It is critical for public credibility that an American university be perceived by society as an “Honest Broker”. It is unclear to me if the Wesleyan Administration, and others in the Wesleyan Community understand this. Perhaps the hostility towards Wesleyan by the local community may, IN PART, stem from the lack of clarity on the university’s public role.

After a 33.5 year career as a Professor (Univ. of Pittsburgh, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Univ. of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign), I have often wondered, since graduating from Wesleyan and working in a variety of unviersities, if the Wesleyan Administration, faculty, students, alumni and Board of Trustees know what the mission of a real university is. Recent events during the past month raise substantive doubts.

As a Wes alum (01′), I am deeply disturbed by what transpired on Fountain Ave on Thursday night. Reading the many accounts of students who were maced and bitten by MPD dogs makes me very angry and dissapointed that such a blantent misuse of police authority can happen here in the US. This type of brutality needs to stop. Remember, most of the students were over legal age, were in front of their own houses, were not violent, and no police officer was physically threatened. As the president of Wesleyan, I expect you to issue a strong statement condemning the actions of the MPD and to support any legal action that may occur as a result of this incident.

Other Problems. Why does the university not own all the houses on Fountain/Home Avenue. Reality: the University has in the past attempted to purchase them but the slum landlords who own them refuse to sell even at a premium. There is no reason for such town university integration in those places. Ideally there would be peaceful interaction but in reality there will always be loud students and working people trying to sleep.

At this point I doubt if mutual finger-pointing between the police and Wesleyan is going to get much accomplished. Probably more beneficial is to establish healthy and positive channels of communication to the point where the police and the students can agree that there is room for improvement on both sides.

I was present at your address to prospective students and parents on Open House day on October 12, 2007. At that time, one of the audience asked you if you had one wish for Wesleyan University, and your answer was quick and unequivocal. You said that your wish would be to double the University’s endowment. As reasonable as that wish sounded at that time, I am wondering if you would rather prefer to update that wish to making establishing better relationships with the Middletown community (including the police) as a top priority. I think that would make some sense in the light of last weeks events.

For the students my recommendation is that they think seriously about the legacy they leave for future incoming students. To the extent that their actions may leave a trail of resentment in the town and among the police, the legacy they leave to future students will be a troublesome one. This is not a fault-finding point of view, but one that looks at the reality of how emotions become hardened into fixed attitudes: while graduating students take their resentments with them when they leave, the resentments in the community stay behind to the detriment of new students.

Therefore, for current students, it is a worthwhile exercise to once in a while ask yourself: If I were an incoming student, what kind of atmosphere would I like to find at Wesleyan as far as relations with the surrounding community is concerned? With this kind of mindset, I am sure that you would want to leave a positive legacy for future students, and I am going to make sure my son understands this.

Thank you, and I still think my son made an excellent decision to come to Wesleyan.

I’m curious if you had already been notified by public safety that there was a problem at 1:30am or that your first word came from students at 2:30am?