Dear WashU Community,
As we prepare to step away from our daily routines for the Thanksgiving holiday, I am reflecting upon the role of tradition in our lives. Just like family life, university life is full of traditions. They may change over time, but some, like the alma mater that now rings out from Graham Chapel at noon each day, or the annual wonder of yellow leaves raining down on Ginkgo Allée each November, have been part of the fabric of WashU culture for a century.
Since two glee club students penned the lyrics “Our hearts are all for thee, Fair Washington” in 1907, I am the twelfth person privileged with the title Chancellor. Twenty-six Nobel Laureates have changed the trajectory of science, economics, and medicine, walking the same paths we walk as we learn and work together. In that time, Washingtonians pioneered then-controversial research on topics that we now take for granted, like the belief that doctors should take a biological approach to mental health treatment, and that human sexuality could be studied scientifically as a matter of physiology and health rather than morality. When Howard Nemerov, two-time United States Poet Laureate and a distinguished faculty member, was inspired by the “fluttering fans of light” of our ginkgo trees, it’s quite possible he (and his students!) were viewing them from the classroom with cigars in hand. Times change, but traditions remind us that we are bound together by something larger than our individual experiences. Each one of us is part of a community that persists, adapts, and continues to create meaning together.
Our paths may lead us in different directions, but for now, we converge here—in these classrooms, beneath these trees, within these historic walls. We’ve chosen to do the hard work of learning together, to confront one another’s thinking, to challenge and be challenged. And just as the alma mater echoes from Graham Chapel and the ginkgos shed their golden leaves in unison, we, too, are part of something larger—a shared journey of discovery, respect, and collective aspiration.
I send my best wishes to each and every one of you for a safe and happy holiday. Thank you for all YOU bring to WashU.
Best,
Andrew