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During January, I spent time beyond campus representing Clarke in two important ways. I participated in the Council of Independent Colleges New Presidents Institute, where I learned alongside peers and listened carefully to seasoned presidents navigating the same pressures facing institutions like ours. I also traveled to Naples, Florida, to spend time with Clarke alumni and friends, including gathering with alumni at a brunch hosted by Trustee Emeritus Dr. Tom Williams and his wife, Susan. Across both settings, I heard a shared, clear-eyed understanding that while higher education is facing real challenges, Clarke is meeting this moment with clarity, steadiness, and mission-driven purpose.
Nurturing these connections is more important than ever as higher education faces a significant inflection point. Proposals currently under consideration by the Iowa legislature would substantially change the landscape for higher education in the state, including proposed changes to the Iowa Tuition Grant—an important source of financial aid for resident students—and provisions that would allow community colleges to begin offering bachelor’s degrees. If implemented, these measures would pose serious challenges to the long-term viability of private colleges and universities in Iowa. Here in Dubuque, institutions such as Loras College, the University of Dubuque, and Clarke University are not only educational anchors, but also vital contributors to the local economy—supporting employment, housing, healthcare, and cultural life. Our community benefits from the distinct strengths of each institution and would be diminished if any one were to disappear.
In response to this shared threat, the presidents of the three Dubuque institutions jointly authored an opinion piece in the Telegraph Herald to express our opposition to the proposed legislation. We did so out of a shared conviction that the consequences would be felt not only by our individual campuses, but by the broader educational and economic ecosystem we serve. We believe there is power in collective action and in speaking with one voice about what is at stake. In a word, we stand united in the conviction that investment in education—not increased competition—is what paves the way toward a flourishing future for Iowa.
Moments of public deliberation and decision—especially those that shape access, opportunity, and the common good—invite us to think carefully about our responsibilities to one another. In the days following Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and into Black History Month, I am reminded of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s poignant words from his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail:
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
This truth holds at the national level, within our local Dubuque community, and within the particular community that is Clarke University. We are not independent islands, but members of something much bigger, more complex, and more significant than ourselves. Clarke has long educated students to be conscientious, skilled, and purposeful participants in this shared fabric of society, and we continue to do so today. As we move forward, we do so remembering who we have been in the past, who we are now, and who we are called to become in the future.
Dr. King penned these words not from the safety of a mountaintop, but from the indignity of a jail cell. He understood adversity, opposition, and seemingly intractable circumstances. Yet he also understood the discipline of hope; the kind that sustains us through hard times and beckons us forward, nevertheless.
We—Clarke—can do hard things.
We—Clarke—are stronger together.
We—Clarke—are part of something bigger than ourselves.
May these words encourage us and move us forward.
With hope,
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