哈佛校长2016年毕业典礼演讲

哈佛校长2016年毕业典礼演讲Greetings, alumni, graduates, families, and friends. It is such a pleasure to see you all he re and offercongratulations on this day of celebration. I am in the unenviable role of war m-up act for one ofthe greatest storytellers of our - or any other - time. Nevertheless, m y assignment is to offer a fewreflections on this magnificent institution at this moment in its history. And what a moment it is!From comments of astonished pundits on television, in print, and online, to conversations withbewildered friends and colleagues, the question seems unavoidable and mesmerizin g: What is goingon? What is happening to the world? The tumultuous state of American politics, spotlighted in thiscontentious presidential contest; the political challenges around the globe from Brazil to Brexit; theMiddle East in flames; a refugee crisis in Europe; terr orists exploiting new media to perform chillingacts of brutality and murder; climate-relate d famine in Africa and fires in Canada. It is as if we arebeing visited by the horsemen of t he apocalypse with war, famine, natural disaster and, yes, evenpestilence - as Zika sprea ds, aided by political controversy and paralysis.As extraordinary as these times may seem to us, Harvard reminds us we have been here before. Itis in some ways reassuring at this 365th Commencement to recall all that Harv ard has enduredover centuries. A number of these festival rites took place under clouds of war; others in times offinancial crisis and despair; still others in face of epidemics - fro m smallpox in the 17th century tothe devastating flu of 1918 to the H1N1 virus just a fe w years ago. Harvard has not just survivedthese challenges, but has helped to confront t hem. We sing in our alma mater about "Calm risingthrough change and through storm." What does that mean for today's crises? Where douniversities fit in this threatening mix? What can we do? What should we do? What must we do?We are gathered today in Tercentenary Theatre, with Widener Library and Memorial Chu rchstanding before and behind us, enduring symbols of Harvard's larger identity and pur poses,testaments to what universities do and believe at a time when we have never nee ded them more.And much is at stake, for us and for the world.We look at Widener Library and see a great edifice, a backdrop of giant columns where p hotos aretaken and 27 steps are worn down ever so slightly by the feet of a century of st udents andscholars. We also see a repository of learning, with 57 miles of shelving at the heart of a librarysystem of some 17 million books, a monument to reason and knowledg e, to the collection andpreservation of the widest possible range of beliefs, and experienc es, and facts that fuel free inquiryand our constantly evolving understanding. A vehicle fo r Veritas - for exploring the path to truthwherever it may lead. A tribute to the belief that knowledge matters, that facts matter - in thepresent moment, as a basis for the informed decisions of individuals, societies, and nations; and forthe future, as the basis for new i nsight. As James Madison wrote in 1822,"a people who mean tobe their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power tha t knowledge gives." Or as early20th-century civil rights activist Nannie Helen Burroughs p ut it, "education is democracy's lifeinsurance."Evidence, reason, facts, logic, an understanding of history and of science. The ability to k now, asformer dean Jeremy Knowles used to put it,"when someone is talking rot." These are the bedrockof education, and of an informed ci tizenry with the capacity to lead, to explore, to invent. Yet thiscommitment to reason and truth - to their pursuit and preeminence - seems increasingly aminority viewpoint. In a r ecent column, George Will deplored the nation's evident abandonment ofwhat he called " the reality principle - the need to assess and adapt to facts." Universities are definedby t his principle. We produce a ready stream of evidence and insights, many with potential t ocreate a better world.So what are our obligations when we see our fundamental purpose under siege, our reas on forbeing discounted and undermined? First, we must maintain an unwavering dedicati on to rigorousassessment and debate within our own walls. We must be unassailable in o ur insistence that ideasmost fully thrive and grow when they are open to challenge. Trut h cannot simply be claimed; itmust be established - even when that process is uncomfort able. Universities do not just storefacts; they teach us how to evaluate, test, challenge, a nd refine them. Only if we ourselves model acommitment to fact over what Stephen Colb ert so memorably labeled as "truthiness"(and he alsoactually sometimes called it "Veritasiness!"), only then can we credibly call fo r adherence to suchstandards in public life and in a wider world.We must model this commitment for our students, as we educate them to embrace these principles - in their work here and in the lives they will lead as citizens and leaders of nati onal andinternational life. We must support and sustain fact and reason beyond our walls as well. And wemust do still more.Facing Widener stands Memorial Church. Built in the aftermath of World War I, it was int ended tohonor and memorialize responsibility - not just the quality of men and women's thoughts, but, asmy predecessor James Conant put it,"the radiance of their deeds." The more than 1,100 Harvardand Radcliffe students, facult y, and alumni whose names are engraved on its walls gave their livesin service to their c ountry, because they believed that some things had greater value than theirown individu al lives. I juxtapose Widener Library and Memorial Church today because we need thequ alities that both represent, because I believe that reason and knowledge must be inflected withvalues, and that those of us who are privileged to be part of this community of lear ning bearconsequent responsibilities.Now, it may surprise some of you to hear that this is not an uncontroversial assertion. Fo r thismorning's ceremony, I wore the traditional Harvard presidential robe - styled on the garment of aPuritan minister and reminding us of Harvard's origins. Values were an inte gral part of the definingpurpose of the early years of Harvard College, created to educate a learned ministry. Up until theend of the 1800s, most American college presidents taug ht a course on moral philosophy tograduating students. But with the rise of the research university in the late nineteenth and earlytwentieth century, moral and ethical purposes c ame to be seen as at odds with the scientificthinking transforming higher education. But in today's world, I believe it is dangerous for universities not to fully acknowledge an d embracetheir responsibilities to values and to service as well as to reason and discover y. There is no value-free science. There is no algorithm that writes itself. The questions we choose to ask and theresearch we decide to support; the standards of integrity we ex pect of our colleagues andstudents; the community we build and the model we offer: All of this is central to who we are.We can see these values clearly in the choices and passions of our faculty and students: i n themotto of Harvard Business School, which you heard this morning uttered by the dea n, thecommitment to make "a difference in the world." Most of the University would read ily embrace thissentiment. In the enthusiasm of students and faculty, we see it as well. F rom across the University- graduate, professional, and hundreds of undergraduates - we see a remarkable enthusiasm, forexample, for the field of global health because it unites the power of knowledge and science with adeeply-felt desire to do good in the world - to lead lives of meaning and purpose. This spiritanimates not just global health but so muc h of all we do. Harvard is and must be a community ofidealists. And today, we send thou sands of you - doctors, lawyers, teachers, artists, philosophers,business people, epidemio logists, public servants - into the world.For our youngest students, those just beginning to shape their adult lives, those who tod ayreceived what the ritual language of Commencement calls "their first degree," for them , thesequestions of values and responsibility take on particular salience. Harvard College i s a residentialcommunity of learning with a goal, in the words of its dean, of personal an d social as well asintellectual transformation. Bringing students of diverse backgrounds to live together and learnfrom one another enacts that commitment, as we work to transfo rm diversity into belonging. In aworld divided by difference, we at Harvard strive to be u nited by it. In myriad ways we challengeour students to be individuals of character as we ll as of learning. We seek to establish standards forthe College community that advanceour institutional purposes and values. We seek to educatepeople, not just minds; our hig hest aspiration is not just knowledge, but wisdom.Reason and responsibility. Widener and Memorial Church. Harvard and the world. We ha ve a veryspecial obligation in a very difficult time. May we and the students we send fort h today embrace it.Thank you very much.。