Launching the Living Our Values Project
Dear Members of the BU Community:
I’d like to share my profound gratitude for your support during last week’s inaugural events. I am humbled that so many of you were able to come to offer your well wishes. As I said in my inaugural address, Boston University is a place that looks to its traditions to transform into an even better version of itself. On Friday, I announced several inaugural initiatives, and today I’d like to share information about one of them —the Living Our Values Project.
The Living Our Values Project will enable the campus to identify and practice the core principles and beliefs that unite us all. These values can, in turn, guide our decisions, behaviors, and actions in ways that foster inclusivity, integrity, and positive impact. Kimberly Howard, professor of counseling psychology and applied human development, has graciously agreed to take the lead on this important work with the support of Suzanne Kennedy, associate provost for special projects and emerging priorities.
I’ve decided to begin with this initiative with the awareness that many members of the campus community are experiencing pain and sadness related to global conflict and personal loss. At such times, there is a tendency to distrust people who are different than us and shut down speech and viewpoints that we find difficult or contrary to our own. Our traditions of free speech and academic freedom are critical to who we are as an institution, and so is our tradition of diversity and finding common ground in order to engage difficult topics and acknowledge one another across our differences.
To that end, one of the first efforts of the project will be a Town Hall hosted by my office on October 16th with Nancy Harrowitz and Muhammad Zaman, who chaired working groups that made recommendations to address bias and harassment on campus related to religious and geopolitical identity. These groups were convened last year by President Ad Interim Ken Freeman. The chairs will discuss their findings with the community, and senior administrative leaders will be on hand to share the ways in which we are responding to the working groups’ recommendations.
Over the long term, the Living Our Values Project will be driven by steering and implementation committees, along with appropriate subcommittees, consisting of students, faculty, and staff, to outline the project’s framework and oversee new program development alongside opportunities for future growth. The discovery and development phases of the committees’ work will take place throughout this academic year, with an eye to implementation beginning in the fall of 2025. We will share more specific timelines via an accompanying website, which we will launch in the near future.
During the early phases of this project, we will also prioritize training students, faculty, and staff how to facilitate, mediate, and/or take part in difficult conversations, along with how to engage in and emulate a high level of civil discourse. We will look to places such as the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground and the University’s founding principles to guide us.
Boston University has a rich history in free speech, diversity, and dialogue across differences. I am hopeful that the Living Our Values Project will offer us the opportunity to consider and align our foundational values with the evolving needs and vision of our diverse community.
I look forward to engaging with you in conversation about institutional values over the coming year. Thank you in advance for your partnership, and for your willingness to help build a community where all of us feel welcome, where open dialogue is the norm, and where, as our mission statement says, we prepare our students to be “resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.”
Sincerely,
Melissa Gilliam
President
*10/2/24 This message was sent to students, faculty, and staff.