November 6, 2024: On Purpose in This Moment

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 email from President Sarah Bolton to campus regarding the US election results:

Dear Whitman Community,

Each of us is holding the results of the U.S., state and local elections differently today, as we consider the impacts and possibilities for ourselves, our families and our communities. As I reflect on this moment, I am grateful to be here in the Whitman community, and I wanted to take a moment to lift up the purpose of our college and the ways we uphold it together.

Our college is here because a Whitman education—this transformative learning that happens in an extraordinary community—matters.  It matters both while students are here, and also as students take their learning out to make a difference in the world over a lifetime. Each of us—every staff member, every faculty member, every student—is part of that important purpose.  

We will continue to stand for a broad education, one that is undertaken with full freedom to explore, discover, and teach. And we will continue to stand for this community and all of the people in it—for staff, faculty and students, for people who hold many perspectives, identities and nationalities, for people who have been on this land for time immemorial as well as those who have recently immigrated, for people who love and live and shape the future in many ways. 

As we make our way through today and the days to come, I invite us to hold fast to our purpose and the promise that it holds; to redouble the ways we create community with one another, to connect, explore and learn together, and to keep building that future that we want to see.

With gratitude,

Sarah Bolton