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.