Dear Colleagues,

 

As we prepare for our return to course instruction on January 21, we know that this is no ordinary return. Less than a month ago, our campus experienced an unthinkable tragedy. We lost two undergraduate students to gun violence, while nine more were injured and many more students, faculty and staff are in the process of recovery.

 

In order to facilitate the transition back to the academic work of the semester, it is essential that we acknowledge the tragedy, that we illuminate a path forward and that we provide colleagues with practical resources for navigating the resumption of teaching and learning during this challenging time. We are writing today to share information about best practices for the return to classes, and to provide those of you who are teaching this semester with tools to address this during your first class meeting. We recognize that there are many additional concerns, including the working details of the Shopping Period. Further communications are forthcoming that will address these.

 

For the return to classes, we have developed:

 

Even if you choose not to use either deck, please read the talking points. They include helpful recommendations and resources to benefit our students. We encourage every instructor of record to briefly review these materials with their students at the beginning of the first day of class. We recommend this in consultation with our own experts in public health. For those who wonder, "How do we start the semester?," this is the best advice from experts.

 

During the winter recess, we engaged experts from within and outside our community who helped inform development of our comprehensive plans to support students, staff and faculty as we re-engage this semester. We are grateful to the faculty in the Division of Biology and Medicine and in the School of Public Health; colleagues we engaged from academic institutions that have experienced gun violence; and experts from the National Mass Violence Center for their guidance in developing this plan. Brown's strategy—a part of the recently announced Brown Ever True initiative—capitalizes on the strengths of our community and provides an inclusive approach to community connections, education about resilience and recovery, and increased resources for psychological and clinical support.

The slide deck includes educational material about trauma, resilience and recovery, and ends with links to resources on campus. It should take five minutes to run through the deck. We acknowledge the practice of improvisation in the Brown classroom, and recognize that there are many ways to share this material. Some may prefer to read the material without using slides, and this also could be an effective approach.

 

It is important to note that the information is meant to educate, not to provide clinical care. You are not expected to lead a discussion on the events of December 13, and/or to explain their impact. In fact, we do not recommend that you review, or "debrief," the tragedy itself in the classroom. The goal is to show care and kindness, to do so collectively for all students and to share resources that can be helpful. The benefit is educational and reciprocal, using the point of contact between faculty and students in the classroom as a way to educate about Brown's resources and also to express, as broadly as possible, a shared ethos of care.

 

In addition to using the slide deck in the classroom, you may also want to read these resources on "Trauma Informed Teaching," developed with Nicole Nugent, Professor of Psychiatry, Human Behavior, Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics and Nick Monk, the Executive Director of the Sheridan Center, along with experts associated with the National Mass Violence Center. This might seem like an overabundance of material, but we are equipping you with a lot of resources because of the sensitivity and gravity of this first return.

 

Faculty and students at the Warren Alpert Medical School and at other institutions have described how this approach, piloted last week with our medical school community, helped their communities transition back to campus in a manner that was supportive. This approach acknowledges the event, creates brief space for that acknowledgement, provides immediate resources and then directs the conversation back to academic goals.

 

Even as we work to create classroom spaces that are welcoming and supportive of the full recovery of our students, we encourage you to take this moment to reflect on the support that you need as well. Mass casualty events impact the entire community, often in radically different and hard-to-predict ways. The resources in the slide deck have the benefit of conveying to you, as instructors, a sense of what may confront many of us as individuals. We encourage you to consider your own needs and take advantage of these slides as a resource for you, in addition to your students.

 

If you review the materials and have questions, please attend our webinar at 9 a.m. on January 15, by registering here. This communication is being shared with Ph.D. and MFA students, as many of them will be serving as Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows and in other mentorship roles. Please feel free to share with other departmental colleagues.

As the University has done at various times over the past few weeks, we continue to provide on-site resources to support the health and well-being of the entire community. Through the end of January, the following employee resource tables will be available:

After all that our community has experienced since December 13, many faculty and students may feel uncertain about how to return to the classroom. We hope this email provides helpful guidance and resources.

 

We ask that our community work together in this effort, not only because we know that our friends, colleagues and students will experience this return in a wide range of ways, but also because peer experience tells us that, at moments like these, focusing on approaches that encourage broad-based, long-term support for everyone can deepen our commitment to each other and to the community we hold so dear.

 

Thank you for all you do for our students and for Brown.

 

Sincerely,

 

Francis J. Doyle III

Provost

Professor of Engineering

Professor of Neuroscience

 

Matthew Guterl

Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion

L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Africana Studies & American Studies