Monday Messages

Holiday Message

Dear Colleagues:

The holidays are a time for family, for thinking of loved ones. They also remind us of our debt to those we work with every day. Everyone occasionally comes to work grouchy and dispirited, only to have the day brightened and our mood changed by the smile and sympathy of a fellow worker.

Universities offer these kinds of experiences because we often think of the university as an extended family. This feeling makes the university a special place to work.

Families support each other and families also have squabbles. (As the parents of teen-age sons, Leah and I know this well.) Reconciliation, however, always seems to come. Brothers hug and make up, roughhouse a little, remember that they love each other. We hope they are learning how people live together.

Universities have squabbles too, usually because they train us to be skeptical, to challenge conventional wisdom. It makes the university a very stimulating family.

Family is such a powerful metaphor for the university because a thousand years of university history -- from the University of Bologna to the University of Kansas -- has taught us that learning takes place best in a "community" -- a family -- like setting dedicated to helping people learn.

Family love differs from the respect and affection we have for our fellow workers, but most of us feel strong bonds for those with whom we work. We don't talk about it much but we are brought together by the noble purpose we share, this working together to help people learn.

This holiday season, I hope you will take the opportunity to reach out to those who are part of your university family -- the secretary in the department, the colleague down the hall, the housekeeper who cleans the office -- and thank them for all the ways they have helped you in the past year, and thereby helped to make the KU family strong.

In that spirit, I want to thank all of you who have helped KU in the year 2000 in so many ways. From removing the snow to challenging students, from improving the library to offering advice about parking, your actions define our community. The university becomes the ultimate beneficiary of hundreds of acts of stimulation, support, kindness and caring.

Thank you for contributing to this community, for wanting all of us to be successful. Happy New Year to you and to all the members of your family.