Statement on Recent National Events
Dear Members of the Bates Community: Yesterday’s assault on our nation’s Capitol…
Dear Members of the Bates Community: Yesterday’s assault on our nation’s Capitol…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, I write to share important news…
Creation of a Trustee Committee on Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism To reinforce…
Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues, I write to share a few brief…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, As we head into the fourth…
Good afternoon. Welcome to the opening convocation of the new academic year….
Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues, Beginning this weekend, we will welcome students…
Dear Members of the Bates Community: Last week, senior staff colleagues and…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, In light of the national crisis…
On behalf of Bates College, I condemn these acts of extreme cruelty and the long history of racial injustice and violence against black, brown, and indigenous people that have made them possible and dangerously routine.
Bates President Clayton Spencer, VP for Equity and Inclusion Noelle Chaddock, and Bates Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf take a moment to reflect and pause as our nation grapples with the recent, yet sadly familiar events, of continuing race-based violence.
Dear Colleagues, Many thanks for your letter, dated May 8 and signed…
Dear Bates Students and Families, Now that we have reached the end…
Dear Members of the Bates Community: Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education…
Dear Colleagues, As we enter another week of managing through a global…
Dear Colleagues: As we enter the last week of classes for the…
Dear Bates Alumni, I write today to share what I know will…
Dear Seniors, I write today with important information about plans for this…
Dear Bates Faculty and Staff, Tomorrow we head into our first week…
Dear Students and Families, I hope that by now most of you…
Dear Members of the Bates Community: I write to inform you that…
Dear Colleagues: I write with an important update about the college’s continued…
Dear Students, I write to ask that you respond with a greater…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, I write to share important news…
Dear Families, Many of you may have heard the news that one…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, Welcome to the 2019–20 academic year!…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, I write with an update on…
Dear Members of the Bates Community: As you may know, in November…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, As we settle into the rhythms…
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I’m sure that many of you are familiar with this statement, made famous by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Dear Members of the Bates Community, I am pleased to share…
I am delighted to announce the appointment of five faculty members to endowed professorships, effective in 2017–18.
Dear Members of the Bates Community, Now that we have settled into…
We are deeply disappointed by President Trump’s cruel decision to rescind the…
I cannot remember a time in my professional experience when matters of context and principle have intruded so insistently into the project of teaching the next generation of students.
Dear Members of the Bates Community, The events of this past weekend…
Dear Members of the Bates Community: I write to share the findings…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, As this week comes to a…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, On Saturday night, at a campus…
I write to share my thinking and seek your advice about the transition in the Dean of Faculty role.
Dear Members of the Bates Community, This past Friday, President Trump signed…
In early December, The Bates Student printed an open letter asking the…
Dear Members of the Bates Community, I hope Thanksgiving provided time with…
I write to share the shocking and profoundly sad news that Katie Vale, our vice president for information and library services and librarian, died yesterday, Sunday, November 27, after suffering cardiac arrest.
Last night marked the end of one of the most divisive and vitriolic presidential campaigns in recent U.S. history.
This weekend, a flyer was circulated on the Bates campus with false information about tomorrow’s election and what our students need to do to register to vote.
With opening days behind us, the Class of 2020 duly welcomed, and new and returning students ensconced in their dorms, classes, and activities, I write to share news from campus and provide a preview of the year ahead.
I write in response to events that are happening on campuses across the nation and to make you aware of a unique opportunity for considered conversation on race and inclusiveness in higher education that is happening on the Bates campus this weekend.
In Val Smith, you have chosen an inspired and inspiring leader.
This morning we call you together to constitute you formally as the Class of 2019 and to mark your entry into the academic community.
I write to share the sense of excitement we feel, to highlight areas of focus for the fall, and to invite your engagement with, and suggestions about, all things Bates.
Chancellor, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, members of the Platform Party, graduating students, families…
I thought it might be helpful to share facts about recent events and give a sense of the principles and values that guide my thinking about how to honor what is most important about Bates as we work together to move the institution forward.
To state the obvious, this year’s topic, “From Selma to Ferguson: 50 years of Nonviolent Dissent,” could not be more timely.
Good morning. Welcome to the opening convocation of this new academic year….
I write to share news and plans at the start of a new academic year, my third as president of the college. As I have said before, serving Bates as president is a source of great personal joy, even as we tackle inevitable challenges. Every day I am struck by the dedication of our faculty, the energy of our students, the pride of our staff, and the solidarity and support of alumni, parents, and friends in sustaining the work and sense of common feeling that make Bates such an extraordinary college and community.
I write to outline important aspects of our institutional response to the urgent problem of climate change and to address the question of whether the college should divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry.
On behalf of Bates College, I reject unequivocally the boycott of Israeli universities that was recently passed by a majority of the members of the American Studies Association.
I write to share with you developments at the college as we welcome the Class of 2017 and begin a new academic year.
Thank you, Brent, and thank you, Matt, for those very thoughtful reflections….
Well, I guess now I really am the eighth president of Bates…
Welcome back, faculty, staff and returning students, to the beginning of a…
Watch video remarks from Bates’ eighth President, Clayton Spencer Educating the whole…
Remarks by President-elect Clayton Spencer on Dec. 4, 2011, following her introduction…