Messages

Dear Johns Hopkins Community: Earlier today, we were thrilled to join members of the Henrietta Lacks family in announcing the Johns Hopkins University’s plans to construct and name a new building on the medical campus in East Baltimore in honor of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks, through her life and her immortal cell line, had an immeasurable impact on medical science, touched countless lives around the world...

Dear Faculty, Students, and Staff: Over the last several years we have been working together to make our university a more equitable place to learn, work, and live—one that is free from discrimination and harassment and fully inclusive of the broadest possible range of people, backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We know that this rich diversity is essential to our mission and to the excellence we strive...

Dear Students, When I first came to Johns Hopkins, Ralph O’Connor, a sage trustee and namesake of the O’Connor Recreation Center, gave me some good advice: “Don’t just sit in your office and get stuck behind that desk. Get out and walk the campus.” And every time I’d see Ralph, he’d ask: “Have you walked today? Where’d you go? Who’d you see?” Last...

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: In our home, Labor Day weekend has always been suffused with ritual. When our children were young, Joanne and I scurried to get them ready for school. The frenzied rush to the mall to purchase clothing and school supplies. The binge of summer reading assignments somehow left to the last minute. A family barbecue on the back porch, made slightly bittersweet by Canada’s early autumn...

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: Yesterday the Trump administration announced its decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program and remitted to Congress the task of crafting a legislative response to the plight of the “Dreamers”—the hundreds of thousands of undocumented young people who were brought to the United States as children. Over the past seven years, Johns Hopkins...

Dear Johns Hopkins Community, Last Friday I watched and read the news of President Trump’s executive order on immigration as it unfolded not only in the media, at airports, and on city streets, but also in the emails, questions, and urgent requests for help that came in from members of the Johns Hopkins community. In the hours and days that followed, Johns Hopkins, like many others, sought to understand the substance...

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: The university is closely monitoring the immigration actions taken yesterday by President Trump, including an order that blocks entry into the United States (with very narrow exceptions) of individuals from seven nations – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen – for 90 days. The order also immediately suspends, for 120 days, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program...

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: Over the past month, members of our community have expressed understandable concern about potential changes in national policies as a result of the presidential transition, particularly related to undocumented U.S. residents, and have sought clarification of the university’s stance. On Nov. 21, Johns Hopkins joined hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities to call on national...

Dear Faculty, Students, and Staff: Over the past academic year, we announced several significant initiatives related to the diversity of our university, and committed to keeping you apprised of our work. We understand that to make progress in this arena will require sustained, dedicated effort. Our attention to diversity, equal opportunity, and inclusion cannot be halting or episodic. It is important for us to...

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: This month marks the first anniversary of the tragic death of Freddie Gray and the unrest that followed. It was a moment that exposed gaping disparities within this city while bringing many of us together in common cause. As we approach this somber anniversary, we want to express our profound appreciation for the efforts you have undertaken over the past year to make our city stronger...