Living Our Values

As described in yesterday’s and this afternoon’s messages from President Salovey, and the university statement regarding campus protests, over the weekend a peaceful protest on Beineke Plaza devolved into an event that compromised campus safety and was marred by reported acts of intimidation and harassment.

Even as our Yale School of Medicine community has modeled respect and civil discourse, we suffer when acts of hatred affect our larger community. When we bear witness to the darker aspects of humankind, we must pause to regain perspective and to live according to our highest values. As members of Yale School of Medicine, our commitment to the pursuit of discovery, as well as our student and professional oaths, require that we engage in inquiry, acknowledge each person’s humanity, and honor life. As a school, we will not tolerate any form of hatred.

As I wrote in November, “I have been buoyed by the civility of dialogue with our students. In one-on-one and group conversations, our students have expressed compassion for us and for each other, while articulating personal distress about events in the Middle East and often expressing opposing perspectives.” I continue to admire our students in this regard. In mid-December, we held back-to-back events in support of our Jewish and Muslim community members. What was most striking to me was that there was at least one-third overlap in the attendance of the two events.

We will be holding student gatherings over the next several days to provide ongoing opportunities to come together, listen, and support each other. Let us all continue to sustain each other in this way.

Sincerely,

Nancy J. Brown, MD

Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Medicine

C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine