Dear law school community:
Each day the world shows us both its beauty and its horror. Each of us who follows the news knows that each day brings something that may deeply impact the way a student, faculty member, or staff member feels about the world and their safety and wellness in it, depending on their own identities, communities, and experiences.
Often, we are asked to speak out to recognize the occurrence of specific events in celebration (e.g., the nomination or confirmation of a candidate to a court who hails from a background that has been historically excluded, the passage of rights-protective legislation, a court decision that improves our justice system) or in dismay and acknowledgement of tragedy and the sense of loss and insecurity felt by members of the law school community (e.g., a mass shooting, a natural disaster, a humanitarian crisis, government action and inaction that results in tragedy).
Yet the administration will generally limit email messages that are not related to the everyday business of the law school to a few types of messages: sharing sad news about the passing of a student, faculty member, or staff member; encouraging participation in civic activities like voting or discourse around civil rights and the rule of law; or wishing students well during exam periods, at the start of an academic year, or before the start of a break.
You may ask why the administration has decided to limit its emails in such a way, particularly given that some law school administrations in the past have occasionally sent out such messages. Our reasoning, after much deliberation and discussion, is that it is impossible to acknowledge in a meaningful way some of the harms that occur every day in community-wide emails, and also to do so without then being exclusionary to those experiencing hurt over harms that are not being acknowledged in the same way in the Law School community, in the media, or in public commentary.
We understand that this approach is imperfect and limited, but believe this is the best way to prevent further harm. Community-wide emails are a challenging forum to acknowledge meaningfully the experiences of students, staff, and faculty; there are hard questions of timeliness and tone, and a missed word or poorly phrased sentence has, in the past, appeared to create more harm than the good that was intended. Additionally, utilizing community-wide emails to acknowledge some moments means we inevitably exclude others. Our failure to recognize harms that may not capture collective attention could add to hurt experienced by those whose struggles are already unnoticed or glossed over in public conversation.
We would like to remind students and student organizations of the resources that the Law School can provide:
- When any student in the community needs individual support to navigate the emotional and mental health challenges that such news may bring, please reach out to: mentalwellness@law.cuny.edu.
- When any student or student organization would like to organize a program, processing space, or initiative in response to such news, please reach out to studentaffairsoffice@law.cuny.edu.
We continue to be committed to creating a culture of belonging for all students, faculty, and staff at the Law School. Please do not hesitate to contact Student Affairs (studentaffairsoffice@law.cuny.edu) and/or the dean’s office (deansoffice@law.cuny.edu) with any questions you may have.
Take care,
Dean Setty