>> DAVID NIRENBERG: SALVE, O ILLUSTRISSIMI!
CREDO EGO VOS MIRARI, QUID SIT, QUOD, CUM
TOT SUMMI ORATORES HOMINESQUE NOBILISSIMI
SEDEANT, EGO POTISSIMUM SURREXERIM.
OH, SORRY.
I SEEM TO BE TALKING IN LATIN.
I MUST HAVE BEEN CONFUSED BY THESE MEDIEVAL
ROBES WE ARE ALL WEARING.
AND WHY ARE WE SURROUNDED BY THESE GOTHIC
BUILDINGS, WITH THEIR BUTTRESSES AND CRENELATIONS,
ORGANIZED AROUND COURTYARDS AND CLOISTERS,
ENTERED THROUGH POINTED ARCHES, IF THIS ISN’T
THE MIDDLE AGES, OR HOGWARTS?
I MEAN, THIS AS A SERIOUS QUESTION.
AND SINCE I AM A MEDIEVAL HISTORIAN, YOU MIGHT
EXPECT ME TO HOLD FORTH FOR THE NEXT 12 MINUTES
ABOUT THE MEDIEVAL ROOTS OF THE MODERN UNIVERSITY.
IT IS CERTAINLY TRUE THAT UNIVERSITIES HAVE
A MEDIEVAL PAST, ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THEIR
BASIC ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE COLLEGE AND HOUSE SYSTEM
COMMON IN MANY UNIVERSITIES WAS ORIGINALLY
FORMED BY STUDENTS WHO
BANDED TOGETHER IN THE MIDDLE AGES TO DEFEND
THEMSELVES AGAINST PROFESSORS, ARRANGE LODGING,
FACILITATE STUDYING, ORGANIZE A KITCHEN AND
ESTABLISH A JOINT WINE‑CELLAR.Alas, that
last tradition only survives in Oxford and
Cambridge.
THE GREAT RITUALS OF UNIVERSITY LIFE ARE ALSO
MEDIEVAL.
WHEN THE UNDERGRADUATES AMONG YOU GATHERED
IN ROCKEFELLER CHAPEL FOR THE ANNUAL AIMS
OF EDUCATION LECTURE THAT WELCOMED YOU INTO
THE UNIVERSITY, YOU WERE PARTICIPATING IN
A MEDIEVAL TRADITION, ONE PRAISED IN 1699
BY THE PHILOSOPHER GIAMBATTISTA VICO, WHO
GAVE HIS UNIVERSITY’S ORATION THAT YEAR,
AS AMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS INSTITUTIONS
OF UNIVERSITY LIFE.
THE RITUALS OF GRADUATION IN WHICH WE ARE
PRESENTLY ENGAGED ARE SIMILARLY FULL OF MEDIEVAL
ECHOES.
THE TITLES THAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO RECEIVE ‑‑
BACHELOR, MASTER, DOCTOR ‑‑ ARE ALL MEDIEVAL,
AS ARE THE HONORS, CUM LAUDE, ETC., CONFERRED
WITH THEM AND THE TRADITIONAL PARCHMENT DIPLOMA
FOR INSCRIBING THEM.
EVEN THE ROBES WE ARE ALL WEARING ARE DERIVED
FROM THE DRESS OF MEDIEVAL STUDENTS, AND NEARLY
EVERY ASPECT OF THEIR DESIGN IS MEANT TO EVOKE
SOME ANCIENT SYMBOLISMS.
BUT NONE OF THIS TELLS US MUCH ABOUT WHY THE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, LIKE OTHER GREAT NORTH
AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES, LOOKS SO MEDIEVAL.
OUR FOUNDERS WERE PERFECTLY AWARE THAT THEY
WERE ESTABLISHING A MODERN INSTITUTION, DESPITE
THEIR UNIQUE SYSTEM OF NUMBERING CONVOCATIONS.
YOURS IS THE 527TH, WHICH MIGHT IMPLY TO THE
UNINITIATED THAT WE WERE FOUNDED IN 1489.
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO WAS BUILT IN AND
FOR THE MODERN AGE AND DEMANDED OF ITS STUDENTS
AND FACULTIES THAT THEY DISCOVER THE FUTURE,
CRESCAT SCIENTIA, WHICH THEY HAVE DONE; HENCE,
MANY OF YOU ARE GRADUATING IN DISCIPLINES
UNIMAGINABLE 125 YEARS AGO.
INDEED, UNIVERSITIES IN GENERAL MAY WELL BE
THE MOST FUTURE‑ORIENTED INSTITUTIONS OF
THE MODERN WORLD, IN THE DOUBLE SENSE THAT
THEY ARE DEVOTED TO LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
OF THE KNOWN, AND TO PREPARING THEIR STUDENTS
FOR LIFETIMES TO COME.
SO THE QUESTION REMAINS: WHY DOES AN INSTITUTION
SO DEDICATED TO THE FUTURE CONSTRUCT ITS SPACE
AND ITS RITUALS IN WAYS SO CONSCIOUSLY EVOCATIVE
OF A DISTANT PAST?
I BELIEVE THAT THE DELIBERATE ARCHITECTURAL
AND RITUAL ANACHRONICITY OF OUR UNIVERSITY
IS NOT MERELY THE PRODUCT OF HISTORY; IT IS
ALSO ANAN INSTANTIATION OF ONE OF THE MOST
VITAL TASKS OF A GREAT MODERN UNIVERSITY:
TO CULTIVATE IN ITS STUDENTS AND FACULTIES
A PARTICULAR TYPE OF SENSIBILITY TO TIME,
WHICH I WILL CALL “A TIME OF MIND.”
SINCE IT MAY NOT BE CLEAR WHAT I MEAN BY THIS,
AND SINCE THIS CULTIVATION IS ONE OF THE UNIVERSITY’S
MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS TO EACH OF YOU AND TO
SOCIETY IN GENERAL, I’D LIKE TO SPEND A
FEW OF OUR LAST MOMENTS TOGETHER MEDITATING
UPON IT.
THERE ARE SOME OBVIOUS WAYS IN WHICH THE TIME
OF A GREAT UNIVERSITY IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER
TYPES OF TIME IN THE WORLD, FIRST AND FOREMOST
IN THE EXTRAORDINARY FREEDOM IT GIVES ITS
INHABITANTS TO SHAPE IT AS THEY WILL: WHEN
TO SLEEP, WHEN TO STUDY, TO LOVE, OR PLAY;
WHAT PROBLEMS TO WORK ON AND WITH WHAT DEGREE
OF ATTENTION.
DURING OUR YEARS IN UNIVERSITIES, WE HAVE
A FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN THESE MATTERS THAT
WE PROBABLY DID NOT HAVE BEFORE AND WILL NOT
HAVE AGAIN.
STUDENT POETRY FROM THE MIDDLE AGES MAKES
CLEAR THAT THIS WAS ALSO TRUE IN THE MIDDLE
AGES:
“GO STUDY,” URGES REASON.
I WOULD OBEY INDEED,
BUT WHEN LOVE WHISPERS TREASON
WHOSE BIDDING SHOULD I HEED?
THAT POETRY, CALLED GOLIARDIC VERSE, ALSO
MAKES CLEAR THAT THE FREEDOMS OF “UNIVERSITY
TIME” CAN BE ABUSED:
TO DIE INSIDE A DRINKING‑SHOP
THAT IS MY TRUE VOCATION.
TO PASS AWAY IN HOLY BLISS
THROUGH HIGH INTOXICATION.
AND ALL THE ANGELS WATCHING ME
WOULD SHOUT TO GOD IN HEAVEN‑
LORD, HAVE MERCY ON HIS SOUL‑
HE’S DRUNK BEFORE ELEVEN!
[Laughter]
12th Century!
BUT WHATEVER ITS POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE, SOCIETIES,
MEDIEVAL AND MODERN, HAVE DONE EVERYTHING
IN THEIR POWER TO DEFEND THE FREEDOMS OF “UNIVERSITY
TIME.”
THAT DEFENSE HAS ALWAYS BEEN DEAR, WHICH MEANS,
AMONG OTHER THINGS, EXPENSIVE.
ONE MEDIEVAL FATHER PUT IT, “A STUDENT’S
FIRST SONG IS ALWAYS FOR MONEY, AND THERE
IS NO LETTER THAT DOESN’T END WITH A REQUEST
FOR CASH.”
WHETHER YOU ARE AN UNDERGRADUATE
OR A GRADUATE STUDENT, YOUR PRESENCE HERE,
AND YOUR EXEMPTION FROM THE DEMANDS OF EVERYDAY
TIME IN THE ORDINARY WORLD, WAS MADE POSSIBLE
BY ENORMOUS GENEROSITY ‑‑ GENEROSITY
ON THE PART OF PARENTS, OF UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES
AND OTHER PHILANTHROPISTS, AND OF A NATION
WHOSE TAXES MAKE POSSIBLE PELL GRANTS, THE
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, AND MANY OTHER
THINGS.
IT IS THIS ECONOMY OF GENEROSITY THAT HAS
PUT TIME FOR CONTEMPLATION, A TYPE OF TIME
THAT THE ANCIENT ROMANS CALLED “OTIUM”
AND ASSOCIATED EXCLUSIVELY WITH SENATORS AND
OTHER ARISTOCRATS, WITHIN THE REACH OF SO
MANY OF US TODAY, IF ONLY FOR THE YEARS WE
ARE PRIVILEGED TO SPEND AT A GREAT UNIVERSITY.
WHY IS THIS GIFT OF “OTIUM,” OF “UNIVERSITY
TIME,” SO VALUABLE THAT WESTERN SOCIETIES
HAVE CHOSEN TO DEDICATE SO MANY RESOURCES
TO MAKING IT AVAILABLE TO YOU?
MY COLLEAGUES IN ECONOMICS MIGHT ARGUE THAT
YOUR YEARS AT UNIVERSITY CAN BEST BE UNDERSTOOD
AS AN EXCELLENT INVESTMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT
OF HUMAN CAPITAL, AND THEY ARE CERTAINLY THAT;
BUT I WANT TO SUGGEST THAT THE FUTURE TIME
VALUE OF YOUR LABOR IS NOT WHAT IS ESPECIALLY
HUMAN ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE ACQUIRED DURING
YOUR YEARS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.
THAT LIES, RATHER, IN AN ATTITUDE, AN AWARENESS,
A “TIME OF MIND” HINTED AT ALREADY BY
OUR ARCHITECTURAL SETTING; NAMELY, THE KNOWLEDGE
THAT ALTHOUGH FOR US FINITE CREATURES THE
PASSAGE OF TIME SEEMS TO BE THE MOST FAMILIAR
AND IMPLACABLE GIVEN OF OUR BEING, WE CAN
CHOOSE TO MAKE IT UNFAMILIAR, TO BEND IT,
LIKE A GREAT PIANIST BENDS THE TEMPOS OF A
BACH SARABANDE, IN WAYS THAT CREATE STARTLING
NEW INSIGHTS.
CREATING THIS “TIME OF MIND” IS ONE OF
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF EVERY GREAT UNIVERSITY,
AND IN IT LIE THE POSSIBILITIES OF DISCOVERY.
I MEAN, THIS IN AN OBVIOUS AND A LESS OBVIOUS
WAY.
THE OBVIOUS, DEDICATING YEARS TO REACH INSIGHTS
ABOUT HAMURABI OR HAMLET, TO FIND A NEW ALGEBRAIC
INVARIANT WITH WHICH TO CLASSIFY A TOPOLOGICAL
SPACE, OR TO DISCOVER A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR
GENE EDITING, HAS REQUIRED A CERTAIN DEGREE
OF EXEMPTION FROM THE SHORT TERM TIME‑HORIZONS
OF THE EVERYDAY WORLD.
IT REQUIRED A DIFFERENT KIND OF ATTENTION,
AS WELL, ONE CAPABLE OF SCREENING OUT MUCH
OF THE CONSTANT CLAMOR OF THE COSMOS, OF STILLING
THE ROILING AND RUMBLING OF BEING LONG ENOUGH
TO ATTEND TO A QUESTION THAT LEADS BEYOND
THE IMMEDIATE HORIZON OF THE PRESENT.
IT REQUIRED YOU TO LEARN TO PLAY CHESS IN
A WORLD OF TETRIS.
I guess that dates me.
YOU MAY BE LEAVING THIS UNIQUE ZONE OF EXEMPTION
FROM SOME OF THE DEMANDS OF TIME, BUT YOU
TAKE THE ABILITY TO CHOOSE YOUR “TIME OF
MIND” WITH YOU INTO THE WORLD.
AND THE LESS OBVIOUS, THE ABILITY WE CULTIVATE
HERE TO CHOOSE THE TEMPORALITY OF OUR ATTENTION
AND THE DIRECTION OF OUR THOUGHT, THE ABILITY
TO STEP INTO A TIME OF MIND.
THIS ABILITY IS THE PREREQUISITE FOR ALL TRUE
DISCOVERY, IF BY DISCOVERY WE MEAN RENDERING
THE FAMILIAR STRANGE.
NIETZSCHE ONCE COMPLAINED THAT WHAT MOST OF
THE WORLD WANTS WHEN IT ASKS FOR KNOWLEDGE
IS “THAT SOMETHING STRANGE SHOULD BE REDUCED
TO SOMETHING FAMILIAR.”
HE CALLED THIS THE “ERROR OF ERRORS,”
AND I AGREE.
WHAT IS FAMILIAR IS WHAT WE ARE USED TO, AND
WHAT WE ARE USED TO IS WHAT IS MOST DIFFICULT
TO KNOW.
THE GREATER DISCOVERY LIES IN BECOMING AWARE
OF OUR MOST BASIC ASSUMPTIONS, SO THAT WE
CAN QUESTION THEM AND MAKE THEM STRANGE.
That was the point of a joke, not very funny,
told by
NOVELIST DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, ABOUT TWO YOUNG
FISH WHO ARE SWIMMING ALONG.
THEY MEET AN OLDER FISH WHO GREETS THEM WITH
"MORNING, HOW'S THE WATER?"
THE TWO YOUNG FISH SWIM ON FOR A BIT, AND
THEN ONE OF THEM LOOKS AT THE OTHER AND SAYS,
“WHAT THE HELL IS WATER?”
HALF A CENTURY BEFORE, THE POET W.H.
AUDEN MADE A SIMILAR POINT IN AN EQUALLY AQUEOUS
BUT MUCH GRIMMER WAY: “A PERSON STRUGGLING
TO SAVE HIMSELF FROM DROWNING BECOMES AN INTELLECTUAL,
INSOFAR AS HE IS THINKING ABOUT THE CONDITIONS
OF HIS EXISTENCE.”
SO HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS: YOU DON’T HAVE
TO ENCOUNTER A WISE FISH OR RISK A WATERY
DEATH IN ORDER TO BECOME AN INTELLECTUAL,
IF BY THIS WE MEAN LEARNING TO EXERCISE YOUR
HUMAN CHOICE ABOUT WHAT TO THINK ABOUT, AND
OUR ABILITY TO STEP OUT OF THE EVERYDAY FAMILIAR
INTO A TIME OF MIND AND DISCOVERY.
YOU CAN SIMPLY CHOOSE, AS EACH OF YOU HAVE
DONE, TO SPEND TIME AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO,
WITH ITS MARVELOUSLY ANACHRONIC MIXTURE OF
ARCHITECTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL TEMPORALITIES.
IN A FEW MINUTES, PRESIDENT ZIMMER WILL ASK
EACH OF YOU TO STAND, WILL FORMALLY CONFER
UPON YOU YOUR DEGREE WITH ANOTHER ALLUSION
TO THE DISTANT PAST ‑‑ “I WELCOME YOU
INTO THIS ANCIENT AND VENERABLE COMPANY OF
SCHOLARS” ‑‑ AND THE UNIVERSITY OF
CHICAGO WILL BECOME YOUR COMMON ALMA MATER,
YOUR NOURISHING MOTHER.
ALL OF US WHO REMAIN BEHIND HOPE THAT YOU
WILL RETURN TO THIS MOTHER EARLY AND OFTEN.
BUT WE HOPE EVEN MORE THAT WHEREVER YOU FIND
YOURSELF IN THE YEARS TO COME, YOU WILL ALSO
FIND THIS MOTHER AND HER PECULIAR TIME OF
MIND WITHIN YOU, ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU TO STEP
INTO, ALWAYS READY TO RENDER THE FAMILIAR
STRANGE, AND PROVOKE YOU TO WONDER.
AVE, ATQUE VALE.
I SALUTE YOU, AND FAREWELL.
[Applause.]
