From the President's Desk: September 2026

Dear Members of the Sarah Lawrence Community,

As we mark the College’s centennial, we find ourselves looking in two directions at once: back to the ideas that animated Sarah Lawrence at its founding, and forward to the world our students will help shape in the College’s second century — and how we will prepare them to do so. This year is the beginning of a multiyear celebration of our founding and the milestones that followed, from the signing of our charter on December 9, 1926, to the arrival of our first students in 1928 and our first graduation in 1929. But more than a mere commemoration of dates, a centennial is an opportunity and a charge to consider what has endured, what this moment demands of us, and how the values that define Sarah Lawrence can continue to better an ever-changing world.

This commitment to experiential, hands-on learning is a timeless Sarah Lawrence value; yet it remains both timely and essential as we help our students meet this moment: a period of profound technological, political, economic, and social change that requires more than preparation for a single profession or a predictable world. They need the intellectual nimbleness to navigate unfamiliar situations, the confidence to move forward without knowing every answer in advance, and the capacity to bring different ways of thinking to the challenges before them. In the age of artificial intelligence, the distinctly human capacities cultivated through a Sarah Lawrence education — critical thinking, creativity, and the ability to ask meaningful questions — are increasingly imperative and in demand.

Organized around the student journey rather than the boundaries of individual offices, the XLC brings together Career Services, Community Partnerships and Engagement, Global Education, SLC EmbeddED, and pre-professional advising. Staff across these areas can coordinate around students’ goals, offering integrated advising that introduces them to multiple pathways and opportunities. Not only the programming, but the space itself is configured for the workplace of today and tomorrow, with shared offices, co-working areas, and pods for hybrid and remote work that immerse students in an environment similar to those they will encounter beyond Sarah Lawrence.

Supporting this integrated model is our recently launched Internships for All program, through which every undergraduate student has access to at least one (and frequently more than one) experiential learning opportunity during their time at Sarah Lawrence. Research consistently shows that students who engage in such opportunities achieve desired career outcomes at a higher rate. These experiences also allow students to explore career paths, build skills, develop relationships with mentors, and establish a professional network.

Internships for All is both the name of this initiative and the promise behind it. “All” must mean all, but right now as a result of the federal government’s new interpretation of rules governing Curricular Practical Training, some of our international students no longer have the ability to participate in a vital feature of our open curriculum, namely: internships connected to their studies. Our international students are valued members of this community; their experiences and perspectives enrich our classrooms, expand our understanding of the world, and make the education of every student stronger. Denying international students access to this essential dimension of our curriculum denies them the full richness of a Sarah Lawrence education and diminishes what all of us can learn from and with one another.

That is why, through our membership in the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and other higher education organizations, Sarah Lawrence intends to support any potential litigation efforts challenging this action in order to advocate for all of our international students’ ability to participate in this defining element of our educational mission. I have written before about the importance of collective engagement such as this, particularly at a time when the scale of the challenges before us can make individual action feel insufficient. It is one of the ways we put our values into practice: not simply by stating what we believe, but by working alongside others to defend it.

As we celebrate a century of Sarah Lawrence, we are doing more than honoring the education envisioned at our founding. We are recommitting ourselves to making that education fully available to the students of today and tomorrow. Our belief in an open, experiential, deeply humanistic education has endured because it continues to answer the needs of each new generation. We cannot celebrate that legacy without also accepting the responsibility to carry it forward: creating new possibilities for our students, removing the barriers that stand in their way, and ensuring every student’s right to engage fully in the transformative education we provide.

Yours,

Cristle Collins Judd
President
president@sarahlawrence.edu
Instagram: @slcprez

Internships in Action

Just as no two Sarah Lawrence educations are alike, our students’ experiences beyond the classroom reflect the remarkable breadth of their interests. Current and recent summer internship sites include:

Arts & Culture: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, the Whitney Museum, Olana State Historic Site

Health & Science: Boston Children’s Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health, Achieve Beyond Pediatric Therapy

Media & Publishing: Paramount/CBS Sports, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Tessler Literary Agency, Greenpoint Pictures

Community & Public Service: International Rescue Committee, National Parks Conservation Association, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Yonkers Public Library

The SLC Podcast

The latest episode of the Sarah Lawrence Podcast was released last Friday, featuring Dean of Students Dave Stanfield and Provost Kanwal Singh talking all things XLC. Give it a listen!

Getting the Word Out

Introducing the XLC and all it has to offer to students is a full community effort. The XLC team has a full slate of events planned this fall, and is partnering with faculty and dons to get the word out. Dons are bringing their First Year Studies classes to the XLC to meet the team, see the space, and learn about the resources available to them. And industry-specific resource sessions are being set up across areas of study to tailor information to students’ interests; students and faculty from Filmmaking & Moving Image Arts will be visiting the XLC this week for the first of these sessions.

XLC at AAC&U

In January, we will be presenting at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Seattle. In our session, titled “From Open Curriculum to Open Pathways: Reimagining Experiential Learning in the Liberal Arts,” we look forward to showcasing the XLC on a national stage and sharing with others how the College reimagined experiential learning by breaking down administrative silos, organizing support around the student journey, and making opportunities more visible, connected, and accessible.