The below message was sent to faculty, staff, and students on February 3, 2025.
Dear Bryn Mawr Community,
In the last few weeks of volatility, I’ve found myself thinking about leading with love. I use “leading with” in the sense of leadership but also to mean “beginning from,” — that is, approaching our interactions with those in our daily lives with love, whether in the classroom or dance studio, grocery store or gas station, in person or from afar.
I witnessed this love on campus last Wednesday when a longtime staff member in Dining Services took a few minutes to tell me about her years on campus and – while we talked – greeted several passing students by name. It was in the air as I filled my plate with the Hot Wok our colleagues at New Dorm Dining Hall prepared for the Lunar New Year. I touched it during a forward-looking conversation on Thursday with student leaders in the Disability Justice SGA Committee. I tasted it on Friday in a meal shared with students, staff, and faculty at the PossePlus Retreat. And I heard it yesterday (Sunday) morning when the Bi-Co Sneetch Ultimate Frisbee group practiced on the soccer field with smiles and cheers despite the cold.
Leading with love is, I believe, a proactively positive act in a world pushing us to be reactive and negative. It is an act of caring resilience in a world that can feel in disarray. It is an act of strength that comes from our roots and always – always – takes the long view.
May our love for one another and our Bryn Mawr community carry us forward in these times and always.
Wendy
Wendy Cadge
President and Professor of Sociology
Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Pronouns: she/her
brynmawr.edu
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