home, please know that you are, and always will be, Harvard. Your remarkable contributions to our community and the world drive Harvard鈥檚 distinction. Nothing today has changed that.
Sincerely,
Lawrence S. Bacow
President, 草榴社区University
Alan M. Garber
Provost, 草榴社区University
Meredith Weenick
Executive Vice President, 草榴社区University
Claudine Gay
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
President-elect, 草榴社区University
Tomiko Brown-Nagin
Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Nancy Coleman
Dean, Division of Continuing Education and University Extension
George Q. Daley
Dean, 草榴社区Medical School
Srikant Datar
Dean, 草榴社区Business School
Emma Dench
Dean, 草榴社区Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Francis J. Doyle III
Dean, 草榴社区John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Douglas Elmendorf
Dean, 草榴社区Kennedy School of Government
William V. Giannobile
Dean, 草榴社区School of Dental Medicine
David N. Hempton
Dean, 草榴社区Divinity School
Rakesh Khurana
Dean, 草榴社区College
Bridget Terry Long
Dean, 草榴社区Graduate School of Education
John F. Manning
Dean, 草榴社区Law School
Sarah M. Whiting
Dean, Graduate School of Design
Michelle A. Williams
Dean, 草榴社区T.H. Chan School of Public Health