Westmont Magazine There’s No Such Thing as Too Much Transparency in a Crisis

By Irene Neller, Vice President for Enrollment, Marketing and Communication

During the pandemic—or any crisis we face—we believe in communicating constantly. We’re committed to full transparency with timely and consistent information, sharing how the college is responding, preparing and planning as we work through the pandemic. “For college leaders in the midst of a pandemic, there’s no such thing as too much transparency,” says the Chronicle of Higher Education. I completely agree with this statement. 

We’ve worked hard to keep the Westmont community well informed, posting updates on the website as many as four times a day: 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. To address the needs of our community, we’ve created COVID-19 webpages for each group: current students, parents, faculty, staff, incoming students and the general public. We’ve filmed more than 25 videos, including 22 featuring President Gayle D. Beebe.

With the campus closed, we planned and produced more than 25 virtual events. We hosted more than 10 call-in sessions with the president and the executive team, answering questions submitted by students, parents, faculty and staff. More than 30 timely memos and activity reports have provided helpful information, and we’ve responded within 24 hours to nearly all questions sent to questions@westmont.edu.

To celebrate all our graduating seniors—those at Westmont and new students completing high school—we planned a May 2 concert with Grammy Award-winner Lecrae and Christian artist Phil Wickham dedicated to the class of 2020. We wanted to recognize the much-anticipated date of our Commencement ceremony, which we had to postpone.

Finally, we produced this commemorative magazine issue for all members of the Westmont community and dedicate it to the class of 2020. These remarkable graduates have demonstrated great resilience despite massive interruptions to their college years, especially the last months of their Westmont experience. We’re proud to serve with a Warrior spirit and thank the college community for interacting with us. We hope to serve you well as you connect with us.

Westmont branded masks will be given to all faculty, staff and students.