[APPLAUSE]
VICTORIA MONTEIRO: My
name is Victoria Monteiro,
and it is my great
honor to welcome you
to the University of
Chicago's inaugural Class Day.
We are proud to be
gathered here together
for the beginning
of a new tradition,
where the administration
nervously hands
over the reins to
students for us
to lead a celebration
for our incredible class.
As members of the Maroon Key
Society, the honorary society
of the College, we are
thrilled to help plan and lead
this ceremony.
To my fellow classmates,
today is all about you.
We are here to reflect on
the memories that we've
made together and
the home that we've
shared for the past four years.
We will celebrate the
outstanding accomplishments
of our peers, hear from
students and the dean
and renowned alumni, and take
one last moment to recognize
the unity that binds
us together as a class
before we graduate tomorrow.
[APPLAUSE]
JAKE MANSOOR: Good
afternoon, everyone.
My name is Jake Mansoor.
I'm a member of the
Maroon Key Society,
and my College house
no longer exists.
Thanks, Victoria, and welcome
again to Class Day, everybody.
A few of our students have
made a video tribute exploring
how the challenges we
faced in the College
have forced us or enabled us
to forge distinct identities,
as well as an identity
that we all share.
Four years ago when I
arrived here on campus,
I didn't realize how much of
a stranger to myself I was.
On day one, I was
very confident in what
I knew, what I
believed, and how I
saw myself and others,
academically, socially,
and even politically.
Academically, I was convinced
I was a great writer.
But then Hugh, [? Sosh, ?]
and Jake [? Bittel ?] said,
not yet.
Socially and existentially, I
thought I was set as a person.
And then I took Civ and
discovered Boystown.
Politically, I went from
attending College Republicans
meetings at the IOP, which
has yet to be shut down,
to protests in front
of Trump Tower.
And after reading
his latest articles,
I know there's at
least one other alum
here who can empathize
with that trajectory.
Am I right or am I
right, Mr. Brooks?
[LAUGHTER]
So the classes, the
city, and the people
here truly shook us to our
core, but are now a set
of experiences we all share.
That was just a Core pun.
Thanks to the College for taking
us a very long way, for telling
us that we're always
learning, and for prompting
us to continue asking ourselves
the question, no matter how
old we are, who do I want
to be when I grow up?
Thanks to Keegan, Stacy, and
Elizabeth for this tribute
helping us explore these
changes in shared identities.
And welcome again Mr.
Brooks, Dean Boyer, students,
and families.
And without further ado, I
give you Four Years in Review.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
- I love the housing system.
I think it's this really cool
opportunity to build community,
and I love that everyone is
thrown together, all the years
and all major areas.
I like housing so much I went on
to work for them for two years,
right?
But it's just really--
I am very shy and so being sort
of forced out of my comfort
zone and thrown into this
collection of people who
were not there for
any rhyme or reason,
you're just all
together and you sort of
have to build this
community together,
I think is a really,
really cool process.
And so I wanted to be able
to create a community that
was compassionate in that same
way, and I hope I did that.
The theme that always came up
is like, this school is hard,
like really hard.
But when it gets hard--
sort of all the stories
I was thinking about--
the one common thread
is that there's always
a community of people
I can fall back
on who I know will
be there for me
and who are going
through the same things.
So whether that was my
old house Talbot, now
Boyer, which was just a
wonderful place for me to spend
my first two years, or now
Crown House where I am the RA,
it's been incredible.
Even I have some
of my residents who
will come up to me when I'm
having a hard day and be like,
Liz, do you need to
talk, which is awesome,
because it's a
total role reversal.
But it just shows how
strong the community is here
and how much people really
care, which means a lot.
So I majored in comparative
human development,
which was really great
for me because it's such
an incredibly flexible major.
It felt like I could
design my own major, which
was really nice.
I ended up working a lot
with sort of early childhood
development.
I worked in Dr. Amanda
Woodward's lab for three years
and ended up writing
my thesis there too.
I finished human development
at the end of my third year,
and it was sort of
like, well, here I am.
I want to be an RA
for another year,
but I don't want to
just take 12 electives.
So I ended up applying for
SSA's dual enrollment program.
So I got in, which was awesome,
and so I've spent the last nine
months working towards my
master's in social work
at, yeah, one of the
professional schools here.
So I'll be sticking around
campus for another year
to finish that up.
- I ran cross-country and track
in high school for four years.
And coming to
Chicago, I didn't know
that I was going to be on
a varsity athletics team.
But when I found out that
we had D III athletics
and looked into the program
and talked with the coach,
I realized that it would
be a good fit for me.
And so from day one of O-Week
I've been a member of the team.
During O-Week we had a workout.
And I remember coming
from high school track
and cross-country, it was
a bit of an adjustment
to come to UChicago
and to start really
competing at a high level.
And so I was exhausted at
the end of the workout.
I was so tired.
I felt so uncomfortable
I wasn't sure
if I was even going to be able
to stay on the team after that.
And so we started running
through the Midway
and we get to the
Quad, and suddenly I
have no idea what's going on
because I'm just a freshman.
But all the other
members of the team,
like it was the summer,
our shirts are off,
and they start running
through the Quad and yelling.
And I literally had no idea.
No one explained to
me what was going on.
And so there's a rhyme.
There's a song that we sing.
And as we run through the
Quad we sing this song,
and members of
the team volunteer
to say rhymes that go into
the chorus of the song.
And so no one taught
me what to do,
but I sort of learned, like,
through that Quad's run
and then later Quad's runs.
It's just sort of like a
strange UChicago tradition.
My first year, I think
especially during O-Week,
I made a lot of
decisions that would
impact the rest of my
four years in terms
of joining clubs and RSOs.
Assos And at that time,
I was sort of confused.
I didn't understand
why I was joining.
Like I joined a competitive
Indian dance team.
I was involved in my house.
I was on the cross-country team.
But looking back,
I'm kind of happy I
did that because I was able to
meet so many different people
on campus.
Some of the most memorable
experiences and, I think,
most valuable
experiences that I've had
have actually not
been in class and have
been while working either a few
blocks south of the University
or five blocks north.
So for two years, I worked
at Willie Cochran's office,
the alderman of the 20th ward.
Recently, I've started working
at Shoesmith Elementary
School, which is at
50th and Kimbark,
and I'm tutoring third
and fourth graders there.
One of the things I'm
going to miss most
after leaving the
University is the team,
just because it's been sort
of like my second family
for the last four years.
And moving to a new place,
I know that I'm not--
I'm just not going to
have that group of guys
to run with every single day.
So that's sort of
a strange feeling,
because it's just been
constant, every single day
for the last four years.
I'm definitely going to miss
running along the lakefront,
especially going north when you
come around to turn sometimes
at Promontory Point or maybe
towards the 35th Street bridge
and you see the entire
skyline right there.
That's one of the coolest--
that's like one of the
coolest places where we run.
I'm really going to miss that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- There's also just
something really
cool about being out here and
like you can see the skyline,
but you're also right
next to the water.
And I think it just gives you
a bigger perspective on life.
Because it's really hard to--
sort of you get caught
up on all your work
and sometimes sort of lose
sight of the bigger picture.
But when you look out
and you can't see land
on the other side of
the water, you just
sort of get a bigger sense of
things, and it's really great.
I'd have house barbecues
out here with my house
first year, bonfires at
the point with the Outdoor
Adventure Club, coming here to
see the sunrise or the sunset
with friends, Kuvia
in the dead of winter
when everything
is covered in ice.
It's pretty all year
round, and it's cool
because the lake is always
different every day.
Probably my favorite experience
at UChicago or opportunity
I got to have was doing a field
course in ancient/modern coral
reef environments in San
Salvador in the Bahamas.
So we went out over spring break
and went snorkeling and sort
of exploring this island.
It was really cool.
I walked on to the
soccer team my first year
but then switched to
playing ultimate frisbee,
and that's been a huge part
of my experience at UChicago.
It's a really fantastic
team atmosphere,
and I've made some of
my best friends there.
And we've actually-- the
program has grown a lot
in the years I've been here.
We got fifth at
regionals two years ago,
and we got third this year.
And we're in the game
to go to nationals,
and it was so cool to
play with my best friends
in the game to go.
And we ended up getting
third, but I'm still
so proud of that experience.
So I did come to
UChicago for the Core
and the really
fantastic research.
But I've really enjoyed
some of my Core classes.
I am a math and bio major,
but one of my alter egos
is 100% submerged in
anthropology and art, which
I got to experience through
the Core curriculum.
The lesson is, you can have a
lot of fun in your Core courses
at UChicago.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[END PLAYBACK]
[APPLAUSE]
ELIZABETH WOO: Now
that is just a glimpse
of the diversity and engagement
that characterizes our class.
My name is Elizabeth Woo, and
I studied economics and biology
in the College and
lived in Tufts House
before serving as the
RA for Stony Island.
And as part of the
graduating class,
I can only stand and admire
at the talent, passion,
and creativity of my peers.
And so I'm incredibly excited
to introduce our next three
speakers who will share
what their four years here
has meant to them.
Our first speaker will be
Adolfo Alexander Vincent "Alex"
Morales.
Alex is a theater
performance studies
and psychology double major.
He hails from Mooresville,
North Carolina.
And as a theater
performance studies major,
Alex has been active
in University Theater
and has curated
Theater24, where teams
of student writers, directors,
designers, and actors
have 24 hours to create
a stage experience.
At the same time, Alex has
been active in house life,
participating in
intramural sports,
and serving in a [INAUDIBLE]
leadership position.
Please welcome to
the podium Alex.
[APPLAUSE]
ADOLFO ALEXANDER VINCENT
MORALES: It's a packed house.
When I first heard
that the University was
getting graduated, I
couldn't believe it.
I was really touched when
the University of Chicago
asked me to be its
best man, and then I
realized I had to write
the best man speech.
And I mean, yeah, we've
been best friends forever,
or at least since we
went to school together.
But you know, speeches
are very difficult.
And I don't think I
could just get away
with making fun
of the University
for still being in
its Gothic phase
or how it pronounces
trimesters quarters.
But actually, I'm really glad
that the University could
find someone like all of you.
I mean, taken holistically,
you are everything
the University could want.
And most people meet
online these days,
so there's no shame in using
Tinder or any other common app.
And here you are--
smart, intrepid, curious.
You know where Waldo is.
You have known each
other for years now,
and it's obvious that you
guys have something special.
It's no secret
that the University
has been graduated before.
And we all thought that the
529th time would be the last,
but I'm confident this
will be the last graduation
for the University of Chicago.
It's great that he finally
found that special 1,000 people.
I remember the first
time I met the University
and its soon-to-be graduates.
They showed me how deep
their empathy really ran.
Allow me to set the scene.
It was during the polar
vortex, during Chiberia,
during what I can only assume
was due to the death of Aslan
the Lion.
It was so cold that the fire
alarm went off in my dorm.
Yeah, they work both ways.
It was 6:00 in the morning
on the first day of winter
quarter.
We all dressed,
slowly, groggily.
We went outside.
One of the people in my house
thought that there actually
was a fire, and they ran
outside in just their robe.
It was negative 40 degrees.
Immediately, instinctively,
and without thinking,
everyone in my house surged
around them like penguins
might to make sure that they
would be OK in the cold.
That's when I knew
that the University was
head over Ivy for
these people who
all chose to go to school
here in this frozen hellscape.
I often wonder
what sort of person
came to the literal swamp
that is Chicago and said,
ah, yes, here is where
I will found my city.
I often wonder what
sort of students
came to this aforementioned
frozen hellscape and said,
ah, yes, here is where
I will go to school.
I've since realized that it
is the type of person who
will huddle around
someone when they
aren't dressed for the cold.
This type of person would
come to a cold, Gothic place
to learn about what they
care about because they all
have that same fierce
fire of determination,
caring, and curiosity
burning inside of them.
And when nothing else, and I
mean quite literally nothing
else, will keep you warm,
because it is colder at school
than it is on the
planet Mars, that fire
will burn inside of
you and keep you warm.
As you go forth after
this graduation,
take this chance
to play Prometheus.
Bring that fire with you
to everyone and everything
you encounter.
Shield others from the cold.
Keep your curiosity.
Keep your determination.
Keep it to having
that Waldo character.
Everything after this is
easy, and hopefully warmer.
So I would like
to propose a toast
to the University of Chicago
and its soon-to-be graduates.
May this be only the start of
your many years of happiness.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
ELIZABETH WOO: Thank you, Alex.
Our second speaker
today is Karyn Peyton.
Karyn is an English language
and literature major,
and she calls
Chandler, Arizona home.
On campus, Karyn
has been involved
with the Chicago Maroon,
our school newspaper,
as a staff photographer.
She is also a documentary
filmmaker and a producer
for Fire Escape Films.
When she's not busy making
films or taking pictures,
Karyn is also involved in
her house, Wendt House,
as a social chair.
Please welcome to
the podium Karyn.
[APPLAUSE]
KARYN PEYTON: Hi.
Let me start out
with a confession.
I am a fifth year.
[CHEERS]
You weren't expecting that.
She doesn't even go here.
I know.
Yes, I am that unicorn.
And I'm an Odyssey Scholar, so
I have the wrong class T-shirt.
And I have too many loans
to pay for the right one.
Let's review, shall we?
First year.
You're not that bright.
You play burn ball.
You use a lot of
synonyms in your essays,
but you realize there is no
synonym for bad argument.
Second year.
You're hoping you learn
the material by osmosis.
You have found five different
majors to pack yourself into.
You ask someone out who
speaks three languages,
and in all three of
them they say no.
Third year.
Your living situation
deteriorates.
Your toilet explodes.
Your upstairs neighbor
is a good tap dancer.
Your method of selling
yourself for internships
is, if you give me
this opportunity,
you'll give me this opportunity.
Most pre-meds are no longer.
Fourth year.
I forgot Core bio.
Oops.
For the past
four-plus years, we've
been measuring ourselves
against failing
systems and lucky moments.
We asked ourselves, do you
like who you've become?
And the answer was often no.
You know, no one wants
to hear a graduation
speech about dark matter,
unless it's related to physics.
But I can't stand here being
grateful without acknowledging
that that gratitude is the
result of pain and failure.
That pain is now
humility, and that failure
has become a habit
of maintaining
a steady diet of truth.
Many of us came here excited
and leave here angry.
Many of us struggled
with our mental health.
Many of us were punished for it.
Some of us are better for it.
Some of us lost things
or found things,
met people who changed
us, partied hard,
or didn't, lost
people, lost hope here.
I know I did.
Like many students, I am a fifth
year because I went on leave.
Why?
Because I thought about ending
my life here, and I came
close twice.
I stand here two years after one
of the worst years of my life
to acknowledge that
most of college
is rarely having anything
turn out as you expected.
And the things that
do work out are often
the result of luck
and privilege,
and acknowledging that
uncomfortable truth
is eye-opening really.
We have learned so, so
much from the darker parts.
For years, I couldn't
think critically,
except about myself.
But the depths of that
sadness opened me up.
The days ahead won't
be harder for us.
We've already been
in the real world.
It isn't hard.
It's just a new challenge.
But we are resilient, and
our curiosity is real.
I stand here here like
everybody a bit damaged
but ready in my unreadiness
and prepared to fail again.
And what a wonderful
feeling it is
to know that you
received one of the best
educations in the world that
showed you that you are not
the best, that you
are of the world,
realizing that a good
education makes you question
the institution you
received it from,
how it has taken your
passions and matured them,
how it can restore your
vision in a time of darkness.
Graduation not only
marks a moment of change,
it marks a moment
that you have changed.
And I do firmly believe
with everything in me
that that is the
aim of education.
And remember to
give back if you're
working at Goldman Sachs.
We don't have to choose between
comfort and social change,
because we have the
privilege to do both.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
ELIZABETH WOO: Thank you, Karyn.
Our final speaker will be
Elizabeth "Liz" [INAUDIBLE]
Adetiba.
[CHEERS]
Liz is a political science major
with a minor in human rights.
She calls Arlington,
Texas home and has
been involved in
various activities
on campus ranging from,
but not limited to,
serving as the former political
chair of the Organization
of Black Students, former OMSA
student advisory board member,
campus director of Dream
Outside the Box UChicago,
and contributing writer for
the Black Youth Project.
Liz was also named a
Fulbright Scholar this year.
Please welcome to
the podium Liz.
[APPLAUSE]
ELIZABETH ADETIBA: The late,
widely acclaimed recording
artist Prince kicked
off many of his concerts
with the following phrase--
Dearly beloved, we are
gathered here today
to get through this
thing called life.
Well, borrowing from
the elusive pop icon--
Dearly beloved, we are
all gathered here today
to celebrate getting through
this thing called UChicago.
I could get into the late
nights and early mornings
in the Reg, brutal winter winds,
and the ever daunting course
bidding system.
But after all, we are
here to celebrate.
And despite those challenging
experiences, each of us
has myriad reasons
to be proud today,
some widely shared
with our classmates,
some particular to our
own personal struggles.
During occasions
such as this one,
it is common for the speaker to
encourage the graduates and all
who are here to support
them to aim high and never
stop believing in themselves.
But I won't do that.
After all, if you're
here today, you
know how to carpe that diem.
So I won't stand here and tell
you what to do or how to do it.
Rather, I will remind you of who
you should be doing this for.
As tempting as it may be to make
these graduation festivities
all about us and the time,
love, and dollars poured
into getting us here today, our
celebration is bigger than us.
It is about all of the people
who will never meet us and yet
be impacted by the
things we do and say.
A degree from the
University of Chicago
will undoubtedly
open many doors.
But the real task
is figuring out
how we can use this degree
to open doors for as
many other people as possible.
I'll tell you a quick story
about an experience on campus
that captures my
time here so well.
Like many of you, I spent
much of my fourth year working
on my BA thesis.
I truly believed
the work I was doing
was revolutionary
and trailblazing.
That was until the
week before it was due,
I casually ran across an article
in a law journal that was,
in essence, my entire thesis.
In retrospect, I
was naive to have
assumed what I was doing
had never been done before.
After all, there is no such
thing as new knowledge.
But it was then that a
professor reminded me
that the importance
of doing this work
wasn't simply for the
sake of my own learning,
but instead to amplify
the voices of those
who have been marginalized.
To whom much is given,
like this all-consuming,
taxing, yet highly rewarding
degree, much is required.
And on this campus, in
this city, in this country,
in this world there is
serious work to be done.
Who better to do this work
than a group of people
who are committed to
more than remaining
on the surface, who understand
that rigorous inquiry requires
leaving no stone unturned and
no world view deconstructed?
Those of us here
today were so very
fortunate to get through
this thing called UChicago.
So let's get out there into
the newsrooms, the labs,
the boardrooms, the
classrooms, and the communities
to do whatever is necessary to
help as many others as possible
get through this
thing called life.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
ALEXA HANELIN: Good
afternoon, everyone.
My name is Alexa Hanelin, and
I have spent my time in Chicago
between the glorious Regenstein
Library and the softball field
a couple blocks away.
Today, on behalf of
the Maroon Key Society,
I have the pleasure of
representing UChicago athletics
and introducing two of the
highest athletic honors.
But first, before
jumping into the awards,
I'd like to take a moment and
highlight our senior athletes.
Graduating with us this weekend
sit 91 varsity athletes,
91 students who juggled the
academic rigor of UChicago
while representing the Maroons
in their competitive arenas, 91
students who exemplify the
student and student athlete.
But even with this dual
role and responsibility,
the 2017 [INAUDIBLE]
class still dominated.
In our graduating class sit two
national champions and 31 All
Americans.
Collectively, we've
trained, practiced,
and competed for over 35,000
hours over the past four years.
And we have much to show for
it, because during our time here
our varsity teams
nationally qualified
for post-season play 27 times.
Academically, our class has
received 254 UAA All Academic
distinctions.
And most importantly,
our football team
is still undefeated
against Notre Dame.
So to the 91 student athletes
retiring their jerseys
and graduating this
weekend, thank you
for wearing Maroon
pride and representing
UChicago with strength.
And now to our two
athletic honors--
the Stagg and Dudley Awards.
The athletic awards
presented today
honor two fourth-year
athletes who
have exceeded on the playing
field and in the classroom.
Both the Amos
Alonzo Stagg Award,
presented to a
senior male athlete,
and the Gertrude
Dudley Award, presented
to a senior female athlete,
honor outstanding leaders
in the athletic community
factoring strong [INAUDIBLE]
academic records,
scholarship, and character.
I now welcome Coach
Chris Hall to the stage
to present the awards.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRIS HALL: First of
all, what a great day.
This is my 16th year
at Chicago, and I'm not
ready to move on yet.
So I've been through some of
the other graduations here.
I think it's neat what's
going on with this year's
graduation and the Class Day.
And I really want to
thank the University
for giving us an opportunity
to recognize these student
athletes here as well.
I do a little bit better
speaking from the heart
than I do reading.
But I was given a script, and
so I'm going to go through that.
But I do want to mention that
I find these two individuals
to be Chicago students.
I mean that first and foremost.
I mean, since they first
arrived on this campus,
they truly engaged in what it
is to be a University of Chicago
student.
They've had an
opportunity, though,
to do some other
things as athletes
and really succeed
at the highest level,
and I want to just go
through those real quickly.
I'm going to start
with Andrew Maneval.
Andrew Maneval was the
winner of our Stagg Medal.
And the Stagg Medal
is given every year
to the four-year athlete that
has succeeded at the highest
level of his senior class.
The award is named after the
legendary former football coach
Amos Alonzo Stagg.
For those of you that are
not familiar with Amos Alonzo
Stagg, he's the first
person to put numbers
on the back of uniforms.
He's the first person
to have a huddle.
Great things have
happened here way back
in the early 1900s with him.
Andrew is a standout
player both in football
and in track and field.
On the gridiron, Maneval
was a three-year starter
and four-year letter
winner as offensive tackle.
As a left tackle
his senior year,
he blocked for one of the best
offenses in school history.
The 2016 Maroons set
21 school records,
including passing yards, passing
touchdowns, pass completions,
and total offense.
He protected the blind side
for quarterback Burke Moser,
who finished second
in the nation
in passing yards
with more quarter--
with more than 3,700 yards.
Maneval also created holes for
running back Chandler Carroll
to surpass 1,000 yards for
a second straight season.
Maneval's football
excellence was
rewarded with All-University
Athletic Association status
three times and All-Southern
Athletic Association
honors twice.
Andrew's strength
between the lines
was also utilized in
the winter and spring
during the indoor and outdoor
track and field seasons.
Andrew was the team's top
thrower in various events,
including shot put, discus,
weight throw, and hammer throw.
He ranks among the school's
all-time top five leaders
in each of those disciplines.
Maneval was named the UAA
Outdoor Mens Most Outstanding
Field Performer in both
the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
He was a three-time UAA champion
twice in the outdoor shot put
and once in the outdoor discus.
All total, Andrew racked
up seven All-UAA honors
in field events.
His hard work in the
classroom was also
rewarded with inclusion in the
UAA All-Academic Team twice.
His football coach,
Chris Wilkerson,
was not able to make it here
tonight because of recruiting,
but he did pass along some
comments he wanted us to share.
He said, "Andrew was a
great leader and inspiration
for his teammates.
His first mindset-- his team's
first mindset has helped
build a culture
setting high standards
with an emphasis on hard
work and persistence
in pursuing goals.
He is simply one of the most
focused individuals I have ever
had the opportunity to coach."
Myself, I'd like to say
that Andrew has always
proven himself to be
a team-first person.
I think he's always put
the good of our squad
in front of his personal
accomplishments,
and he's been quick
to mentor the younger
athletes in our program.
I'd like to congratulate
Andrew on this honor
and present him with
the Stagg Medal.
[APPLAUSE]
Our next award winner
is Michelle Dobbs.
Michelle Dobbs winning
the Dudley Medal.
I should mention quickly
where this comes from.
This is named in honor of
former director of athletics--
I'm sorry, let me
correct that, named
in former director of physical
culture Gertrude Dudley.
The Dudley Medal has been
presented annually since 1977
to the outstanding senior
athlete for leadership
and skill in women's athletics.
Michelle distinguished
herself in track and field,
cross-country, and is a senior
also in women's basketball.
She goes down as one of the
best runners in the history
of the University of Chicago.
Her crowning achievement
came at the 2016 Indoor NCAA
Championships, where she won
the national championship
in the 800-meter run.
This marked the 17th
national championship
in school history and the ninth
by our track and field program.
On the track, Dobbs excelled
on the national stage,
totaling eight All-American
performances in her career.
She owns seven school records
between the indoor and outdoor
seasons, with three
individual events
and four in relay events.
At the conference level,
Dobbs was a consistent winner
with 10 UAA championships
to her credit.
Michelle's athletic
prowess extended
beyond the indoor and
outdoor track seasons.
Every autumn, Michelle joined us
to run the 6,000-meter distance
in cross-country.
Our teams, each year she was
here, placed in the top 25
in the country.
As a senior, Michelle made
a return to the hardwood
and earned a spot on the
varsity women's basketball team.
She worked herself
into the rotation
in the second half of the
season and was a valuable bench
contributor for a
Maroon squad that
reached the second round
of the NCAA Tournament.
Michelle's accomplishments
on the academic level
were also recognized
throughout her career.
She was picked as the CoSIDA
Second Team All-American
in 2016 and was twice named
CoSIDA Academic All-District.
Michelle earns a spot on the UAA
All-Academic Team three times
as well.
And in the sport
of track and field,
she was named as an
Academic All-American
on seven occasions.
Michelle has been superbly
consistent since her arrival
at Chicago.
She carries a
level of confidence
into competition that
resonates throughout the rest
of our team.
She is a leader and a
remarkable teammate.
Without exception, Michelle
has put the good of the team
as her number one priority.
And it is truly an honor
to congratulate Michelle
and to present her
with the Dudley Award.
[APPLAUSE]
CAMILLE CORRE: Good afternoon.
My name is Camille Corre,
and I studied chemistry
and biological chemistry.
I lived in Kenwood
House before serving
as an RA for Yuen House.
JONATHAN ACEVEDO: And my
name is Jonathan Acevedo.
I studied law, letters, and
society, computer science,
and human rights.
I lived in Midway
House, which I'm
told, like many other
things on campus this year,
was renamed after Byron Trott.
It is our honor to introduce
John W. Boyer, UChicago AM '68
and PhD '75, the Martin A.
Ryerson Distinguished Service
Professor in History and
longstanding Dean of College,
recently reappointed to an
unprecedented sixth term
as dean.
He continues a 25-year
tenure in the College
with immense dedication to
the student body and spirit
of intellectual inquiry.
You may know this,
and he certainly
doesn't like to mention it,
but the dean recently published
The University of Chicago--
A History in the fall of
2015, available for purchase
at the University Bookstore
on 58th and Ellis.
You can pick it up-- you can
pick one up before graduation.
It's not a test, but it's
a strong recommendation.
The book's cover begins
with a powerful line.
"One of the most influential
institutions of higher learning
in the world, the
University of Chicago
has a powerful and
distinct identity,
and its name is synonymous
with intellectual inquiry."
Just as the institution
we hold so close to heart,
Dean Boyer's name is
likewise synonymous
with intellectual inquiry.
From emboldening the Core
to expanding opportunities
for foreign studies, Dean Boyer
has an unparalleled commitment
to enriching the
student body's ability
to live the life of the mind.
CAMILLE CORRE: But his
dedication to the University
spans well beyond academics.
A University icon with
a face as recognizable
as the neo-Gothic
landscape, Dean Boyer
is frequently spotted
zooming through Hyde
Park on his bicycle.
Dean Boyer has
gone out of his way
to interact with students
whenever possible.
Donning a fake mustache on Dean
Boyer Appreciation Day in 2013,
prancercising in front of Harper
Memorial Library for Scav 2014,
and delighting students
with a careful retelling
of the assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria,
Boyer's commitment
to students is
as well-documented as
the meticulous research
he conducts.
In Dean Boyer's own
words, "The job of a dean
is not to modulate
discontent, but to make
it add up to something
productive, transformational,
and forward-looking."
Thank you, Dean
Boyer, for helping
us make our four years
productive, transformational,
and forward-looking.
Today, we honor your
incredible contributions
to our class's
four-year experience
with a slideshow of some
highlights from our time
together with you on campus.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[END PLAYBACK]
[APPLAUSE]
JONATHAN ACEVEDO: Please join
me in welcoming to the stage,
or to the podium,
Dean John Boyer, who
will present the Llewellyn
John and Harriet Manchester
Quantrell Awards for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN W. BOYER: Good afternoon.
Nearly 80 years ago, the
first teaching awards
in the history of the University
of Chicago were presented.
In May 1937, Ernest
Quantrell, who, at that time,
was a member of the
Board of Trustees,
wrote to President
Robert Maynard Hutchins
offering an endowed
fund of $75,000
to provide for several
teaching awards.
For Quantrell, quote,
"The purpose of the award
is to interest
teachers in training,
not only scholars
and research workers,
but also young men and women for
intelligent and public-spirited
participation and
leadership in business
and civic and
professional life."
He continued, "I hope
that the award will
result in constantly
improving our faculty who
teach undergraduates."
Unquote.
The awards were to be
based on the nominations
by our students
for faculty members
who had done particularly
effective and inspiring work
in collegiate education
at the University.
Ernest Quantrell was an
alum of the University,
having entered the College
as a freshman in 1901,
where he encountered,
as he later
put it, quote, "One
of the greatest
faculties in the history of
American higher education."
Unquote.
He left the University in
1905, gained employment
in the bond department
of a local bank,
and then this proves to be
a fruitful career for him.
He eventually founded his own
investment company in New York
in 1928.
From 1938 to 1952, the awards
were given anonymously.
But in the latter
year, Ernest Quantrell
agreed to the public
disclosure of his name
as the patron of these awards.
Although Ernest Quantrell
created the teaching awards,
they bear the name of his
father and his mother.
Since 1954, their
official title has thus
been the Llewellyn John and
Harriet Manchester Quantrell
Award for Excellence in
Undergraduate Teaching.
Until his death in
1962 at the age of 81,
Mr. Quantrell followed the
Quantrell Award ceremony
at the Annual Honors Assembly,
much like we're doing today,
each year with considerable
pride and delight.
And the ability
of the University
to [INAUDIBLE] our
students was returned
in reassuring regularity
to be able to generate
still more truly candidate--
worthy candidates
for these prizes seemed
to please him greatly.
And we know now, as the
history of the Hutchins
era at the University, that is
to say, the years between 1929
and 1951, as that
history has unfolded,
we know how important
these prizes were
for the University of Chicago.
For Ernest Quantrell
was one of those alumni,
and there were many at the
time in the later 1930s, who
was very skeptical of
some of the innovations
that Robert Hutchins
was undertaking
and which seemed to them
to posit, in their minds,
that academic learning was the
exclusive goal of the College
to the detriment of other
skills and experiences
that would also be valuable
to young men and young women
in the course of
their adult lives.
I think they were
wrong about that,
but that's what they
were worried about.
But Quantrell was
also an alumni leader
who was enlightened enough
to take a chance on new ideas
and who understood that
universities must be
dynamic instruments of change.
And he believed strongly that it
was possible for the University
to be both intensely academic
and supportive of the lives
of our students even
beyond the classroom
and that it should
also be profoundly
devoted to changing
and improving
the conditions of our nation.
Hence the hybridic quality
of his commendation,
the commendation that he
gave to Robert Hutchins
that I just read to you.
He wanted to honor teachers
who were great scholars and who
produced skilled students, but
to also to honor teachers who,
in their own
persons, would offer,
to use a rather old-fashioned
word, "virtuous" ideals
and "virtuous" role
models that would inspire
our students to be more
enlightened and more effective
leaders of their communities
and of our nation.
And the distinctive
intellectual strength
of our students, but also
their strong and impressive
professional success over
the last half-century,
are perhaps the best
and most satisfying
signs that both of
Quantrell's hopes
have indeed been fulfilled.
Since 1938, almost 300
Chicago faculty members
have received Quantrell Awards.
And the awards have
become, and they
continue to be, one
of the very highest
honors that the
University of Chicago
can bestow on any
member of our faculty.
One of my distinguished
predecessors, Dean Alan
Simpson, aptly said of
our prize is that, quote,
"The Quantrell Awards are
probably the oldest awards
of their kind in the country.
They have upheld the prestige
of teaching during a period
when much has
conspired to divert
the energies and the
rewards of faculty members
into other fields.
Mr. Quantrell left a very
noble memorial behind him."
Unquote.
On behalf of the
University of Chicago,
I am now pleased to present the
winners of the 2017 Llewellyn
John and Harriet
Manchester Quantrell Awards
for Excellence in
Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN "JAY" ELLISON:
Karin Knorr Cetina,
the Otto Borchert Distinguished
Service Professor Department
of Sociology, Department
of Anthropology,
Committee on Conceptual and
Historical Studies of Science,
and the College, Chair,
Department of Sociology,
will present the first Llewellyn
John and Harriet Manchester
Quantrell Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
KARIN KNORR CETINA:
Andrew Abbott
is a leading sociologist in the
United States and worldwide,
a social theorist, a
sociologist of knowledge
and of professions, and a
methodologist fascinated
by actual research materials
and research practice.
He's also a very active
and admired teacher
who combines a
passion for knowledge
for its own sake
and a keen interest
in turning students
into professionals,
while at the same
time challenging
taken-for-granted
traditional points of view.
"Professor Abbott has mastered
the art of shaking students out
of their old familiar modes of
thought," one student reports.
"Whether the topic is of
texts that you've already
read dozens of times
or a research question
you've been pondering
for two years,
you inevitably leave discussions
with Professor Andy Abbott
with a new perspective or even
an entirely new way of seeing."
Another student comments
that, "Abbott's teaching style
bears a striking resemblance
to a [INAUDIBLE] court.
It holds a certain
iconic cultural weight.
You are instantly drawn
into his warm time warp.
There's always the
eager anticipation
of something surprising
coming on the other side,
and the young people think
that is all the rage."
In offering a desperately
needed crash course outlining
pragmatic steps and
courses that turn phenomena
in the social world
into mystifying puzzles,
Abbott has been an
inspiring teacher
who motivates students to
think deeper and harder
about social classes.
Dean Boyer, it is
my honor to present
Andrew Abbott for the Llewellyn
John and Harriet Manchester
Quantrell Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN W. BOYER: As a social
theorist, a sociologist
of knowledge in the professions,
and social methodologist,
Andrew Abbott communicates
to his students
a genuine love for
scholarship and a sense
of the possible solutions to
the methodological know-how
that a global repertoire
in social thought
can bring to the chaotic
processes of social life.
Andrew Abbott, on behalf of
the University of Chicago,
I now confer upon you the
Llewellyn John and Harriet
Manchester Quantrell
Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN "JAY" ELLISON:
Gabriel Lear,
professor in the
Department of Philosophy,
John U. Nef Committee on Social
Thought, and the College,
will present the
next Quantrell Award.
GABRIEL RICHARDSON
LEAR: Agnes Callard
is a philosopher who
writes and thinks
about the distinctively human
project of trying to become
better people than we are.
Her work engages debates,
both contemporary and ancient,
concerning the interplay between
our emotions and rationality.
She is herself a
graduate of the College
and credits the
humanities Core curriculum
with changing the
course of her life.
Whether teaching the writings
of Plato and Aristotle
or the work of more
recent thinkers,
she is evidently
committed to passing
on the transformative experience
of philosophy to her students.
Routinely, students
call her, quote,
"A brilliant lecturer with
an unparalleled enthusiasm
and passion."
And they praise her ability
to turn a large lecture course
into a genuine conversation.
One student says, quote,
"Her technique of expositing,
criticizing, and then defending
Plato's arguments is brilliant
and taught me more
about Plato than I
imagined there was to learn."
Dean Boyer, it is
my honor to present
Agnes Callard for the Llewellyn
John and Harriet Manchester
Quantrell Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN W. BOYER:
Philosopher and scholar
of ethics and ancient
Greek philosophy,
Agnes Callard
challenges her students
to engage with the arguments of
the great thinkers of the past
and to develop their capacity
for rational reflection
as they consider who they are
and who they aspire to become.
Agnes Callard, on behalf of
the University of Chicago,
I now confer upon you the
Llewellyn John and Harriet
Manchester Quantrell
Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN "JAY" ELLISON: Everett
E. Vokes, John E. Ultmann
Professor, Department
of Medicine,
Department of Radiation
and Cellular Oncology,
and the Comprehensive
Cancer Center,
Chair, Department of Medicine,
and Physician-in-Chief,
the University of
Chicago Medicine,
will present the
next Quantrell Award.
[APPLAUSE]
EVERETT E. VOKES: Bana
Jabri is the world leader
in the study of celiac
disease and mucosal immunology
and has made several discoveries
relating to the mechanisms
underlying the development of
complex inflammatory disorders,
such as inflammatory bowel
disease and type 1 diabetes.
Her teaching credentials
are exceptional,
reflecting her deep commitment
to excellence in education.
She is a superb lecturer to
undergraduate and graduate
students and has
been singled out
as the instructor and mentor who
has been the most influential
during the course
of their education.
Many of her students
have gone on
to further their education in
science or to academic careers.
She is an extraordinary
leader who is greatly
deserving of this award.
Dean Boyer, it is
my honor to present
Bana Jabri for the Llewellyn
John and Harriet Manchester
Quantrell Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN W. BOYER: An exceptional
scientist, a gifted educator,
and a dedicated
mentor, Bana Jabri
exemplifies the qualities
of an ideal professor.
With her fascinating
lectures on human immunology,
as well as her deep
passion for science,
she has inspired many
successful undergraduates,
graduates, and postgraduates.
Bana Jabri, on behalf of
the University of Chicago,
I now confer upon you the
Llewellyn John and Harriet
Manchester Quantrell
Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN "JAY" ELLISON:
Viresh Rawal, Professor,
Department of Chemistry
and the College,
will present the
next Quantrell Award.
VIRESH H. RAWAL: Scott A.
Snyder is an organic chemist
who designs and
develops creative routes
for the chemical synthesis of
intricate bioactive natural
products, especially terpenes,
polyphenols, and alkalines.
In addition to co-authoring
the textbook used
in the organic
chemistry sequence here,
and across the
world I should say,
he is also a dedicated teacher.
He has helped undergraduates
master the fundamentals
of organic chemistry,
a subject frequently
approached with no
small amount of dread.
Deemed a "phenomenal
lecturer" by one student
and "the perfect
teacher" by another,
he has been described so
often as "the best professor
I have ever had" in
his course evaluations
that it should
come as no surprise
that he's also co-authored
a textbook for instructors
at research universities
titled Teach Better, Save Time,
and Have More Fun.
Perhaps this
student says it all.
Quote, "In this
course evaluation,
strongly agree is
abbreviated as A.
There should be an SAS option
for the man, the legend,
Scott Snyder.
He was the best professor I've
ever had and probably will ever
have."
Dean Boyer, it is my
honor to present Scott A.
Snyder for the Llewellyn
John and Harriet Manchester
Quantrell Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
JOHN W. BOYER: Creative
organic chemist,
dedicated research
[INAUDIBLE],, textbook author,
acclaimed lecturer,
and caring teacher,
Scott A. Snyder
introduces the beauty
and the challenges of organic
chemistry to his students
through tightly crafted,
inspiring lectures
and helpful discussions
outside the classroom.
Scott Snyder, on behalf of
the University of Chicago,
I now confer upon you the
Llewellyn John and Harriet
Manchester Quantrell
Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching.
[APPLAUSE]
KATHERINE ZELLNER:
Thank you, Dean Boyer.
And thank you to the
incredible professors who
received the Quantrell Awards.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Katie Zellner.
I lived in and scaved
with Snell-Hitchcock.
I studied biology, as well as
English and creative writing.
And through my favorite
writing classes,
like knowledge journalism
and the infamous Little Red
Schoolhouse, I
learned the importance
of explaining
technical information
for general audiences,
the difficulty
of cramming succinct
and coherent argument
into a tiny word count,
and the nuances of balance
and honest journalism.
Our speaker today is
a gifted columnist
who has these talents.
He writes for The New York Times
and is a regular commentator
on PBS NewsHour, NPR's
All Things Considered,
and NBC's Meet the Press.
He is the author of such
bestselling books as Bobos
in Paradise, which explores
the cultural consequences
of the Information Age
and the road to character.
He teaches at Yale
University, serves
as a member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences,
and also happens to have
graduated from the College
at the University
of Chicago in 1983.
He now serves as a member on
the UChicago Board of Trustees.
Plus my dad likes him.
It's an honor for me today
to introduce our Class Day
speaker, David Brooks.
[APPLAUSE]
DAVID BROOKS: Thank
you, Katherine.
Say hello to your dad for me.
He's one of my younger fans.
Usually when a 93-year-old lady
walks up to me at the airport
I know what she's going to say.
It's like, I don't
watch your show,
but my mom really loves it.
[LAUGHTER]
I was so honored to be invited
to be the inaugural Class Day
speaker.
But obviously,
since I'm a graduate
of the University of
Chicago I couldn't just
accept the invitation.
I had to over-analyze it.
My first thought,
that Chicago really
shouldn't have a Class Day.
It should be a class conflict
day with Marx and Engels
or race, class, and gender day
with Betty Friedan T-shirts.
And then I began wondering
why the University of Chicago
class has asked
me, of all people,
to be a speaker
at this big event.
I remember the major
addresses of my own time here
and how intellectually
rigorous they were.
I remember that freshman
year a noted philosopher
gave an uplifting aims
of education address
called Death,
Despair, Desolation,
and the Futility
of Human Existence.
[LAUGHTER]
Then senior year, at
commencement our speaker
was a noted biologist.
I found myself
tremendously inspired
by his uplifting talk, The
16 Qualities of Nucleic Acid.
Eventually, I realized that I'm
being invited because Chicago
is trying to be a normal school
with a celebrity commencement
speaker.
But of course, they couldn't go
for a big-time celebrity right
off the bat.
Chicago's a place where you
lose your virginity slowly.
[LAUGHTER]
So for the first
Class Day speaker,
they wanted someone
on TV but only on PBS.
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
And then after
everybody is acclimated
to the whole outside
speaker thing,
they could go and
bite somebody big.
That's when the
truth came to me.
I'm the University of
Chicago's gateway drug
to Stephen Colbert.
[LAUGHTER]
You, the class of
2017, will have
to suffer through me so
that future classes can
enjoy Matt Damon.
That's what I call living for
something larger than self.
When I realized
what was going on,
I confess that I
was tempted to do
what millennials at other
schools are always doing.
I decided I would feel
triggered and unsafe
and need a campaign to
get myself disinvited.
And all the historical
traumas of being a lower
middle-range celebrity
came back to me.
I retreated to my safe
space, which is under the bar
at Jimmy's.
But since none of you did
your generational duty
and got me blocked from this
gig, I've decided to go ahead.
Now, Chicago's new to this game.
So I should note there
are certain traditions
to these kinds of occasions.
At occasions like this,
a major university
asks the person who has achieved
fantastic career success
to give a speech telling you
that career success is not
that important.
At occasions like this,
major universities
often ask billionaires to
give speeches telling you how
much they learn from failure.
From this, you can
take away the lesson
that failure seems really
great if you happen
to be Steve Jobs or JK Rowling.
Then we speakers are supposed
to give you a few minutes
of completely garbage advice.
Listen to your inner voice.
Be true to yourself.
Follow your passion.
Your future is limitless.
First my generation gives
you a mountain of debt,
then we give you
career-derailing guidelines
that will prevent you
from ever paying it off.
That's why when I'm asked to
speak at these sorts of things,
I always try to tell the
graduates that since you've
never graduated from
college before you may not
know the etiquette.
Tomorrow, when you
get your degree,
it's always nice to tip
President Zimmer $10 or $20,
just to show he did a good job.
It's also nice to slip the
Class Day speaker a few bills,
$2,000 or $3,000, $5,000
for the econ majors.
[LAUGHTER]
On these occasions, I
always try to tell students
about the glittering
futures in front of them.
Within just a few short
years, many of you
will be sleeping on
your parents' couches
while working for a
completely dysfunctional NGO.
Others of you will
have soul-crushing jobs
as corporate
consultants, working
on PowerPoint
presentations past midnight
at the Topeka Comfort Inn.
I'm here to help you navigate
these exciting possibilities.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm here to help
you take advantage
of the skills you learned at
the University of Chicago.
You learned how to dominate
classroom discussion
while doing none of the reading.
You learned, as now,
to look at your--
to stare at your professors
with looks of complete rapt
attention even though secretly
you are completely asleep.
I'm here to urge lives
of public service--
working on Capitol Hill
for fine congressmen,
bringing the
nation's top leaders
coffee and sexual tension.
I'm here to urge you to
serve the world's poorest
peoples in ways that look
good on your resume--
organizing anti-malarial
bed net drives
while rocking Jimmy
Choos at Goldman Sachs.
I'm here because as someone
who now teaches at Yale,
I thought you should
have some sense
of what it would have been like
if you'd been accepted there.
[LAUGHTER]
But ultimately, I'm not here to
give you some standard speech.
This is Chicago.
This is the only
time in my life I'll
get to address the graduating
class of my own school
at the place that formed
me down to my bones.
I confess I didn't enjoy
every day I spent here.
I majored in history
and celibacy.
[LAUGHTER]
I learned to walk through
campus while awkwardly
averting my eyes to
anybody I might know.
But like all of you, I
was changed fundamentally
in this place.
And the older I get,
the more I become
aware of how this
place shaped me.
I'm 34 years out
from the College,
and I feel more influenced
by the University of Chicago
today than I did on
the day I graduated.
So today, I'd really like to
talk to you about two things--
the things Chicago
gave me, which
I've carried through life,
and the things Chicago
failed to give me, which
I had to learn on my own.
When I think back
on my time here,
I remember certain moments
of great intensity.
There was one very odd
moment during my first year
when I was reading a book
called The Death of Tragedy
by Nietzsche in a carrel on
the A level of Regenstein.
I don't know what it was,
the driving semi-insane power
of Nietzsche's thought, the
overwrought or intoxicating
nature of his prose.
But somehow, while reading
that book down there
in the basement, reality seemed
to slip outside its bounds.
I lost all sense of
where I was or who I was
or how much time was passing or
whether it was passing at all.
Hours flew by, and I was
just buried inside that book.
I was not so much
as reading it, I
was immersed in the
torrents of his prose
and in the fury of its ideas.
I was just sort of dissolved,
lifted out of myself,
transported, subsumed in some
sort of trance or odd reverence
that a spell casts by a
semi-crazy, long-dead mind.
There I was in a shabby
carrel on the basement
level of the ugliest building
on God's green earth,
and I was experiencing something
close to transcendence.
And when I awoke
from that state,
I looked around,
startled and blinking,
shocked to re-entering the
world of the 20th century
and to real life.
I never really became
a Nietzsche fan,
but it was exciting to know that
the ideas of some dead genius
could transport me and give me
a glimmer to a higher realm.
There were other intensities
during my time here.
There was the intense
arguing with all my friends
about bullshitty subjects during
the dining hall hour upon hour.
There were intense pseudo
intellectual debates
for graduate
students at Jimmy's.
There was the intensity
of serious movie
going of doc films.
And most of all, there
was a certain intensity
to class, mostly at Cobb Hall.
In those days, it was pure great
books for the first two years.
And our professors
didn't just teach them,
they proselytized them.
Some of the old German
refugees from World War II
were still around then,
and they held the belief
with a religious fervor that
the magic keys to the kingdom
were in these books.
The mysteries of life
and how to live well
were there for the seizing
for those who read well
and thought deeply.
There was a legendary professor
named Karl Weintraub teaching
Western Civ then.
Years later, when he
was nearing his death,
he wrote to my classmate Carol
Quinlan about the experience
he had teaching those books.
"Teaching Western
Civ," Weintraub wrote,
"Seems to confront me all too
often with moments when I feel
like screaming at the
students suddenly, oh, god,
my dear student, why cannot you
see that this matter is a real
real matter, often a matter of
the very being for the person,
for the historical men and
women you are looking at, or are
supposed to be looking at.
I hear the student answers
and the statements that
sound like mere words, mere
verbal formulations to me,
but that do not have
the sense of pain or joy
or accomplishment
or worry about them
they ought to have
if they were truly
informed by the live
problems and situations
of the human being back then for
whom these matters were real.
The way the disembodied
words of students come forth
can make me cry, and the
failure of the student
to probe for the open wounds
and such behind the text
makes me increasingly furious.
If I do not come to feel
any love which Pericles
feels for his city, how can
I understand the "Funeral
Oration?"
If I cannot fathom anything of
the power of the drive derived
from thinking he has
a special mission,
what can I understand
of Socrates?
How can one grasp anything about
the problem of the [INAUDIBLE]
community without
sensing in one's bones
the problem of worrying
about God's acceptance?
Sometimes when I have
spent an hour or more
pouring all my enthusiasm and
sensitivities into an effort
to tell these stories in
the fullness in which I
see and experience in them,
I feel drained and exhausted.
I think it works on the student,
but I just do not really know."
It's a tragedy of
teaching, sometimes,
that the professors
pour more into the class
than the students are able
to receive at that moment.
But the truth is, with intense
teaching is more like planting.
Those teachers
like Weintraub were
inserting seeds that would burst
forth years or decades later
when the realities of adult
life called them forth.
I hated Edmund Burke when I
read him here in freshman year.
But later he exploded in
my mind and has become one
of the great guides of my life.
I was blandly
indifferent to Augustine
when I encountered him.
It was only later
that I understood
the power of his loves, the
wrestling with his own soul,
and the need to be careful
about what you love because you
become what you love.
Chicago gave me
glimpses of the mountain
ranges of human existence that
I had never imagined before.
It gave me a set of desires,
higher desires than any I
have had.
In the first place, I
longed to know how to see.
Seeing reality seems like
a straightforward thing.
You just look out
and see the world.
But anybody who is around
politics or many other arenas
of our public life
knows how many people
see the world with a distorting
mirror, how many see only what
they want to see, or what
they can see by the filtering
light of their depression,
their fear, their insecurity,
their narcissism.
Sometimes I think the
whole disaster of the Trump
presidency is because
of a breakdown
in intellectual virtue, a
breakdown in America's ability
to face evidence clearly,
to pay due respect
to the concrete
contours of reality.
These intellectual
virtues may seem elitist,
but once a country tolerates
dishonesty, incuriosity,
and intellectual laziness,
everything else falls apart.
[APPLAUSE]
John Weston once wrote,
"The more I think of it,
I find this conclusion
more impressed upon me,
that the greatest thing
a human soul ever does
is to see something and to tell
what it saw in a plain way.
Hundreds of people can
talk for one who can think,
but thousands can think
for one who can see."
At Chicago, I encountered
so many writers
who could see so
purely and carefully.
Shakespeare, Jung,
Socrates, George Elliot,
George Orwell, Hannah Arendt.
I met so many
professors and students
who could weigh evidence
and who didn't tolerate
intellectual shabbiness.
It aroused in me a desire to
have that virtue, the ability
to see clearly and
face unpleasant facts.
Then there was the
second yearning, which
was the yearning to be wise.
I really couldn't tell you
what wisdom consists of,
and I still can't really give
you a concrete definition.
But we all know
wisdom when we see it.
There's a deep humanity and
gentleness and stability
to a wise person.
That person can
perceive with love
and generosity the
foibles of another heart.
That person can grasp
the nub of any situation,
see around corners, and
has developed an intuitive
awareness of what
will go together
and what will never go together.
That wisdom, I imagine,
comes from paying
deep and loving attention
to the people around you.
It comes from many hours
of solitary reflection.
It comes from
reading the greats.
It comes from getting
out of your own sensory,
thinking outside
your own assumptions,
and embarking on a
great lifelong journey
toward understanding.
That sort of humane
wisdom was admired here.
And we wouldn't have told each
other this because it would
have been too pretentious, but
all those bullshitty dinner
table conversations and
bar stool conversations
about the great
ideas were attempts
to put together the building
blocks of that kind of wisdom.
They were attempts to
put ourselves together
so we could be of use.
They were attempts to imitate
the penetrating insight
of Jung, the smile of
Voltaire, the gentle guidance
of a dozen professors whose
names you may or may not know,
some living--
Nathan Tarcov, Josef Stern,
some of my old professors
who are now dead.
Third, Chicago gave me
a yearning for ideals.
It is sometimes said that
we humans seek happiness.
We seek fulfillment
of our desires,
but of course that's not true.
Peace and happiness is great
for a while, but after a bit
it gets boring.
"What our human emotions
seem to require,"
William James once wrote, "Is
the sight of struggle going on.
The moment the fruits
are being merely eaten,
things become ignoble.
Sweat and effort, human nature
strained to its uttermost
and on the rack, yet getting
through it alive, and then
turning back on its success to
pursue another rare and arduous
journey--
this is the sort of
thing that inspires us."
James summed it up pretty well.
Human existence is the
same eternal thing.
Some man or woman's pains in
pursuit of some exalted ideal.
I recently saw the
movie Hidden Figures
about some African
American women
who served the cause of space
exploration and racial justice.
Those women weren't exactly
happy during the movie,
or the story told in
the movie, but there
was a spiritual intensity
serving their two great ideals.
And that's what we want
in all of our lives--
intensity struggling
for the good.
If nothing else, Chicago
and the great books
presented us with the
high ideals in profusion--
the patriotism of Pericles,
the commitment of Fermi,
the American nationalism
in Alexander Hamilton.
I certainly wasn't
smart enough to come up
with my own philosophy
or set my own ideals,
but I could try on the
different ideals passed down
to us from our betters.
And I could see which
ones seemed to fit,
and I could join their parade.
They say that life here is
about the life of the mind,
but that's an injustice.
The mind and the soul are
not so easily separated.
These yearnings that I
have just described which
were implanted in me here--
to see the world clearly, to
be wise, to pursue ideals--
these weren't really
yearnings of the mind.
They were yearnings from
deeper, from the part of us that
can only be called the soul.
We don't talk about this
much in our secular culture.
But there's a part
of each of us that
doesn't care about Facebook
likes or annual income
or even how popular you are.
This is a part of us that
yearns for permanent things,
for beauty, truth, justice,
transcendence, and home.
This is a part of us
that is morally valuable,
that in each of us is worthy
of dignity and respect.
The poet Rilke had an
education like ours.
He wrote, "I am learning to see.
I don't know why it
is, but everything
penetrates more deeply into me
and does not stop at the place
where, until now, it would
always used to finish.
I have an inner self of
which I was ignorant.
Everything goes
thither there now.
What happens to it
there I do not know."
I'll never be as
deep as Rilke, but I
was deeper when I left
Chicago than when I arrived.
And more important, I graduated
from the University in Chicago
with a sense of my
soul and its yearnings.
And there's still a lot of
that that goes on today.
Two Saturdays ago,
my wife Anne and I
got together with the philosophy
professor Candace Vogler
in Cobb Hall and led a
seminar under the sponsorship
of the Hyde Park Institute.
It was a beautiful
spring day, and we all
spent it inside talking about
character and spiritual growth,
about Aquinas, Beethoven,
and Viktor Frankl.
We took a lunch break.
And instead of going
outside to enjoy the sun,
some of the students had
their sandwiches inside
and had an internal
debate amongst themselves
about the immateriality
of the soul.
Only at Chicago.
And I saw that day that
this place is still
wonderfully itself.
I felt some of the old
intensity of purpose.
There is still the same honest
and unironic hunger for wisdom.
There is still the willingness
to put your ideas out
there and argue and listen.
There is still that
ardent searching
for truth and a willingness
to be silly in pursuit of it.
Chicago gives you a
taste for mountaineering,
for climbing up toward the
summits of human existence.
Afterwards, you're never
quite content living
in the flatlands, living
solely in the stuff that
gets written about on Twitter
or even in the newspapers
or talked about on TV.
Many years ago, a man named
Robert Maynard Hutchins
bet this institution's
future on one proposition,
that if you put the
big ideas in front
of a bunch of 20-year-olds, you
can change their life forever.
I can tell you it worked for me.
It completely worked for me.
And this change that happens
in those of us who went here
is a very practical change.
We have a telos crisis
in this country.
Many people do not have a
clear sense of their goals
and their own purpose.
They don't know what
they are shooting for
or what fundamental convictions
should guide their behavior.
They've been trained in
hyper-specialized research
universities that tell
them how to do things,
but don't ask them to think
about why they should do them,
that don't give them a forum
to ask the questions, what
is my best life?
What am I called to do?
Why am I here?
From college, they enter
the world we all live in,
which is a busy world.
The flow of 1,000
emails, the tasks
of setting up a
career and family,
these things distract
from the great questions
of purpose and meaning.
I find that many
people haven't even
been given a moral
vocabulary to help them
think these things through.
They haven't been surrounded
with a functional moral ecology
and a set of ideals to
guide and orient them.
And this produces a great
emotional fragility.
Our friend Nietzsche said that,
"He who was a why to live for
can endure any how."
But if you don't know
what your purpose is,
then the first
failure or setback
can totally throw you into
crisis and a total collapse.
I see this among
my former students,
and I see it over and over again
in people in their mid-20s.
The young person without
a conscious person
graduates in hopes that by
piling success on success,
he can fill the void within.
He becomes what the writer
Matias Dalsgaard calls,
"the insecure overachiever."
"Such a person,"
Dalsgaard writes,
"Must have no stable or solid
foundation to build upon,
yet nonetheless tries to build
his way out of his problem.
It is an impossible situation.
You can't compensate
for having a foundation
made of quicksand by building
a new story on top of it.
But this person takes
no notice and hopes
that the problem down
in the foundation
won't be found out if only the
construction work keeps going."
But of course, the
reckoning always comes.
It produces a crisis,
depression, a sadness.
David Foster Wallace
noticed it back in 1996.
"It's more like a stomach-level
sadness," he wrote.
"I see it in myself and my
friends in different ways.
It manifests itself
in a kind of lostness.
This is a generation that has
an inheritance of absolutely
nothing as far as meaningful
moral values goes," he wrote.
You can see the fruits
of this telos crisis
in the rise in suicide rates,
the rise in drug addiction
rates.
You can see it in
social distrust.
You can see it in
isolation and in the lives
of people who are adrift.
The fact that you
went to Chicago
means you will always
have an orientation that
is slightly different than
the mainstream culture,
slightly countercultural.
You'll have a harder
time being shallow.
You may not know your life's
purpose or your calling,
but you know that the
mountain world exists up there
and that you can explore it.
And that the answers
can be found up there
in the museum of beautiful
things, and that knowledge
itself will be a source of
great comfort and stability.
Life at Chicago is
not always filled
with day-to-day happiness,
but it gives you
a glimpse of a cosmic
happiness, glimpses
of understanding the long
story we're all involved in.
And if you have cosmic
joy, because you
know this story is
ultimately about something
meaningful and
holy and good, you
can bear the day-to-day
miseries a lot better.
So that's the good
side of what I got here
and what I hope you got here.
Let me finish by
speaking very briefly
about what the University of
Chicago did not give to me
and where it failed me.
Now, here I speak
provisionally, because I'm
going to start talking about the
school as it was in the 1980s,
and a lot of the problems
may have been fixed by now.
It's traditional for alumni to
say that the College was better
in my own day.
As both an alum and a
trustee, I can tell you
that's nonsense here.
I'm here to tell you that
Chicago is way better
now than it was when I
was here and way better
than it's ever been.
But in my era, and
maybe today, Chicago
did not prepare its
students for intimacy.
As I've grown older,
I've come to see
that the capacity
for intimacy is
one of the more crucial
talents for a fulfilling life.
That's because the
primary challenges of life
are not knowledge challenges.
They are motivational
challenges.
It's not only
knowing what is good,
but in being completely
and passionately devoted
and loving what is good.
It's about passionately
loving your spouse and family
in a way that brings
out their loveliness.
It's about loving your vocation
with a fierce dedication.
It's about loving your
community with a serving heart.
It's about loving your
philosophy or your god
with humble fervor.
A fulfilled life is
moving from open options
to sweet compulsions.
It's about saying
no to 1,000 things
so you can say a few big
yeses to the things you
are deeply bound to.
It's about loving things
so much that you're
willing to chain
yourself down to them.
The things that you
chain yourself to
are the things
that set you free.
And it's not only
loving platonically,
it's actually and
intimately living out
the day-to-day realities
of your fierce love.
It's intimately sharing the same
bathroom, getting up every day,
and writing on the
same damn laptop.
It's about mastering all
the phases of intimacy,
being open to that
first enticing glance,
having the energy to really
learn about those people.
Like the person on
the first date who
knows how-- learns
how much in common
and treat these things
as amazing miracles.
You don't like foie gras?
Neither do I. Amazing.
We should get married.
It's about having the courage to
engage in the reciprocal cycle
of ever greater vulnerability.
It's about enduring faithfully
when there's some crisis,
and you're not sure you
believe in this relationship,
this career, or
this institution.
It's about forgiveness for the
betrayals committed against you
and asking forgiveness
when you have let down
your friends, your
profession, or your spouse.
When you make an
intimate connection
to a spouse, a friend, a
profession, a community,
or a faith, you are, as
Leon Wieseltier puts it,
"Consenting to be truly known,
which is an ominous prospect."
And so one needs the
skills of intimacy
to live well in such
close proximity.
One needs the skill of intimacy
to achieve the kind of fusion
that leads to real joy.
When a couple becomes
one loving entity, when
you and your
vocation have merged
into a single identity, when
your love for your daughter,
your philosophy is a
complete surrender.
What I'm describing
here are emotional arts.
They are not natural,
but have to be
acquired by repeated
vulnerability, commitment,
and experience.
When I was here at Chicago,
we students, by and large,
did not excel at intimacy.
We were artful dodgers
with a superb ability
to slip out of
situations and moments
when deep, heart-to-heart
connections might come.
We were in the business
at age 20 or 21
of trying to make
a good impression.
So of course, we weren't
going to show the unattractive
sides of ourselves, which
is an absolute prerequisite
for intimacy.
We were busy with our work
and our books and our student
activities.
And we told ourselves,
idiotically,
that we didn't have time
for deep relationships.
We too often approached
each other shrouded
in what Candace Vogler calls
"an edifice of thought."
When confronted with
uncertainty or difficulty,
we tended to revert back
to our strengths, which
were our IQs, our thinking,
and talking skills.
We sought to be masters
of life rather than
surrendering to emotions, which
are so much out of our control.
And the University didn't help.
The atmosphere at Chicago
then was emotionally
avoiding from the top down.
Too much of life
was defined by what
would be discussed
in the classroom,
and everything else just
sort of fell by the wayside.
There wasn't enough
dancing or drinking
or any of the other activities
that make diffidence possible.
There wasn't enough
joint physical activity.
Too much emphasis was
put on scholarship
and professionalism,
and those things
were defined by a pose of
detachment, specialization,
critical thinking, aloofness,
and the mythical belief
in cool reasoning.
Too much time was
spent studying,
which is a solitary activity.
Too much of student life
was oriented around the Reg,
and not because couples were
fooling around in the stacks.
I left Chicago better at reading
books than at reading people.
I don't know--
I did not have the eyes to
see the beauty in people
who were so open-hearted
they had nothing particularly
interesting to say.
I didn't know how to
handle the deepest
and scariest intimacies.
I'm hoping I'm a
little better now,
and I've had some
graduate tutors in this.
Life will offer you
a diminishing number
of opportunities to
show how smart you are.
It will offer an infinite
number of occasions
that require kindness, mercy,
grace, sensitivity, sympathy,
generosity, and love.
Life will require that you widen
your repertoire of emotions,
that you throw yourself
headlong into other people,
that you take the
curriculum of intimacy.
If you haven't mastered it yet,
I ask you to turn to this task
intentionally now.
So I'm asking one final
thing of you members
of the class of 2017.
Tomorrow you will graduate, and
that's a great accomplishment.
But before you do, I
hope that tonight you
will do one thing to
cap your education.
Go to the Regenstein with a
special friend in your life.
Find the spot deep in the
stacks where Nietzsche's Death
of Tragedy is found.
But don't open the book.
Take off some of your
clothes and fool around.
[LAUGHTER]
Thank you and God bless you.
[APPLAUSE]
JUSTIN JIA: Thank
you, Mr. Brooks,
for your timely insight
for the class of 2017.
My name is Justin Jia, and I'm a
graduating member of the Maroon
Key Society and a proud
member of Henderson House.
I have the distinct honor
today of introducing the Howell
Murray Alumni
Association Awards.
The Howell Murray
Alumni Association Award
is one of the College's
highest honors.
This award recognizes
graduating students
who have made outstanding
contributions to the University
through co-curricular
activities.
The students selected as this
year's Howell Murray Award
winners have been recognized
by peers and others
on campus for
extraordinary service
to the College community.
This is the 56th year
that the University
has presented the Howell Murray
Alumni Association Awards.
This year's awards
will be presented
by Max Leichtman, president
of the Alumni Board
and a graduate of the
College and the Booth
School of Business.
Please join me in welcoming
Mr. Leichtman to the podium.
[APPLAUSE]
MAX LEICHTMAN: Good afternoon.
I understand the perils
of being a speaker
towards the end of the program,
so I'll aspire to brevity.
Earlier this year, as the
president of the Alumni Board,
I had the great
honor of standing
on the chancel at
Rockefeller Chapel
and welcoming the class of 2020
to the University of Chicago.
And today, I have even greater
benefit, honor, in fact,
of standing before you and
officially congratulating you,
welcoming you to the
alumni community,
and recognizing 16 members
of your class with the Howell
Murray Alumni Association
Award for their outstanding
contributions to engaging
their classmates and the campus
community.
If your experience at the
College was anything like mine,
and based on Jake's comments
I think it has been,
you all had at least one
moment where you said,
I've made a huge
mistake by coming here.
But in fact, you did
not make a big mistake.
I told the first
years in September
that they would have experiences
and stories that they'd
remember forever, that they'd
meet members of the faculty
and staff who would become
lifelong friends and mentors,
that they would
meet classmates who
would become their partners in
law, in business, or medicine.
And perhaps, like
that Rob Reiner movie
that came out five or six
years before you were born,
you might even meet your
future spouse or partner here,
as I did when I met my
wife Julie 20 years ago.
I hope that you'll
walk away here tomorrow
with not only your
diplomas, but also
having experienced some, if
not all, of these things.
More than the readings and the
labs and the papers and essays,
these are the
things that make me
realize how valuable my UChicago
educational experience was.
When I tell people
these days that I
graduated from the College,
I met with these responses
of amazement.
They say, wow, what
a great school.
It's incredible that you
were able to go there.
I hear this from
colleagues at work,
from neighbors, from parents
of current or prospective
students.
And my education was
great, without a doubt.
But I agree with David,
the College of today
is far better than it
was in the late 1990s.
We didn't have a North
Campus residence hall.
We didn't have centers in
Paris or Delhi or Beijing.
There were no UChicago
Careers In programs.
There were Metcalf Internships.
They started in my second year,
and there were enough of them
that you could count them on
both hands for the entirety
of the College.
And we certainly didn't
have a top-three ranking
in US News and World Report.
My fellow alumni and I
have the great fortune
to benefit from all of these
improvements in the College,
but the transformation
didn't happen by accident.
Surely it happened
in part thanks
to Dean Boyer and his
leadership and vision
for what the College
could become.
But it also happened because
alumni and parents and friends
contributed their time and their
money to hire their interns,
to fund Odyssey and
other scholarships,
and to serve as
speakers and mentors.
And it also happened because
of the many achievements
of your class and your
contemporaries in the classroom
and, every bit as
importantly, outside of it.
If you take nothing else
away from my remarks today,
please take away this.
Keeping the College strong and
maintaining these achievements
and continuing the climb
to become the greatest
undergraduate
institution in the nation
will take even more effort.
The University's current
campaign, Inquiry and Impacts,
is about continuing that climb.
It involved raising
a substantial amount
of money for the College and
the rest of the University.
But for the first time in
American higher education,
the University's
campaign also has
explicit, non-monetary goals.
The University of Chicago,
first among its peers,
has built into its
campaign a goal
to engage its alumni community.
We are seeking to engage with
125,000 of our 170,000 living
alumni and to further reach 1
million points of engagement
during the campaign.
Beginning tomorrow, you
members of the class of 2017
will all join this
alumni community,
and we are literally
counting on you
to be an active member
of the community
and to help make the College
and University even stronger
than it is today.
So I ask of you today to, as an
alum, go to a University event,
like a Harper Lecture or one of
the events put on by our clubs
around the world.
Give a charitable contribution
each year, even a small one,
to a part of the University
that's meaningful to you,
whether it's an
Odyssey Scholarship,
the magazine,
athletics, or the arts.
Help your fellow alumni
or current students
by serving as a reunion or club
volunteer, an Alumni Schools
Committee admissions
interviewer,
or hiring an intern, or
getting your boss to hire one.
And connect with the
University by keeping up
online with the news on
campus or participating
in one of the many
new online course
offerings that are sponsored
by the Alumni Association.
There are dozens of
ways to say engaged.
Find one that moves you and
fits into your schedule.
That's what helps
keep this institution
that we love strong.
There are over 170,000 living
alumni of this institution.
They lead major
corporations that
are at the forefront of
science and research.
They write for our nation's
leading newspapers.
They serve as elected members
of government and Congress.
You're now a part
of this community.
It's a community unlike
any that you've ever
been a part of in the past.
And on behalf of the
Alumni Association,
we are proud to count
you among our ranks.
It's now my privilege
to recognize members
of the class of 2017 for
their campus leadership
by presenting the Howell Murray
Alumni Association Awards.
One of the College's
highest honors,
this award recognizes
graduating seniors
who have made outstanding
contributions to the University
through co-curricular
activities.
The students selected as this
year's Howell Murray Award
winners have been recognized
by their peers or others
on campus for
extraordinary service
to the College community.
I encourage you to read
their bios in the program
and learn more about their
expansive involvement
across campus.
It is my pleasure to present
these awards today and welcome
you to a distinguished community
of more than 600 past student
winners.
As I call your name,
please join me on
stage to accept your medal
from Lori Hurvitz, Executive
Director of the
Alumni Association.
And I ask the audience
to hold your applause
until all the medalists
have been recognized.
Camille Corre.
Camille's bright, competent,
and genuine leadership style
has led to many opportunities
in the Office of Admissions,
where she has revolutionized
the Student Visit Coordinator
Incentive Program.
Natalia Delery.
As a Quest Scholar, peer
adviser, and RSO leader,
Natalia has demonstrated that
she can tackle any problem
with a clear head and
strategic thought that
make her both an outstanding
volunteer and a supportive
peer.
Anthony Downer.
As the chair of the Leaders
of Color Initiative,
Anthony has been a
catalyst for change
at the Institute of
Politics, working
to make it more
accessible and inclusive.
Stephanie Greene.
Stephanie is being recognized
for her depth and breadth
of involvement in
the campus community,
including her roles as
president of the Organization
of Black Students, an involved
student with the Office
of Multicultural
Student Affairs,
and a leader in the
field of public service.
Valerie Gutmann.
We recognize Valerie's
extensive involvement
in service and civic
engagement organizations
throughout her time at UChicago,
creating opportunities not only
to give back herself, but
for countless other students
to make an impact
outside of campus.
Steve Han.
This year, Steve was selected to
chair the Prospective Students
Advisory Board of the
Admissions Office,
a nod to his
exceptional leadership
and the high esteem with which
his supervisors, and his team
hold him.
Aliya Moreira.
We recognize Aliya's broad and
strategic leadership style,
which has not only
provided GlobeMed
with outstanding leadership,
but the countless other RSOs
that Aliya has joined
in her time here,
such as the Pre-Med
Students Association
and the Muslim
Students Association.
Omar Mujahid.
Omar's knack for interpersonal
relationships and his ability
to create sincere
bonds with his peers
have made him an astute
and conscientious leader
throughout his time working
with the Muslim community
at UChicago.
Fatima Omar.
As Muslim Student Association
Community Service chair,
Fatima has served as an
example for her peers
in modeling the true
selflessness of service
through her work,
volunteer work,
with the Homeless Food Run.
Katherine Ordonez.
A founding member and
eventual vice president
of Active Minds, Katherine
has been a fierce advocate
for the destigmatization of
mental health issues on campus,
building strong partnerships
between student health
and wellness and the
Active Minds board.
Maya Scheidl.
Maya has brought her trademark
humility to her roles
as an orientation
leader and student
director for the Chicago
Urban Experience Program,
while her impact has been felt
in various other leadership
roles on campus from
athletics to the arts.
Akanksha Shah.
Akanksha is being recognized
as a thoughtful leader whose
partnerships and
relationships connect her
across campus, particularly
through her work as a founding
member of the
Maroon Tutor Match,
which has paired more
than 100 of her peers
with young people of all
ages for specialized tutoring
opportunities.
Ala Tineh.
Ala is being recognized for
her selflessness and ability
to step up in times
when the Muslim Students
Association experienced
an absence of leadership,
creating a sustainable plan for
future leadership of the group,
modeling the way to handle
difficult situations
with clearheadedness.
Mary Claire Tuohy.
Mary Claire served
as the team captain
for the volleyball team,
volunteers for Peer Health
Exchange, and works in
various bio labs on campus
where she has used her expertise
to volunteer in the sciences
to increase awareness
and enthusiasm
for the subject among students.
Charles Woods.
Chase's commitment to having
a well-rounded leadership
experience at the
University has given him
a multitude of
opportunities to influence
the lives of his peers and
make a distinct impression
on faculty and staff
through his roles
in the Organization of Black
Students and the Shriver
Program Fellows.
Peggy Xu.
Through Peggy's involvement
with the University Community
Service Center and Student
Government's College Council,
she has combined her passion
for creating strong campus
community relations
with her desire
to voice the diverse
perspectives of her peers.
Congratulations again to
all the Howell Murray Alumni
Association winners.
Let's give these exemplary
students a round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
We all have the honor
of being associated
with one of the greatest
universities in the world.
Thank you for what you
have done, class of 2017,
to make it great and for what
you'll do in the years to come.
And again, on behalf
of the Alumni Board
and the entire
Alumni Association,
congratulations to the
graduating class of 2017
on your achievement.
[APPLAUSE]
CLAIRE DOODY: I would now like
to introduce Congressman Ro
Khanna who will be
speaking to the class.
He's a congressman from
the state of California.
Welcome, Mr. Khanna.
[APPLAUSE]
ROHIT "RO" KHANNA: Thank you.
It's an honor to be invited
for Chicago's first Class Day.
After six months in Washington,
DC, I jumped at the chance
to come back to campus.
And it's great to follow the
brilliant David Brooks and some
of the fantastic
student speakers
who are more
insightful than much
of what you hear in the
halls of Congress these days.
At Chicago, I was
taught to assume
that there may be a silent
student in every class who
is the most thoughtful.
That is actually
a strange concept
in today's political world.
For all of the
critiques of politics,
what I find most jarring is how
loud our politics has become,
how self-assured.
What seems missing is
self-examination, the type
that David Brooks spoke about.
In some sense,
every generation is
tasked with preserving and
perfecting our democracy.
There is no permanence
in human affairs.
Americans understand this.
We understand that we
cannot take for granted
the institutions that check
baser ambitions unless we work
to uphold these institutions.
We cannot assume that every
voice will be respected unless
we create spaces for
meaningful conversation.
The work of democracy
has always been ongoing.
But these may not just
be ordinary times.
It might be that we are in
a moment of history, which
nations face but
a few times, when
the very character of our
democracy seems at stake.
The traditions and
institutions that
have given us common purpose
seem stretched and frayed.
Many are asking, do
substantive arguments still
matter in our politics,
or are decisions
guided simply by self-interest?
Can we find a common
language that cuts across
geography, party, and race, or
are we talking past each other?
Has the explosion of information
made us wiser or more
set in our ways?
The stress on our democracy
is understandable.
Never before has our nation
had as many different faiths
and cultural traditions
from across the globe.
We might be the first
nation in history
to seek to build a common
political culture with as
diverse a population.
At the same time, we face
profound economic changes
benefiting those with
certain skills and pedigrees
while leaving others behind.
And then there is the pace
of technological change
in the district in Silicon
Valley that I represent.
Technology is changing
almost every job,
and it is also changing how
we learn about the world
and engage in it.
We are living in a
time of uncertainty.
At this moment, we need
some quieter voices
in our national debate.
We need thinkers.
We need listeners.
We need those who
have studied history
enough to be skeptical
about easy slogans
or simple promises.
We need precisely the
liberal arts education
the University of Chicago offers
and its cultivation of students
who have a decent
and modest nature.
The task is nothing
short of helping
American democracy find its
footing in the modern world.
So graduates, our
country needs you.
I hope you will engage.
Congratulations and good luck.
[APPLAUSE]
NATALIA DELERY: Thank you
so much, Congressman Khanna.
My name is Natalia Delery.
Your During my time
here, I have had
the honor of working
extensively with
low-income, first-generation,
and undocumented students
on campus.
Today, I am honored
to stand before you
all to share the stage with
such incredibly dedicated staff,
students, and faculty and to
stand in front of "millennials"
who have faced
triggers and struggles
in order to be here today.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
As the final part of our program
today, Claire [INAUDIBLE],,
a current undergraduate who
works with Fire Escape Films,
has collected a
montage of photos
from our classmates to
create the video that you're
about to see.
As we leave this university
with feelings of accomplishment,
hopefulness, uncertainty,
nostalgia, or just that feeling
of being done, these two
things will remain true.
One, we have made
memories here that will
last a lifetime, memories
that have brought us
tears of happiness, sometimes
sadness, many of laughter,
and everything in between.
And two, we have all undoubtedly
made an impact on at least
one person at this University.
These photos show just that.
We have made friends,
fostered relationships,
and built a community on campus
that can never be duplicated.
And now we celebrate together.
Congratulations to
the class of 2017
and thank you for all of
the wonderful memories.
Here's to many more.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[END PLAYBACK]
[APPLAUSE]
SARAH STARR: All right.
Thanks, everyone, for
submitting photos to that.
You made it to the end.
We're going to close this up.
Afternoon, my name
is Sarah Starr.
I'm a member of Dodd-Mead
House as well as the Maroon Key
Society.
Much like our UChicago
journey, we've had some laughs.
We maybe cried.
And now it's time to give
a little bit of thanks.
So first, let's give
another round of applause
to all of the award
recipients today.
[APPLAUSE]
The Stagg and Dudley, Quantrell,
and Howell Murray Alumni
Association.
[APPLAUSE]
And now we have to thank our
speakers, both David Brooks
and Congressman
Khanna, for tackling
this new tradition coming in.
It takes a lot of
bravery to do that.
So thank you for
your words of wisdom.
[APPLAUSE]
We'd also like to thank our
student speakers, Alex, Karyn,
and Liz, for your
unique thoughts
on what UChicago
has meant to you
and for what the
next journey holds.
[APPLAUSE]
And it would be remiss
not to acknowledge
all of the hard work
and dedication that
was put into planning
and executing today.
For the sake of brevity, I'll
refer you to your programs,
where it names the
many, many people who
were involved in planning.
But we would like to
highlight the work done
by Nichole Fazio and Dean
of Students Jay Ellison--
[APPLAUSE]
--for your guidance in helping
us plan and execute this event.
And then, finally,
we have to thank
a man who's been here,
the Dean of the College,
longer than all of us graduating
tomorrow have been alive.
When he talks about
the University,
he describes it as a
courageous and fearless place,
a place of strong liberty
and vibrant convictions.
And no one really embodies
this as much as the man
himself, Dean Boyer.
[APPLAUSE]
And with that, I'll turn it
over for final congratulations
to the class.
ALA TINEH: [NON-ENGLISH].
Peace be with you.
My name is Ala
Tineh, and I studied
economics and statistics.
And I've had the
immense pleasure
of working with the Muslim
Students Association
as we close our 25th year here
at the University of Chicago.
I'd like to offer a few
brief remarks to close
the inaugural Class Day.
First, I'd like to remind all
our guests to please join us
tonight for the
traditional Senior Class
Reception and presentation
of the senior class
gift at the Museum of Science
and Industry at 7:30 PM.
Almost four years
ago, [INAUDIBLE]
during Orientation Week
served as an opportunity
to build relationships
with our peers.
And tonight, as we bring our
college experience to a close,
we ask that you join us once
again at the [INAUDIBLE]
in celebrating the
class of 2017 and all
of their many accomplishments.
Next, we'd like to take an
opportunity to acknowledge,
of course, the
graduating class of 2017.
You represent a diverse range
of cultures, backgrounds,
academic disciplines,
and thought.
And despite these
differences, we
are bonded by the experiences
we have shared here
at the University of
Chicago, whether they
be all those late
nights at the Reg
or the many protests we
held right here on the Quad.
Thank you for all of
your many contributions
to the College and the
University community.
Finally, none of us
would be here today
without the enduring support
and unconditional love from all
of our guests.
I know I, myself,
would not be here today
without my beautiful mother.
So whether you're a parent,
a sibling, grandparent,
best friend, teacher, or
mentor, thank you for all
that you have done in making
this moment a reality.
Congratulations, once
again, to the class of 2017
and best of luck
in your continuing
search for knowledge.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
