September 16, 2025

Dear Colleagues:

We had planned to host the Provost’s Ethics Colloquium this Thursday on The Future of Higher Education featuring two Purdue University economists and longtime academic leaders followed by a panel of CSU experts. This is an important conversation we still need to have, and I have decided to postpone the event until a later time when we can better focus our attention on the broad set of challenges we face in higher education.

Last week’s assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk on a university campus, especially given the fact that he was to appear this week at CSU, has shaken and impacted many in our community across all political ideologies as it has this country. I have listened to some of the concerns raised among our own academic leaders, faculty, staff, and students regarding this and other political violence.

Since last spring, my messages to you and at campus speaking engagements have acknowledged that we are facing challenging times in higher education against a shifting federal landscape and state fiscal matters. But I have always made clear I remain optimistic about the future of higher education. At the core of all of this, I encourage you to remember that your work as educators and researchers is foundational to societal progress, intellectual growth, and addressing the world’s most pressing problems.

Hope springs eternal is a phrase Alexandar Pope famously coined nearly 300 years ago in his poem An Essay on Man. As our masterful resident poets at CSU certainly know, the work is intended to explore the natural order of the universe and humanity’s place within it through the lens of the political and social climate of the era in which it was composed. Hope springs eternal has become a common phrase in our culture and is widely used to express the inherent human capacity for optimism and a belief in a better future amid adverse and difficult circumstances.

I believe in the power and excellence of your scholarship and the ability you have to shape future generations, drive innovation, and propel humanity forward. I remain as positive today about our future as I did last fall. For me, hope springs eternal because we must believe we can do better for all global citizens. We also must protect academic freedom, free speech and peaceful debate, and continue to elevate this institution’s mission to lift up the state, nation, and world we seek to serve. Too much is at stake for us not to believe a better future is within our reach and influence.

Sincerely,

Marion

Marion K. Underwood
Provost and Executive Vice President