Email message from Dean

To Members of the Haas Community

Yesterday, October 17, I had lunch in San Francisco with Tom Clausen,
former CEO of the Bank of America, and former President of the World Bank,
and a great fan and supporter of the Haas School. He is the one of the
individuals behind the Bank of America's generous contributions to the Haas
community. His personal gifts and gifts from the Bank of America
Foundation have financed the Bank of America forum, the Bank of America's
discretionary Dean's fund that supports new Haas programs; and the Clausen
Center that supports the International Business Development course and some
of Haas's most loved faculty including Andy Rose and Rich Lyons. We had a
wonderful lunch during which he spoke affectionately of the loyalty and
talent of Haas alumni, the accomplishments of current Haas students, and
the future of business education.

After lunch, as I drove back to the Berkeley campus with Larry Lollar--the
new and talented assistant dean for development at the Haas School--I began
to plan my comments for the first of what I hope will become regular e-mail
messages from the Dean's Office to the Haas community. I considered many
possible topics-for example, core reform; the challenges of fund-raising;
the process of recruiting new faculty. I hadn't made a final decision when
we arrived on Piedmont Avenue only to find a policeman blocking our way to
the Haas School. Shortly thereafter I learned with dismay that the School
had been evacuated and temporarily closed because of concern about a
possible anthrax attack. I waited anxiously on the outskirts of the police
lines with many other members of the Haas community while emergency
personnel from the local police, fire, and public health services and from
the campus worked together to assess the situation. After the police
determined that the suspicious material was not hazardous, we were allowed
to re-enter the building and to re-open the School for regular activities
today.

So my first e-mail message is about how Haas responded to the kind of
potential emergency that seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago. I want
to thank the outstanding individuals who work with me in the Dean's Office.
In my absence, they acted quickly and calmly to evacuate the buildings and
to cancel all School activities for the rest of the day. They stayed near
the School to comfort members of the community until the police gave an
all-clear sign. They then returned to the office with me to prepare an
e-mail announcement to the community that the School would re-open
tomorrow. They also worked with the campus police to make sure that all
Haas offices were locked to protect against possible theft. All of us owe
these fine leaders our gratitude for their calm determination and
decisiveness during moments of uncertainty and anxiety. I have said many
times that when I depart in January I will be leaving the Haas community in
excellent hands. Yesterday, the leaders of the Dean's Office made my point.

We are living through unprecedented times, and the level of anxiety and the
need for caution are understandably high. But we must not allow the threat
of terrorism to strike terror into our hearts and prevent us from leading
our normal lives. We can all take comfort in the quick responses of the
School's leadership, campus authorities and the local police, fire and
health departments during yesterday's disruption. Today the School is once
again open for business as usual. Take a moment to celebrate our return to
normalcy and our wonderful community.