End-of-Semester Message from President Ambar

December 20, 2024

Dear Obies,

As we approach the end of the academic year, I have been thinking a great deal about the power and value of our community. On more than one occasion, I have written to you about this “community of care” that has never professed perfection, but where this care for each other still abounds so effortlessly on this precious campus we call home. It is unique in its breadth and in its ability to find commonness in the most disparate of perspectives, differences, and values. This community, and our ability to demonstrate our care for each other, is at the core of who we are, and I am forever grateful for it.   

Classes have ended, and exams and papers are almost complete. Many of you are leaving campus for your homes, and if you are like me, you are reflecting on the state of the world in which we find ourselves. We see conflicts that are causing unfathomable suffering. Economies that are facing stress. Political winds blowing in directions we may find uncomfortable or, in some cases, in direct conflict with our values and way of life.

I could not allow you to go on break without sharing my thoughts on our collective place in the world as Obies. This is an extraordinary institution where the academic experience is designed for students to have all that they need to go out and change the world for good. The revelation that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” is a truism to which I subscribe. I take solace in this perspective, and in the notion that in the most challenging times, this truism endures. Our work in those moments is to ensure that our connections to each other and our community remain intact.

I have no doubt that the current political atmosphere may raise concerns for many of you. You may be wondering whether our campus community still has the ability to be as it has been: supportive, caring, and dedicated to the collective and individual well-being of every member. Over my many years, you have written to me often expressing concerns, most recently about reproductive rights, the Israel-Gaza conflict, and the new Ohio law impacting trans rights. In these complex times, we can all sometimes feel a sense of unraveling and an anxiousness about what is to come.

In your notes to me, you have said that even as Oberlin must follow the most recent law impacting our trans community, of what can you be assured?

Having presided through many moments of challenge during my time at Oberlin, there are still many things of which I am assured. We will continue to be a community of care and a place where we strive to celebrate differences. We will continue to be a place where we talk to each other and where dialogue across our varied perspectives is valued. And we will continue to be a place that promotes mutual understanding and where the commitment to the safety of all of our students is unwavering. Of all these things, I am assured.

I find great comfort in these truths, and I hope as we enter 2025, you do as well.

Wishing you and your family peace, happiness, and joy.  

Carmen Twillie Ambar
President, Oberlin College and Conservatory