What kind of community are we?

Dear Students, Staff and Faculty,
 
I am in day 72 of my Cal Lutheran presidency, having arrived at a time when periods are measured in days and weeks rather than years. Even “eras” seem to be breaking out in month intervals (Fall 2019 = pre-Covid-19; Spring 2020 – present = Covid-19; and hopefully, Summer and Fall 2021 = post-Covid-19) versus decades. This truncation of time means that highly functional universities must be ready to change instructional and business plans that have taken months to design in a matter of hours or days if external forces converge in the “wrong” direction. As I write this note today, there are no substantial changes in Cal Lutheran’s winter or spring plans to announce at this time. Rest assured, though, the Cabinet and the EOC team monitor the environment each and every day to determine whether changes will need to be enacted on short notice.
 
As we straddle the present world we inhabit right now and the future one we hope to experience soon, I invite all of us to use today’s chapel time in the way it was intended. Let us all reflect on our Cal Lu community and its power to mend our little slice of the world today, and the bigger world tomorrow.
 
As we enter this reflection time, my spirit is touched by the type of community I have seen and felt this week.
 
On Monday, we mourned the loss of Brenna Medrano, saying goodbye to this first-year student who many had already gotten to know and love. By Tuesday, we had gathered together to celebrate her precious life and console each other as we journey through our stages of grief. On Wednesday, we honored the veterans who study, teach, work and serve at our university. A wonderful video tribute spotlighted some of those in our midst, but it was created in the honor of all who have served our country. We thank you for your service.
 
We are the kind of university that celebrates life and service, even when as we struggle over the loss of those who are loved. In the good times and trying ones alike, many of us call the spirit to guide us. I love the optimism that emanates from such a calling, as a recently recorded song from our Kingsmen and Regal Quartets reveals.
 
There were much less poignant matters this week that have also shone a light on the type of community we are.
 
On Sunday, I enjoyed a physically distanced two-and-a-half hour coffee with a faculty member I had not yet met. He dropped me a line on Saturday and asked if we could get together for a chat. Within 15 minutes, we had set up a meeting for the next day. I relished that time on my back patio, sitting in chairs from the Swenson Science Center, talking passionately about things that matter. The time flew by as we dug into things like this: Why are places like Cal Lu increasingly rare yet relevant? What is our duty to students and each other even in hard times like this? Is learning how to learn as important or, dare we posture, more important than what we learn?
 
We are the kind of university where conversations like this can and do happen.
 
Also this week, our Faculty Senate came together to discuss policy setting and consultation and, by extension, matters of shared governance more broadly writ. I wanted to attend that meeting but our Faculty Senate Executive Committee respectfully asked the provost and me to sit this one out. I took their request to suggest that the Senate might be more comfortable working through its own storming and norming stages without us present.
 
We are the kind of community where executive officers of the new Senate can make honest and straightforward requests like this to the new president. This type of authentic dialogue will make “us” stronger and more cohesive. Soon, that “us” will expand to include more people at more levels of the university. We are not quite there yet, but we are moving in that direction. I hope many of you reading this will join the forward movement.
 
In community, Cal Lutheran Community,

 
Lori E. Varlotta, Ph.D.
President