 Dear students and colleagues, at the beginning of this new and extraordinary academic year I would like to say a few words to you just to catch up. The new academic year has just started. President Kuhnbecken opened it officially last week, during a festival with all the Dutch universities. Normally, our campus would now be buzzing with excitement from the new students. Everybody would meet again, exchange experiences about the holidays, talk about the new curriculum coming up and discuss new research plans. Support staff would be making the final arrangements to make everything run smoothly, on campus. Instead, all of this seems to be far away and most I can do now is provide a minor reflection. Starting with a little success. I'm happy, very happy, that we have realized education in small groups on campus in a 1.5 meter university. At least we can provide our new students with a taste of what campus life is and what the university is, a living organism of academic exchange between teachers and students and between students and the breeding ground of new ideas that may change the world or at least challenge our imagination. We are craving to leave the site of the desolated campus we experienced for half a year behind us. We have to do this in steps. This requires discipline from all of us without a clear-cut reward at the end of the journey, but it is the only way. Dear students, I would like to take the opportunity to welcome you, whether here on campus or studying at home, from the Netherlands or further away. We are very glad you made it to Tilburg University in these difficult and unique times. Thinking back of my own time as a student in Groningen, I know that you would have preferred to follow all your lectures on campus and simply meet everybody, and so would we. In addition to on-campus education for as many students as possible, all our education now is digital and accessible to you. Last March, our teaching staff had to adapt to the digital present at an enormous pace. We all learned new techniques faster than ever thought possible. From teaching and exchanging ideas with curious studios and bright students in a three-dimensional world to confinement in attics and at kitchen tables at home, you had to adapt to teaching in two dimensions only, a real challenge that also spurred lots of didactic innovations. Examination at a distance was another challenge. This fall, students will take most exams on campus. This is a step forward. Dear teachers, we learned from our student survey that the students value the quality of your lectures and appreciate the effort you put into online teaching. I hope you have become used to the online teaching experience and are able to take advantage of the facilities the university offers to further improve the quality of teaching in two dimensions. We realize that the teaching workload sometimes makes it hard to continue with your research the way you originally planned it. I'm sure that you understand the situation as it is and give priority to serving our students. We try to support you as much as we can. Many of you are also concerned about finances, careers and continuation of job contracts. Don't hesitate to contact us, we're listening and provide help. Without students there is no university. Without teachers there are no students. Together you constitute the foundation of our university. I want to express my deepest gratitude to our support staff, dear support staff, thank you for all the help. You make the machine called university run smoothly. I know working from home isn't easy. It's so much different from interacting with colleagues, dropping an idea with someone else you run into and having heated discussions about anything you can think of. We all miss this interaction dearly, sitting at home by ourselves, tuning in on endless Zoom, Skype and team sessions and feeling exhausted by the end of the day. On the bright side all of this was impossible only a few years ago. I don't have a clue how we would have managed back then. Perhaps we should count our blessings, but the third dimension of social interaction is missing in an online world and we all feel it. All of us have shown great flexibility keeping Tilburg University up and running. I'm grateful that we have succeeded together to come this far. The paradoxical result of having to work from home is that we have come closer and are more united than ever, exactly because of these difficult times. A common cause can accomplish this. Those of you who know me know it's not my style to make things nicer than they are. COVID-19 most likely won't be gone by January 1st of the new year. We shouldn't expect the old normal to rule again by then. My advice is to be prepared for the new common and expect it to stay for quite a while. Nobody knows for how long. Wishful thinking won't help. Realism at least provides a sense of security rather than hopelessness and a goal to pursue rather than a memory in which to lose yourself. Feel free to contact your supervisor if you have problems, any problems, or simply can't find the information you need on our COVID-19 website. Meanwhile, we try to take little steps toward the real thing, which is academic life for all of us in a three-dimensional world. This works best if we stick to the rules the government and the RIVM set. The rules don't have to be perfect. All the little bits and pieces help. If you shake hands with someone else by accident, simply try to avoid it the next time you meet someone. Doing your best is what we ask. Nobody expects you to be perfect. Dear students, I know you have an almost uncontrollable need to explore the three-dimensional world. I had when I was a student. My appeal to you is nevertheless to be careful. In the past days we have witnessed a growing number of contaminations originating from private parties. By taking care of yourself, you take care of others who are more vulnerable. We all miss the social opportunities of our beautiful campus and the academic environment with which we are so much privileged. Hold on, pandemics have a habit of disappearing after a while, no exceptions, and better times will come. Our university is strongly dedicated to fulfill its mission to educate, to do research and to support society. We will never abandon these tasks. We will realize them together. Keep up the good work and keep a good spirit. Thank you very much.