Letter from UO President Frohnmayer to the UO Community September 21 2001

September 21, 2001

Dear Colleagues:

The letter I would have written to you two weeks ago would now sound at best discordant. The contrast between the idyllic sunshine of our early autumn days and the wrenching toll of destruction and human tragedy elsewhere in our nation makes my task of fall welcome much harder than I wish or would have expected.

I doubt that any family in America was untouched by some personal loss very close to home. If there is a hopeful note, as we always wish there to be, it is the return of our continuing students and the arrival, with eager enthusiasm, of our new freshman class. These students and their families are excited about the University for all of the good reasons that your hard work has given them. And their appearance is happily part of the annual renewal that gives us all a grander sense of life and hope. They are well credentialed: the brightest, hardest working, most numerous and one of the most diverse in our history.

Happily, in the last few hours the looming portent of a strike by our valued classified employees has been averted. Even amidst the highly charged atmosphere of negotiations, it is always comforting to hear the voices of accommodation and understanding who know that a time of grief such as we are enduring can only be prolonged by conflict among ourselves. We take our concept of community seriously here. Indeed, during the numerous occasions on which we have gathered together to observe our respect for the victims of the terrorist tragedy, we have seen wonderful displays of selfless outreach and caring concern.

As a consequence of national events, we have reviewed on every front the ways in which this campus and its members can be made to feel and to be even more secure. I ask you all to be alert for any instance of personal behavior that evidences intolerance and to be mindful of any danger from whatever quarter that we should address to protect the safety of all persons on this campus.

Even as our thoughts and conversations will be dominated by national and international events, we must pursue our own agenda as well. That agenda is one of academic excellence; of pride in the work that we do on behalf of our students, our fellow citizens, and indeed the world; and a sense of joyous anticipation of the celebration of our 125th anniversary on which we are now embarked.

I am hopeful that in addition to the signs of renewal from the arrival of new students, faculty, and staff, we will also witness this year the sounds of construction and renovation as we conclude plans for the renovation of Gilbert Hall, the addition to our Museum of Art, and the expansion of Autzen Stadium. While I profoundly wish that state dollars rather than private philanthropic dollars were a greater mainstay of our efforts, it is nonetheless heartening to see alumni and friends step forward to help us continue on an upward trajectory. A plan for our next five years of progress will be developed early in this school year, and I invite your participation.

No doubt many of you have seen the improvement in our rankings by national magazines and the continued superlative rating we receive in the "Best Buy" column of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. At the same time, we all should remember that ratings are a poor surrogate for the quality of work we do in pursuit of our mission. I am much more heartened by, for example, the enthusiastic compliments of parents of our new students about the smiling and efficient service they have received from our professionals and the accolades of students and families about the joyous moments of discovery that occur in our classrooms and the new discoveries that emerge daily from our research laboratories. The sub-theme of our 125th anniversary celebration is "Making a Difference." Amidst the swirling crosscurrents of emotion and apprehension about local, national, and international events, I hope that making a difference in the lives of others will continue to be the profound vow that motivates us each and every day of this new year.

Best wishes and my deep gratitude to you all.

Sincerely, Dave Frohnmayer President