NOLS Self-Assembly wanted to follow up on the presentation given by NOLS Board Chair Stuart Harris and the newly appointed president Sandy Colhoun at the NOLS State of the School on October 13, 2023.
Over the past year, members of the greater NOLS community and those of us who signed the NOLS Self-Assembly petition in particular have worried about NOLS staying true to its mission. To use Stuart’s State of the School analogy, we had heard a new narrative - one that sounded inconsistent with an unwavering focus on student outcomes and risk management.
Our passion for NOLS is based on our own course experiences. We believe that NOLS leaders’ undue emphasis on social justice issues over the past several years put at risk the transformative student experience in the wilderness classroom.
Stuart and Sandy directly addressed our concern by stating emphatically that their primary goal is to ensure NOLS would continue to create superior student outcomes and maintain best in class risk management.
As we know from the practice of Expedition Behavior, there is no place in the wilderness for emphasizing divisions based on religious beliefs, politics, race, money, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. What matters most is how each person’s actions, attitude and character contribute every day to the group’s success. Going forward, NOLS will be stronger if the greater NOLS community recognizes and shares these values.
As the leader in outdoor education, NOLS must continue to promote connections at the individual level that are the foundation of the greater NOLS community and allow free expression even if there are real differences of opinion. An inclusive community is one of NOLS' greatest assets.
We look forward to NOLS becoming once again the wilderness school where we would encourage our friends and sponsor our children and grandchildren to go on a NOLS course.
NOLS Self-Assembly
Our objective is to serve as a link between NOLS and the greater NOLS community for an open discussion about how NOLS is staying true to its mission and the practice of expedition behavior.
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