To new members of the community, welcome to MIT! And to the rest, welcome back! After last year, we all needed a rest, and probably not all of us got the rest we needed. But here we are, ready to step up and welcome a new cohort of students, postdocs, staff, and colleagues, to stand at the front of the class and share what knowledge we have, and to encourage our students and each other “to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.”^[1]

It is tempting to say that the challenges of this year will be “unprecedented,” with the polarized political climate playing itself out in the presidential election and the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, with increasing challenges to DEI programs and affirmative action, and with state imposition of gag orders and content restrictions on higher education curricula. According to a PEN America report in February 2024, “Legislators in 33 states introduced a total of 100 educational gag order bills in higher education settings between January 2021 and November 2023. As of January 2024, 9 educational gag orders are in effect in 8 states.”^[2]

However, as Kevin Gannon says in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, “Talking about how to navigate another ‘unprecedented’ year suggests it’s an aberration, a blip, when in fact, upheaval is the new status quo. Perhaps the fundamental truth about teaching in higher education in 2024 is that disruption is the new precedent.”^[3] Political instability is widespread, and climate change requires us to make and anticipate major adjustments at all scales. And higher education, broadly, is grappling with the effects of the pandemic on K-12 education, the increasing mistrust of science, the reliance on generative AI, and the now entrenched view that the sole purpose of higher education is job training.

Across the academy and at MIT, one senses that we are both deeply conflicted in our politics, but also united to uphold academic freedom and to value knowledge and critical thought. A major challenge, then, is to make sure that while articulating our disagreements we don’t undermine the unity we need to stand firm in our commitment to genuine, independent, and open-ended inquiry.

It is hard to know what the year will bring. But it will not bring an end to the many disruptions we will encounter or solutions to our problems. These are the new normal. Discourse, at times, may not be polite and not take the form of rational debate, but there is much to learn from the passions of others. Living in these times will take patience and resilience. The faculty is the backbone of MIT. Together, we can prepare to face the challenges, unified in commitment to the value of open inquiry, keeping in mind that disagreement is not a failing but, instead, can be a source of knowledge and insight.

Editor’s Note: Due to publication deadlines, the production of this entire September/October issue of the Faculty Newsletter did not include last spring’s newly-elected editorial board members.

^[1] From MIT’s mission statement: https://www.mit.edu/about/mission-statement/

^[2] https://pen.org/the-perilous-state-of-academic-freedom-and-free-expression-in-education/

^[3] https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-faculty-survival-guide-for-the-new-academic-year?resetPassword=true&email=shaslang%40mit.edu&success=true&bc_nonce=pgxvk3trdx7m4lzkdttu

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