August 26, 2024
Dear Colleagues and Students,
The start of a new academic year brings great excitement as we catch up with friends and colleagues, meet new members of the Griz community and re-engage in the joy of learning, discovery and dialogue.
This moment also provides us with an important opportunity to recommit to the climate of respectful, informed discourse that is the hallmark of a university's intellectual community.
The turbulent state of global affairs, together with a presidential election in our country this fall, promises to spark passionate dialogue in our classrooms; across our state, region and country; and in our own homes among family and friends. On campus, we also will have an opportunity to participate in democratic engagement in its many forms.
What if, during this election season, UM were to be recognized as a model of what healthy, difficult dialogue looks like? What if Grizzlies were to be widely known as choosing to engage with divergent ideas - to be courageously curious and to allow for all voices? What if our campus community were to embrace fully the principle of free expression, especially when it tests our own truths and understandings of the world?
As we look ahead to this fall, I invite each of you to join me in actively fostering a robust climate of dialogue in which curiosity, respect, and a genuine desire for intellectual growth animates our conversations with one another. At the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, our mission to foster inclusive prosperity and democracy rests on our ability to listen across difference and to lean into discomfort as we seek to learn from nuanced perspectives. That is why UM's Annual Playbook codifies the commitment as our intention to "model civil dialogue and practice civil engagement" for and with one another.
Achieving this goal is not easy. The give and take of civil dialogue requires humility, generosity, some discomfort, and a lot of practice. A university environment is one of the few institutions left in the public commons where we build community with others from across the political and ideological spectrums. Here, we are invited to wrestle with complex topics and try again and again to explore, test, and debate our beliefs - all to expand and deepen our understanding. When we choose to avoid this practice, we fail ourselves. We risk abandoning intellectual growth through discomfort and new knowledge through the exchange of ideas.
Our Grizzly community already displays courageous, respectful inquiry. I am confident we are capable of even more boldly embracing the challenge of intellectual growth through exposure to divergent ideas during this election season and throughout the year.
Our newest Grizzlies have already begun this work. During New Student Orientation, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ participated in the first part of an educational series funded by the Mansfield Center that promotes freedom of speech and expansive interest in different opinions. These Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ bring to UM their experiences with and questions about democratic engagement, inviting us to learn from and nurture their curiosity and desire to engage. They teach us what civil dialogue can look like. And I am encouraged by UM's outstanding track record of robust voter participation. Now is the time to engage with each other on the issues that affect us, to check your registration status, and to exercise your right and obligation to vote. For information on voting in Montana, visit
Throughout the year, UM will foster a healthy democracy and informed citizenry through events that highlight diverse opinions and encourage ongoing inquiry as a community. We can participate in the President's Lecture Series, DiverseU sessions in early November, facilitated campus sessions focused on building the skills necessary for leaning into challenging conversations, the Democracy Summit this spring, and next week's Montana Free Press Fest on campus. Whether at these hosted events, in the classroom, or at the dinner table, let's choose to build our skills in listening, respectfully disagreeing, building solutions, and taking care of ourselves and one another in the process.
I commit to staying curious and wrestling with difficult topics in community with you and supporting your efforts to do the same. It's going to be a great year.
Seth