Seeing the UM community come back together again this week has been wonderful. Whether you’re new to the UM Family or rejoining us this fall, I extend my warmest welcome. 

As we launch a new academic year, I find myself reflecting on the important role universities play as forums for the free exchange of ideas – across the ideological and political spectrums – and as spaces where we bring our different experiences together.

Here at UM, an environment of free expression is indispensable to our mission of fostering inclusive prosperity. Yet, doing so feels as difficult today as ever. 

Our country is experiencing a time of great political discord that has caused many to attack, belittle, or attempt to silence divergent ideas and to retreat from healthy dialogue. Too often, we tune out voices that complicate our beliefs. We impose our conclusions. We resist debate. We talk past one another or not at all. We fail to proactively foster a climate of listening and engaged dialogue. 

I wonder: What do we lose – as a campus, a community, a nation – when we stop engaging with perspectives that differ from our own? What do we forsake when, in our desire to demonstrate certainty, we fail to listen? I fear we risk becoming less curious, less frequently exposed to compelling arguments, and less capable of intellectual growth. Worst of all, when we retreat from civil discourse, we begin to lose sight of the humanity in one another.  

As we begin a new academic year on Monday, I invite you as a member of the UM community to join me in actively playing a role in our university’s obligation to build rather than abandon a robust climate of dialogue and to cultivate – through your daily actions – curiosity, exploration, and respect.  

Building this type of learning environment is not an easy task. Undoubtedly, individual identity and experience shape the ways we each share and confront ideas. What do we do when those moments of confrontation yield conflict, anger, and provocation? What skills can we lean into so that we can both value a particular identity or perspective while still allowing pluralism to prosper, generosity to flourish, and growth to occur? Our nation has no easy answers, but I believe our university community must embrace, not ignore, these difficult questions. 

So, as we come together this fall to learn, teach, research, and create, please join me in staying curious. Walk toward challenging conversations; read diverse perspectives; explore wrongheaded ideas to their root; sit in the discomfort of meaningful disagreement; seek nuance; and most importantly, stay engaged. 

If we successfully build the skills to be in curious conversation with one another, even when those conversations are difficult, we will benefit from the campus’s full community of voices.

As I ask these things of you, I commit to pointing UM's talent, energy, and resources toward supporting each of you as we seek to develop the capacity to sustain ourselves through challenging moments. While we are here at UM, let’s take advantage of our time together to model the type of civil dialogue we hope to see in the world.