- Hello, Rams, this is Dr. Matthew Hitt.
Some of your might know me from my classes
in the CSU Department
of Political Science.
I'm coming to you today,
not from the venerable Clark Building,
but from my new home office.
here in West Fort Collins, Colorado.
You know why I'm not on campus today,
and you know why you're not either.
Look, I'll be blunt, the situation
we are in is unprecedented in my lifetime,
and I'm willing to bet it's
unprecedented in yours, too.
It is okay right now to take time,
and I hope you've done so, to
take time to acknowledge any
anxiety or fear you might have,
grieve the loss of
events and opportunities
that you thought were in
front of you this spring,
and just take stock of what's
in front of you right now.
Now, I've been doing that myself
over our last spring break here,
and hey, one thing, if you
happen to have children
of your own someday, or if you already do,
when they grow older, and
they ever complain to you
that, "Hey, I'm bored," or
"School is challenging,"
or "I can't do the thing I want to do,"
you get to remind them
for the rest of your life,
"Look, kiddo, I spent however many months
"social distancing, going
to class and college online,
"when I wasn't planning to do that,
"for an entire rest of a
semester, halfway though,
"all of the sudden, so
you can just suck it up."
This is your, "I walked to
school uphill, both ways,
"20 miles, in the snow,
chased by wolves," moment.
You can lean into that.
(laughs)
I certainly am going to,
and I hope my kids do, too.
But that's not why I'm here today,
I'm here with a really
simple message for you.
You know that CSU is
not made of the bricks
in Morgan Library, or
the grass in the Oval,
or anything like that.
We, the faculty, staff, students, family,
friends, fans, supporters, we
are Colorado State University.
And you know what, I'm still here.
And you're still, we are all still here.
We may not be physically
together, but we are still here,
and this university is
carrying on right now, today.
Our 150-year-old institution
of higher education
was here for two world wars,
through a horrific pandemic
in 1918, almost a hundred
years ago, and so much more.
In fact, during the violence, unrest,
and strife of the Vietnam
era, our cherished Old Main,
the oldest and first building
that constituted, in theory,
this university, burned to the ground.
Did CSU end when this cherished,
brick building burned?
Of course not, and not only did the people
who make up Colorado State University
weather those storms
together, through the years
we have built a better, stronger,
broader, and more impactful CSU.
This resilient spirit lives
right now, in you and in me.
This week, our first week back to class,
is our moment to take a deep
breath, look inside ourselves,
and decide how are we
going to use this crisis,
not as a moment to despair,
but as a moment of opportunity?
Marcus Aurelius was a great,
stoic emperor on ancient Rome,
and in his private meditations,
he wrote these words
that still resonate with
us 2,000 years later.
"The impediment to action advances action.
"What stands in the way becomes
the way," what did he mean?
Well, every challenge that we face in life
contains within it the seeds of a chance
to come out on the other side as a wiser,
stronger, kinder, and just better person.
This moment is my opportunity
to become a better teacher,
better scholar, why?
Because it's going to force
me to reconsider how I
deliver my course content,
how I assess learning,
how I connect with my students,
how I use and take advantage
of the precious time
that we are all together, all learning,
in the shared pursuit of
knowledge that emboldens
and enlivens the entire
university community.
That's what we're here
for, and this is my chance
to get better at it, I can't wait.
Look, it's okay to acknowledge
and mourn everything
that has changed and been lost lately.
It's all right, but now that we're back,
now is our time to rise, to
learn, to grow, together.
I promise you, if you take a minute today
to reflect on it, you will see
that there is an opportunity
for you in this difficult moment.
Seizing that opportunity,
as hard as it might be,
seizing that opportunity can
renew your sense of purpose
and fuel you as you adjust to this
new mode of study and life.
And finally, of course,
sometimes on the journey forward,
we will all need some help,
we'll all have renewed moments
of doubt or discouragement.
These moments, these moments are the times
that we can and must rally together
to take care of our brother and sisters
that make up the incredible university.
Rams, as always, today and forever,
Rams take care of Rams.
You're still here, I'm still
here, we're all still here.
Thank you for being here,
good luck, stay well, go Rams!
