Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author, and publication in the Graphic in no way represents an endorsement of any opinions published. This space is provided to allow public response and commentary on articles and issues that are covered by the Graphic and important to its readership.
Approximately five years ago, I was returning to campus after more than a year away. The COVID pandemic coincided with my divorce and custody trial, and legal proceedings had kept my daughter and I on the East Coast for an extended and stressful time, our return uncertain and contingent on the decision of a judge.
When my daughter and I eventually did return to our home on campus, flags along Seaver Drive read: You belong here. You are loved here. You matter here. You inspire here.
My daughter was just learning to read, and every time we drove to and from our home on Baxter Drive, in her squeaky little voice from the backseat, she would recite them and every time it turned me into a puddle – because indeed, while I had only been employed as a professor at Pepperdine for a few years, our community had showed me this in in infinite beautiful ways, day after day. Amidst a contentious, extended divorce, my colleagues called and listened to me, they prayed for me, they covered my classes when I needed to be in court, they sent flowers to me in Connecticut before my trial and tended to the garden I left at our home on campus. The Christianity I experienced at Pepperdine was a religion of generous, unabashed, relentless love.
I was touched that this message of belonging, loving, mattering and inspiring was written on the flags because while it certainly felt like it was written just for my daughter and me, anyone who entered campus could also receive its message. I hoped everyone at Pepperdine also felt like the words written were just to them.
I told this story – and advocated that the daily acts of love we extend at Pepperdine are truly profound – to a ballroom of hundreds of faculty and staff two years ago. I have always been grateful for the invitation to share my story of experiencing Pepperdine at its best, when I needed it most.
But I must admit, after reading the Pepperdine Believes statement and witnessing its reception in our community, my emotions recalling that day are now conflicted.
While I cannot speak to its intention, the impact of Pepperdine Believes has been watching my colleagues – the people who showed up for me in my hardest chapter – feeling shunned, unwelcome, and judged. As a divorced, single woman, I also have to wonder what Pepperdine Believes means for my own belonging here.
This belonging matters as an individual and as a professor. I have never hidden that I am an unabashedly feminist liberal, and I have always treasured that Pepperdine is a place where we can talk across the aisle. We could disagree, sometimes deeply, because the love I described above was there to catch us if our faith in “the other side’s” care and compassion ever wobbled. That same security matters to my work as a scientist and scholar: research depends on asking hard questions, following evidence where it leads, and teaching students to do the same without fear. Since Pepperdine Believes began circulating, that net feels thinner. Today, even with tenure, I feel less supported and more nervous speaking openly, in conversation and in my scholarship. I sorely miss the university where disagreement felt safe because belonging was never in question.
To my knowledge, an entire, official public statement has not been released, so I hopefully write this, holding my breath, watching the calendar, knowing that there is still time for the Board of Regents, the President and Provost to reconsider its formal proclamation.
In its place, I would lovingly suggest an alternative:
At Pepperdine, we believe that you belong here, you are loved here, you matter here, you inspire here.
Dr. Bobbi Thomason
Professor of Applied Behavioral Science, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School
___________________
Follow the Graphic on X: @PeppGraphic
Contact Bobbi Thomason via email: bobbi.thomason@pepperdine.edu