Dear Harvard College Students,

This semester we have seen our community thrust into the national spotlight in ways few would have ever anticipated. This has been a painful and tumultuous chapter in Harvard's history, and many of us have experienced grief, fear, and anger. In all my years as Dean of Harvard College, I cannot remember a time when I have been reminded more persistently how much I care about each of you. I also cannot recall a time when I have reflected more on our Harvard motto, Veritas, and what it can and should mean to all of us.

Throughout these challenging months, I have taken solace in the knowledge that the next chapter of Harvard's history is ours to write. I hope that we can begin to shape our future by recommitting as a community to listening as well as speaking, to cultivating the intellectual virtues of humility and civility when faced with ideas we do not understand or accept, and to honoring the humanity in each of us that transcends our political and intellectual differences.

I hope you are able to rest and recharge with your loved ones during the upcoming break. In the coming months, the College will invite your partnership in helping us move forward. We will write our own story. We will heal our campus community and recommit to the pursuit of Veritas in ways marked by rigor, care, and civility. I am so proud of all of you—of what you are and what I know you are all still becoming—and I look forward to welcoming you back to campus in the spring.

Semper Veritas,

Rakesh Khurana
Danoff Dean of Harvard College