Dear PAU Community,
Universities play a vital role in society, particularly during moments of national and global challenge. As scholars, clinicians, educators, and learners, we are deeply engaged with the world and the complex forces shaping the human condition. We recognize that many national and global events can be painful and personal for members of our community, affecting lived experience and the well-being of those we teach, serve, and learn alongside.
PAU’s mission is to improve human lives through education, research, training, and service in mental and behavioral health. Our strength lies in advancing knowledge, preparing practitioners, serving clients from diverse backgrounds through our clinics, and creating environments where thoughtful inquiry, evidence-based practice, and ethical reflection are rigorously pursued.
For these reasons, Palo Alto University will be judicious in issuing institutional statements on national and global events. As a general principle, and consistent with the practice of prior leadership in recent years, the University will refrain from issuing institutional statements on political or social matters unless those events directly and materially affect PAU’s operations, mission, or ability to fulfill our educational, research, and clinical responsibilities.
This position is informed by long-standing principles in higher education. Universities exist to provide environments in which rigorous inquiry, teaching, learning, and intellectual discourse can thrive. When a university adopts official positions on contested public matters, it may limit intellectual inquiry by placing institutional judgment ahead of scholarly examination, rather than safeguarding the conditions that allow diverse ideas to be rigorously tested, debated, and refined.
The university’s role is to cultivate intellectual critique rather than act as the critic itself. When this delicate balance is held well, effective and genuine advocacy emerges from the deepest work of the university rather than from institutional public pronouncements. These principles align closely with PAU’s commitment to rigorous scholarship, ethical clinical practice, and careful inquiry into the complex forces shaping the human condition.
This approach is not indifferent to matters of deep importance, nor is it driven by risk management or fear of retaliation. It is a deliberate choice grounded in our academic and clinical purpose. In a community as intellectually diverse and globally connected as ours, institutional statements risk oversimplifying complex realities, constraining inquiry, or unintentionally positioning the University in ways that limit learning rather than expand it. Our goal is to preserve PAU as a place where ideas can be examined fully, evidence weighed carefully, and intellectual discourse engaged with rigor and respect.
Choosing not to issue institutional statements does not mean silence or disengagement. National and global events often create powerful opportunities for learners and educators to engage in dialogue, teaching, learning, understanding, and advocacy. These moments can and should be explored through our classrooms, clinical supervision, scholarship, research forums, lectures, community conversations, and sustained engagement with issues of equity, justice, and social responsibility grounded in evidence, ethics, and lived experience. As valued members of the PAU community, you are encouraged to seek support from the University in developing programs, discussions, learning experiences, and spaces of care that help students and the broader community engage thoughtfully with complex issues in ways aligned with PAU’s mission and expertise.
We want to be clear that scholars, clinicians, educators, and learners at PAU retain full freedom to express their views as individuals, informed by their expertise, lived experience, and professional judgment. Many members of our community engage passionately with questions of equity, power, access, and justice through their scholarship, teaching, and clinical work. The University’s role is to support that expression through academic freedom, ethical practice, and a culture of respect, not to substitute institutional orthodoxy or moral consensus for individual inquiry.
At a time when polarization is often amplified and nuance diminished, we seek to model a different approach at PAU: careful thinking, disciplined inquiry, compassion in teaching and practice, listening and understanding, and a commitment to improving lives. By staying grounded in our mission and expertise, we are best positioned to serve our students, clients, and communities with integrity and impact.
Thank you for your continued engagement and commitment to Palo Alto University. We welcome ongoing dialogue about how we live our values and fulfill our mission in an increasingly complex world.
With appreciation,
Farouk Dey
President
Christie Chung
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Patricia Zapf
Vice President for Innovation
Kristel Nazzal
Vice President for Strategic Partnerships & University Relations
Maria Cammarata
Chief Financial Officer and Vice President for Finance and Operations