Service to all communities | a message from the Dean
Happy New Year to everyone!
As I lived through the last few days of 2025, I was thrilled about ushering in a new year and hopeful for some rhythms that would facilitate growth, wellbeing and the advancement of our mission. I anticipated the first few weeks would focus on our Vision 2030 strategic priorities, prepping for our FY27 budget compact, gearing up conversations with legislators about the school’s renovation plan, and visiting donors in Florida, Chicago and Arizona.
These things will happen, but we all know that life can often throw a wicked curve ball. Last week, our community was once again devastated by the loss of life of one of our citizens, Renee Good, at the hands of a federal enforcement agent. These tragic events rock our sensibilities to the core. The emotional roller coaster initiated by this tragedy was reinforced by the root cause, a heightened presence of federal immigration agents in the Twin Cities. This heightened presence gives us an opportunity to reflect on our values.
The School of Dentistry values Service to All Communities. We provide oral health care to anyone and everyone from all communities. We seek to provide care to people with physical and cognitive disabilities, people who have insurance and people who don’t have insurance, people from rural, urban, suburban communities, people from under-resourced communities and those with rich resources. Our focus is on the oral health of the people who enter our building and not their political or immigration status. Unfortunately, it isn’t always as simple and direct as my stated words. For example, we are not a free clinic, so some form of payment is required—but we have ways for payments to be structured and treatment plans to be appropriate for individual values. Living our values and facing the realities of the moment means we make the best decision in the moment for the patient.
I am proud of a decision made last week in our clinics by Dr. Olin and others. The collateral impact of the federal agencies has resulted in significant disruption of family units. When adults are taken into custody, sometimes children are left without a parent or legal guardian until the legal process works out. Some of these children will have oral health emergencies, and we should be understanding and ensure that there is no increased health risk to a child in pain. We must remember Deamonte Driver and not let that tragedy happen again. This indeed is what our team did. We took a few moments to make sure that a child in need did not have a problem that led to a tragic outcome. I remain proud of the good and compassionate work that we do in Moos Tower.