Dear Alumni,

Since assuming our leadership roles in the summer of 2018 and spring of 2019, we have been listening carefully to the difficult personal experiences that some have shared about their past involving sexual harassment, gender bias, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination. We are committed to finding a way to learn from these troubling experiences and build stronger, strategic resources for anyone who has or is experiencing such discrimination. From the outset, we engaged in numerous conversations with Rabbi Mary Zamore, Executive Director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, and others about what this means for HUC, both to examine our past processes and culture and consider how we can refine and enhance HUC’s support for anyone experiencing discrimination in the present.

Given the concerns we were hearing, we felt a pressing obligation first to understand and evaluate the current climate at HUC, to ensure a safe and respectful workplace for all who are here now. On September 26, 2019, as Chair and President, we announced the creation of a Presidential Task Force on Safe and Respectful Environments, the first major initiative of this administration.  Co-chaired by Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, Ph.D., Director of HUC’s Rabbinical School and Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Rabbinics at HUC, and Richard Feldman, Ph.D., former President and current University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rochester, and comprised of faculty, students, staff, and alumni, the Task Force began its work in January 2020 and issued its Report earlier this year.  

We have already implemented a number of key deliverables detailed in the Task Force Report, and we are exploring how to staff this ongoing initiative to ensure the successful implementation of the Task Force's recommendations. This work is both urgent and important. It requires a continuous, steady approach in order to set clear expectations, change our culture over time, and make sure we align our actions to the core religious and ethical commitments of our institution.          

With the Task Force’s initial work now moving into the implementation phase, we have started mapping out how to hear, understand, and learn from our past. It will not be an easy or simple matter to design a just process that treats all fairly and sensitively. But we remain committed to doing this work, in consultation with leadership throughout the Jewish and higher education spaces.  Further, we know the need for continuous refinement of these efforts may continue perpetually.

As we continue to address these issues in the same deliberate, forthright, and transparent manner that has defined our approach thus far, we welcome your input. We will communicate next steps and a projected timeline for the next phase as this work gets started.

Sue Neuman Hochberg
Chair, Board of Governors

Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D.
President

Rabbi Andrea Weiss, Ph.D.
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost