As you know, for the past few years I've used my
annual Christmas letter to the North Pole to update you on the state of higher education and to offer up some wishes as we move through the holiday season and into an eagerly awaited new year.
Santa, I know you have people all over the world asking you for things right now -- big things like vaccines, employment, and “normalcy.” I hate to pile on, but we in higher education need big things, too. Seeing that you’re such a nice guy and always willing to listen to true believers like me, here are my wishes.
First on my list -- light up our trees with ideas to maintain affordability. Higher education is an incredibly competitive market and the pandemic hasn’t helped. Here at Virginia Wesleyan University, we’ve gotten some assistance from your pal Jack Frost to freeze tuition for the fourth year in a row. We’ve created the Work and Learn Program to help students earn money toward their tuition while gaining valuable job skills. We’ve petitioned our government to keep Virginia's Tuition Assistance Grants fully funded. But as the pandemic persists, and we are still facing a continued decline in eligible college-aged students and rising operational costs, maintaining affordability remains at the top of my wish list.
Please stuff our stockings with plenty of masks and hand sanitizer. Have the elves created a COVID rapid-results test yet? If so, we’ll take a few thousand of those. These would be perfect gifts for our intercollegiate athletics teams who are to resume competitive play this spring under an extensive mandated testing requirement. These would also be much appreciated by other members of the campus community: our musicians and thespians, our many students who do so much work in the community, and our researchers and our interns.
Next, package up some nice new donors, preferably ones that like unrestricted giving. Help alumni and friends see the value in giving to the priorities of higher education, be it academic programs, scholarship assistance, or campus life. For our loyal supporters, please be extra nice to them this year, Santa. Their support has been instrumental in helping many institutions stay afloat.
In higher education we see America’s most racially and ethnically diverse generation ever. As we reflect on racism, diversity, and American identity, we ask you, Santa, to bring our universities the wisdom and energy to lead and model meaningful dialogue and action that responds to systemic racial inequities. Inspire us to look at ourselves critically, and to ask questions and listen to others carefully, and not to dismiss or condemn what we do not understand.
As you travel the globe and spread your good cheer, please ask Rudolph to illuminate the path ahead to mitigate the ongoing climate crisis. As a resident of the North Pole, you know all too well how global warming is affecting the homes and habitats of our friends and neighbors. No greater gift can be handed down to our children than an environment that will sustain all life on our planet.
Finally, Santa, bring us a big empty box where we can place the disappointments from the year -- the cancelled plans, the milestones celebrated alone, the deeper heartaches and fears, and the terrible losses that we have faced. Help us carefully bubble wrap the lessons we’ve learned so that we can recall them again.
We will never forget 2020, nor should we want to, for it is in adversity that we learn our true mettle. But it would be nice to rest awhile, to let go of the heavy burdens of this last year to feel “normal” again. After this very toxic year, I guess what I’m really asking for is peace on earth for everyone.
Please take care of yourself, Mrs. Claus, and all our dear friends in the North Pole. We need you now more than ever.
