William Gipson and Judith Rodin: Reflecting on common challenges

In just a few days many of us will participate in a celebration of Thanksgiving. More than any other American holiday, we experience this as a celebration to be shared with family, friends and strangers.

Free of the sectarian images or political imperatives of some of our other holidays, Thanksgiving asks no creed and requires no doctrine of the participants other than a spirit of openness and gratitude for our shared life together. It is a holiday in which we can express our thanks for how far we have come, acknowledge our struggles and rededicate ourselves to working together to solve our problems.

This sentiment is especially important this Thanksgiving season for us at Penn. Once again, we have been challenged as a community. Recently we were worrying about tensions between Muslims and Jews, and we are coming through that crisis together.

Now, two incidents involving the use of racial epithets on campus have reminded us that racism continues its nefarious machinations, even in a community that seeks to celebrate and nourish the rich diversity of it students, faculty and staff. These events have distressed and disappointed us and caused pain in the lives of members of the Penn family.

We are troubled by the sense among some students that the university is not moving fast enough on minority student concerns. However, it is important to acknowledge that a number of offices and many students, faculty and staff have and are acting to address all these concerns with an exemplary dedication to good citizenship and participation in community. But once again, we need more members of our community to become involved.

One temptation to guard against in all of this is the possibility of different groups and configurations of folks going off to separate tables where the conversation is narrowed by who is not there. In the spirit of the season of Thanksgiving we invite all to come to the common table with ideas for solutions. We lose dearly if members of our community view one another as adversaries rather than as partners in an institutional and community effort to make Penn an even better place to study, teach, work and learn.

Early next week the Office of International Programs, the Vice Provost for University Life, the Office of the Chaplain and the Graduate Student Center will host for the fourth year a Thanksgiving dinner and reception for international students. It is an experience to behold -- people from all over the world bringing their spirit of community and a sense of openness as they gather around a common table.

We expect to expand this kind of opportunity next semester to others to promote understanding throughout the University. We will invite students to join us in fellowship and candid conversation as we work together on inventive approaches and solutions to the challenges that we face as a community. We'll supply the venues and the forums, and we will count on students to contribute their participation and advice.

We wish you safe passage if you are traveling this holiday and a very happy Thanksgiving. We look forward to our ongoing work together for the best of Penn.

William Gipson is the chaplain of the University of Pennsylvania. Judith Rodin is the president of the University of Pennsylvania.

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