Having worked enthusiastically to develop the Strassler Center’s prominent doctoral program, I am pained by this sudden conclusion to my successful tenure as executive director. My activities included the construction of a beautiful new wing opened in 2019. Among the comfortable graduate student offices is one that my family funded in honor of my parents whose extended families were victims of the Holocaust.

I had many satisfying years at Clark advancing scholarship on the Holocaust and other genocides. My warm relationships with students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors sustained my belief in the importance of the Strassler Center, which I still admire. But there is no joy in working on behalf of those students who would, with the support of university leadership, try to silence me in public rather than engage with me civilly. I can’t invest my time and efforts to advance an institution that lacks the strength of character to protect diverse points of view.