Tsunami Relief:

Chancellor's welcoming remarks at the Jan. 25 service

By Larry N. Vanderhoef
UC Davis Chancellor

A number of faiths were represented at the memorial. (Debbie Aldridge/UC Davis photo)

Good morning and welcome to you all.

I am particularly happy to be joined this morning by our mayor, Ruth Asmundson, as we as a campus and as a community gather for this collective time of reflection, certainly of sadness, but also of hope.

Ruth and I spent time together this weekend, as well, participating in the Davis Tsunami Relief Dinner at Cantina del Cabo.  I understand that more than 2,200 people were served dinners and more than $60,000 was raised in this effort by local businesses, service clubs, elected officials and our own students to provide relief to the millions who are struggling to survive in the tsunami-ravaged areas.

It has been nearly a month since the tsunami struck.  Clearly it will be one of the worst natural disasters of our lifetimes.

With a death toll that has risen above 200,000 people and millions more who are homeless or without food and shelter and vulnerable to life-threatening diseases, the magnitude of this tragedy remains simply incomprehensible.  And its impact – while global – is so very personal.

How can we not be moved, particularly when many of our own family members are affected – our alumni living in that region of the world, our students and scholars who are studying here but have families in the devastated regions, our faculty whose university colleagues in the ravaged areas have reached out to them for help?

It is at a time like this that we see our UC Davis family grow, crossing boundaries of geography, of culture and of religion.  We are truly a global family, united by our caring and compassion and inspired by a need that could not be greater.

It is that realization that gives me hope in the face of such despair.

It’s seeing this community respond with such devotion, with such generosity and with such faith that out of a tragedy can yet come good.  It’s knowing that our faculty are pursuing ways to apply their expertise to assist in the global relief effort.  And it’s appreciating Academic Senate Chair Dan Simmons’ suggestion that faculty devote discussion time in class today to this far-reaching disaster from the perspective of their particular academic discipline. 

I thank you all for the concern that brought you here today and for all that you’ve done and are committed yet to do on behalf of those who are struggling to rebuild their lives half a world away.  When you’re a global family, half a world is right next door.