A Message from the Dean: January 2021

Happy 2021 all!

I hope that you had a restful break. If you are anything like me, you could not wait to see the year 2020 in the rearview mirror. Most of us, I am certain, welcomed the new year with a great deal of optimism and hope for better things to come.

But alas, because the shock of 2020 apparently was not enough, the new year is off to an inauspicious start. More than anything, the events that have rocked our nation in the first few weeks of 2021 reinforce the importance of the work that we are collectively engaged in here in CASL. The degree to which we, as a nation, have lost our ability to think critically, to value and understand our political process and the democratic values that underlay it, our awareness of the totality of our nation’s history, and our willingness to listen to each other and both appreciate and value opposing points of view and to do so in a civil manner, is truly distressing. We all know that an education steeped in the disciplines that comprise our college is essential if we, as a nation, hope to overcome these deficiencies and to learn to work together.

Thank you for the hard work and effort that you all give to advance this noble mission. I hope that 2021 marks the start of better times for all of us.

- Martin Hershock, Dean