To the Case Western Reserve University Community:
Happy New Year and welcome back to campus for the spring 2022 semester.
Today, as we return to learning, work and research, I invite you to consider these lines from Amanda Gorman’s newest poem, “New Day’s Lyric”:
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take the first steps.
So let us not return to what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.
My hope for the near and long term is that we, as a campus community, take Gorman’s words to heart.
For the past two years, this pandemic has had us all on a pendulum, swinging between hope and exasperation, triumph and despair, recovery and loss.
And those swings may continue.
Despite this, we uphold our top priority of maintaining the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff. And we remain focused on our university’s mission to improve lives through research and education.
Thank you for your understanding during this period of remote learning and for your diligence in following our protective measures and testing protocols. Your efforts play a crucial role in our ability to maintain a healthy campus. Please do take good care of yourselves and look out for each other.
I wish you success this semester as we venture beyond, take our first steps and reach toward what is next.
Sincerely,
Eric W. Kaler
President