[ Music ]
>> Welcome to the annual convocation
of Claremont McKenna College.
You may stand virtually if you choose.
I'll try not to be too long, but
I did graduate from the college
with a poly-sci and an econ major.
I am an ordained minister and
a lawyer and a politician.
So, you're on your own.
Convocation officially begins
the academic year at CMC.
And what a strange world and strange times
by which to begin such an admirable pursuit,
at a time where we're facing a most
significant health pandemic in our generation.
COVID-19 has changed the life
as we know it and continues
to bring a new reality to
our nation and to the world.
And at a time when the circumstances
of unarmed black deaths at the hands
of law enforcement has given rise to a renewed
claim that indeed black lives do matter
as does our collective capacity
to right or wrong in this nation.
And not just stopping there but engaging
our collective humanity in a search
to right the wrongs of America's history in a
way that strengthens as a nation of the whole,
of its people, all of its people, pulling in one
direction, pulling together, working together.
Your generation and mine certainly has our
work cut out for us, but you future graduates
of Claremont McKenna are the ones
being thrust into the laboratories
that will become the proving
ground for the strategies
that will propel this nation
in the world forward.
As are now experiencing, those
laboratories are changing
to accommodate how learning
occurs in a COVID world.
But thank God for the consistencies
that are built into the fabric
of what Claremont College is and does best.
A world-class faculty dedicated to reimagining
how learning is delivered with innovation
that maintains the integrity of
the learning space while providing
for the engaged interaction that makes
Claremont McKenna a special place,
a laboratory of enlightened
engagement and learning.
A dedicated and a loyal staff that is
committed to each and every one of you
and has worked incredibly smart and hard to
provide an academic and social environment
to safely maximize your learning and engagement
opportunities in this new environment.
But from you, Claremont McKenna students,
will come the truth that speaks to power.
But from you will come the boldness
to engage this laboratory of learning
and concoct those strategies that
will lead our country into the light,
embrace all that is good, and leave
behind that which should be left behind.
What a tall order.
What a capable student body.
Okay, we're here.
Now, a word of prayer.
Let's us unite our hearts in prayer.
Oh God, how wonderful the works of
your hands, as we have gathered here
to celebrate the beginning of a new
academic year and celebrate our students
as they step forward to examine new
places, encounter new experiences,
and embrace new and traditional learning.
We pray blessings on this group, which
will give them a safe place to learn,
a place where freedom of ideas
flourish, and a strong foundation is laid
by which they will launch into the
world to create a better place.
We pray blessings and give thanks to
our instructors and our administrators,
who will richly care for our students while
being truly cognizant of the nurturing
and the care required to groom the
leadership of a new generation.
As our students start a new academic
year, we ask for your grace and anointing.
Your grace and anointing to make their choices
wise and to be faithful in their commitment.
The grace and anointing to
turn away from injustice
and turn toward justice, equality, and peace.
The grace and anointing to avoid [inaudible].
The [inaudible] to believe that you
cannot make a difference in this world
and to do the things other say cannot be done.
Good luck to you all.
May God bless you, and amen.
>> Thank you, Tim, for such inspirational words.
Good afternoon.
Thank you, all, and welcome to our
convocation for the 2020/2021 academic year.
Before we begin to enter another powerful cycle
of productive experience, responsive reflection,
and higher, broader, deeper learning here at
the college, we honor the special milestones
of service and recognize those whose
contributions have earned significant awards.
We hear from Professor George Thomas
and student body president Johnson Lynn,
and we sing our college song about how
civilization prospers through commerce
and the exchange of values and ideas.
We call ourselves together at the
beginning of each year in a special moment.
Before I set the table for this unprecedented
year, I want to welcome each and every one
of you students, faculty, staff, trustees,
alumni, families, and our entire CMC community.
Especially our first year and new
transfer students and their families.
We're thrilled to have you and to be together.
I also want to express our collective support
for those of you most directly affected
by so many current crises in our world.
COVID-19, economic dislocation, racial
violence, the fires, the storms,
an unimaginable coincidence
of severe challenges.
It is hard to absorb it all.
But as this has had a direct
impact on many in our community,
we must share the burden by
taking care of one another.
In light of those challenges and over the past
five months, I've been giving a great deal
of thought to what it means, what it
could mean for us to be in this moment.
Professor Thomas has too,
and he'll put the theme
in a broader historical context
later for us in our program.
This inquiry, and your answer will shape
everything we do during this unprecedented
academic year.
Every moment, our moment, is
doubly charged with the past
that shapes it and the future it anticipates.
The past does not dictate the present, and the
present does not fully determine the future.
Each moment is part of the
temporal continuum, yes,
but the present need not
merely replicate the past
or predetermine any particular
promise or hazard down the road.
Within the structural forces of outside of our
immediate control, the powerful determinants
that shape history, and yes, that
frequently frustrate the future ambition
of our free human agency, there's always
a small space left for us, for each of us,
an opening only we can fill, a word or
line in the story only we can write,
a computation in the formula that only
we can calculate, a moment, our moment.
So, how will we avoid the worst and make
the best of our time, today, this year,
and years later, when we look back at now, what
is the story we would like to be able to tell
about how we responded to
COVID-19, the persistence of racism,
the challenges to our democracy,
our economy, our climate.
And not only how we responded but most
essentially what we learned as individuals,
as a community, a college,
a society, a civilization.
What contributions will we each have made?
The answer to this question both stands above
and undergirds everything we
want to do right now within it.
From a point in the future looking back,
we find a special purpose to inspire us,
to learn through unprecedented challenges.
Here we can't know the future, but we
can face it and face it with confidence,
confidence built on evidence of how
we responded the past few months.
The sudden, sad, safe, successful
departure from our campus last March,
the immediate pivot to continue
learning together.
The adjustments, the generous
support, the resilience,
the creative ways in which students
put learning to work this past summer.
A record 524 sponsored internships
and experiences.
Phenomenal levels of support
for our graduating seniors.
The innovative curricular designs and generous
accommodations made by our faculty, tutorials,
projects, distributed labs, extra sessions
to manage significant time differences,
the fierce dedication of our staff and
faculty to reach out, to build community.
The townhalls, the workshops, the book clubs,
the advisory sessions, emails, texts, zooms,
daily wellness check-ins, and the close social
connections forged even when we were apart.
The ongoing college commitment to persevere in
a world of unimaginable cost, uncertain risk,
and financial loss, to protect the well-being
of each and every member of our community
and to absorb and share those costs as
fully and fairly as we possibly can.
And the remarkable response of our students
and families over 1260 joining us this fall,
who chose not to wait it out on the sidelines
and instead are here to learn and have fun
on a new field of play this semester.
Based on this record of accomplishment
and commitment to our community,
we should each be confident we can respond
to whatever the world throws at us this year.
And we know we will not be perfect.
We will have to make special efforts to
help those who have it tougher than we do.
We know we will get through it and
grow stronger closer together, and yet,
just internalizing our shared costs
and commitments won't be enough.
Our imaginative effective
adaptations will not be enough.
We must also see big opportunity
in the difficulty.
We must drive this year to make long strides
on our most ambitions projects and initiatives.
Yes, to learn from the unique experience
and take every innovation forward
but even more critically to keep
focused on our vision for the future.
By the end of this academic year,
as an institution, as a community,
I believe we will be able to tell a story
about how we overcame and achieved our goals,
attracted new resources to support
every aspect of our liberal arts
and leadership program including the humanities,
advance the commitments of our open academy
and launched and fully embedded in the social
and intellectual fabric of the institution,
the presidential initiative on anti-racism
and the black experience in America.
Took major strides in realizing our
ambitious programmatic and campus vision
for integrated sciences and computation.
Expanded opportunities for our students
through strong levels of financial support
and the rich array of [inaudible]
experiences, internships, and programs.
So, my question to each of you is this.
Students, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni,
parents, friends, what role will you each play?
Which contributions will you each make?
What are the stories you will be able to tell?
The special moments of insight and inspiration,
care and support, the experiences and lessons
through which we learned how to overcome the
challenges for which we were all unprepared.
We know that COVID-19 exposes and
exacerbates our greatest vulnerabilities,
and we also know that terrible
plagues often trigger big,
structural changes in the societies that suffer.
Can we find ways this year to do more than just
manage through, even when that is tough enough?
Can we exercise the leadership we
all need in small and big ways?
Can we zag when the world is zigging?
Can we do more than just respond to the moment?
Can we seize it, make it our own?
We can, and we must.
So, as we come together in convocation
today, let's answer the question.
Think of all the stories we will write together
this year, stories that will give purpose
to our learning together, stories that will make
a difference in our lives and those of others.
Thanks to all of you for
co-authoring this, our moment.
And now, to recognize the special
staff for years of service,
I turn it over to our vice president of business
and chief operating officer, Coreen Rodgers.
Thank you.
>> Good afternoon.
I'm Coreen Rodgers, and I am
the vice president of business
and chief operating officer here at CMC.
And today, I have the absolute
privilege of publicly recognizing some
of our wonderful faculty and staff members,
who are celebrating milestone years of service
with the college, and in a moment, I will
share their names and their stories with you.
But first, with so much of our
community watching together today,
I want to take this rare
opportunity to put a spotlight
on just how incredible the staff
community is here at Claremont McKenna.
And whether you're a returning student
or just completing your first ever week
of college classes, a professor or staff member,
chances are you've already had the occasion
to be impressed by the high caliber,
genuinely caring individuals at all levels
of our organization, who keep our
campus and programs running every day.
The past several months, even as we
grappled with the impacts of the pandemic
in our own lives, our staff collectively
rose to this unprecedented occasion.
Many of us have been working from home since
March and grappling with all the challenges
that come with that, but many others have
remained on campus for a long period of time
to support our students as they pack to
move and dealt with the disappointments
and uncertainties caused by this pandemic,
to prepare meals for those who remained,
to support an enormous volume
of new technological needs
as instruction transitioned online
and staff began telecommuting.
And to keep our facilities safe and beautiful.
I'd be remiss if I did not
especially thank a few individuals
who were designated critical on-site
personnel and have continued to report
to work full-time on campus
these past six months.
To all of you, I'm so impressed, grateful,
and inspired by your professionalism,
creativity, and resilience.
And having witnessed our staff come together
to tackle so many complex and novel issues,
I have every confidence that
we will move forward together
to face whatever challenges lie ahead.
So, here are the individuals we want
to single out and celebrate today.
First, celebrating 25 years
of service, Cheryl Aguilar.
Cheryl is the special assistant
to the president.
She joined CMC's advancement office in 1995,
and she's held several positions working
with development and college leadership.
Cheryl has the opportunity to work
directly with two dynamic CMC presidents,
now Hiram Chodosh, and prior Pamela Gann.
She is proud of the significant achievements and
growth of the college under their leadership.
Manfred Keil.
Manfred received his PhD in economics
from the London School of Economics
and has been working at Claremont
McKenna since 1995.
He is a professor of economics
and former chair of the faculty
in the Robert Day School
of Economics and Finance.
He lectures in macroeconomics,
statistics, and econometrics.
Professor Keil also is the associate director
of the Lowe Institute for Political Economy
and leads a research staff of student RAs
to provide forecasting analysis
for the Inland Empire.
Devon Lopez.
Devon started working at CMC in
January of 1995 in student accounts,
where she worked as a cashier for 15 years.
In 2009, she moved to the financial aid
office as a financial aid coordinator
and then counselor, and she's been on the
student appeals committee for almost 20 years.
The accomplishment she is
most proud of is her drive
to help others achieve their educational
dreams by working hard and staying focused
on our students, especially
during challenging times.
Ron Riggio.
Ron's titles have included director of the
Kravis Leadership Institute for 14 years,
associate dean of the faculty for three years,
chair of department of psychological science,
honorary member of the CMC Alumni Association,
and he is a CMC parent, class of 2010.
Ron enjoys working with students
on research projects,
helping build summer internship programs, and
seeing students go on to terrific careers,
and he's most proud of helping build
the Kravis Leadership Institute
into a world-renowned center for
leadership research and education.
Ray Rotolo.
Ray is the senior director of planned
giving, and he came to CMC in 1995
as the assistant director of planned
giving and then became the director
of the program in November of '08.
March 1, 2020, marked his 26th year at CMC.
Ray loves having the opportunity to
help individuals be generous in ways
that they have never thought possible, and
he's proud of the fact that his office has been
so successful in raising life
income gifts and charitable trusts.
And now, celebrating 30 years
of service, John Farrell.
John has been an assistant and associate
professor at CMC and was tenured in 1996.
He is the Waldo W. Neikirk
Professor of Literature,
and he has twice chaired
the literature department.
He has served on many faculty committees
and chaired the administration
committee and the writing committee.
He is inspired by discussing essential questions
with intellectually ambitious students,
and his favorite moment at
CMC have taken place mostly
in the classroom in the aft and at commencement.
Rafael Huereca.
Rafael is a building attendant, and his
love of CMC is evident in the attention
and care he shows the campus
as he fulfills his duties.
Rafael cherishes the connection he's
made with many students over the years,
and he works hard to provide them with a
clean and safe environment to learn and grow.
Cynthia Humes.
Cynthia is the associate vice
president and chief technology officer
and also an associate professor
of religious studies.
Over the years, she sought to
expand the reach of technology
at the college and has been so successful.
She's created the department we can all lean on,
and it provides us the best
possible services that they can.
It brings her great personal joy when she
can help her fellow faculty achieve success,
and as a professor, her research
involves many areas of Hinduism,
including models of religious leadership,
religions of South Asia, Hinduism in America,
religion, politics, goddess worship, and gender.
And now, celebrating 35 years
of service, John Faranda.
John is our ambassador at large.
He graduated from Claremont McKenna
College in 1979, and after graduating,
he joined the CMC Alumni
Association Board of Directors
and became a member of the CMC staff in '85.
Since then, he's been involved in all types
of aspect of alumni and parent relations,
fundraising, and board activities.
For more than 30 years, John has also served
as the Claremont Mudd Scripps sailing coach,
and he's the proud faculty advisor to
the Claremont Cougar men's lacrosse club.
Ralph Rossum.
Ralph is the Henry Salvatori
Professor of American Constitutionalism
at Claremont McKenna College and
a member of the faculty of CGU.
He earned his MA and PhD from
the University of Chicago,
and he's the author or co-author of 12 books.
His passion for the American Founding is
evident and often noted by his students,
but he truly makes American history
come alive through his instruction.
Terry Ruiz.
Terry is our housekeeping supervisor,
and she started working for CMC in1985.
She began at CMC as a lead and then was quickly
promoted to the housekeeping supervisor.
Her assignment was to clean many of
our dorms, Appleby and Green Hall
and supervise [inaudible], McKenna
Auditorium, Seaman Hall, Adams Hall.
It was a challenge, and she's
always risen to the occasion.
It's been her great honor to
work with students and her peers,
and her entire housekeeping team takes
as much pride in their work as she does.
Thank you, Terry.
And celebrating 40 years of service at
Claremont McKenna College, Marc Massoud.
Mark is the Robert Day Distinguished
Professor of Accounting.
He has enjoyed participating and working
with students through several organizations
over the years, including being the
long-time Claremont Accounting Association's
faculty advisor.
His favorite thing over four decades has
been to watch his students grow in confidence
and fulfill their personal
and academic potential
and to watch the tremendous
evolution of the college itself.
He has been blessed during his time
at CMC and is particularly proud
to have won 13 Huntoon teaching
awards, voted by our students,
and the CMC Presidential Merit Award.
Nick Warner.
In addition to serving as literature
department chair at various times
and chairing several committees over
the decades, Nick has also served
as the associate dean of the faculty
and interim dean of the faculty.
Nick is proud of having helped
with a hires of some
of our most outstanding young faculty members
of the college when working in administration,
and many things inspire him
to be a better instructor,
but he feels most inspired every time he
walks into the classroom at the beginning
of a new semester, just like now.
And he can't wait until we will all be able
to do that again, to be in the same room,
in the same time zone, faculty
and students together.
Congratulations to all of you and thank
you on behalf of the entire CMC community,
for your contributions to
our colleague over the years.
>> Greetings everyone.
My name is Emily Wiley, and I'm
an associate dean of the faculty.
There is no way to start this new academic year
without a special celebration of the faculty.
None of us were trained for the
massive disruption to our curriculum
that happened last spring, quickly
forced on us by a global pandemic.
To meet the challenge of that moment, faculty
quickly dug in and turned their attention
to rethinking their courses and using
completely new approaches to teach virtually
in the most effective ways
possible on very short notice.
This required time in webinars and workshops,
learning and testing new technologies,
and learning new ways to interact
with students on a screen.
In that time, we learned a great deal about
what works and what does not, but that learning
and imagining what is possible
did not stop at the end of spring.
Instead, this summer, it escalated.
Instead of diving into their research
as a normal summer would have,
faculty used much of the summer to essentially
go back to school themselves to study
up on best practices for online teaching.
They attended more workshops, formed the
groups to brainstorm and exchange new ideas,
and provided feedback to each other, all of this
with the aim of preparing exciting, impactful,
inclusive classes for this fall
semester that we now begin.
The challenges the faculty faced in the
spring combined with their deep commitment
to providing an exceptional education for our
students inspired the many teaching innovations
and courses that you will now get to experience.
These innovations are aimed at
creating the close teaching, learning,
mentoring relationships with faculty and
peers and the get to know you moments
that are a hallmark of the small courses
at CMC and CMC academic more broadly.
The innovations are focused on engaging
you in class activities or work on teams
to solve problems or work on projects to
produce something with meaning and impact,
or they will challenge you to think
in more interdisciplinary ways.
Importantly, the innovations
focus on the opportunities
that a virtual learning mode provides.
All of the faculty have worked
tirelessly to prepare themselves
for this semester, for this academic year.
All of us are ready and excited about the
promising innovations we have developed centered
on the students that we want
to teach and see grow.
All of us are ready to be the teachers,
mentors, advisors, and colleagues necessary
to make this community of
learning that is ours function
at the highest level, even
in these challenging times.
We would not be here today with a great
class of incoming first-year students
and returning students, a rich curriculum, and
a wide-range of learning opportunities outside
of the classroom without the amazing
efforts that the great faculty
of CMC put into this work all summer.
Although we are not in person
together, the faculty are still here
to show their support and
be honored for their work.
And now, I get the honor of introducing
the new tenured and tenure-track faculty
who have already jumped into engage this work.
Jordan Branch joins us as a new
assistant professor of government.
Nishant Dass joins us as a new
associate professor of economics.
Ryan Fahey joins us as a new assistant professor
of physical education and
head men's soccer coach.
Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hayden is
our new professor of military science.
Gabbrielle Johnson joins us as an
assistant professor of philosophy.
Marina Muncan joins us as
a new assistant professor
of physical education and
head cross country coach.
And Chanel Murchison joined us in January as a
new assistant professor of physical education
and head women's basketball coach.
Welcome new faculty.
>> Hello everyone.
My name is Shana Levin, professor of psychology
and one of the associate deans of the faculty.
It is my pleasure to recognize the
winners of last year's faculty awards.
Last year's winner of the Crocker Award
was professor of psychology, Dan Krauss.
This prize is awarded to the professor
selected by fellow faculty members
as having made the greatest service
contributions to the college that year.
Last year, faculty members across the
college singled out Professor Krauss
for his valuable service as a member
of the APT executive committee
on which he served even during his
sabbatical and as liaison between APT
and administration committee as they
worked on our science initiative.
Professor Krauss is also known for his deep
mentorship of students and junior faculty,
effective leadership in the
psychological science department,
and major service contributions to athletics.
As one faculty nominator commented, Dan is a
tireless servant of the college and department,
always striving to make this place better.
Congratulations Professor Krauss.
Last year's G. David Huntoon Senior Teaching
Award went to Wagener Family Professor
of Comparative Politics and George
R. Roberts fellow, Aseema Sinha.
This prize is awarded annually to a
full professor, selected by a committee
who reviews nominations from
juniors and seniors.
Professor Sinha teaches courses on South
Asia, social movements, globalization
and developing countries,
and comparative politics.
She also teaches in the PPE major.
She is known by all to be a phenomenal educator,
who cares deeply about her students and wants
to see them learn, grow, and succeed.
One student said, I absolutely loved her class.
I have never learned more in
any other class I've taken,
and Professor Sinha is absolutely amazing.
Congratulations Professor Sinha.
Last year, the winner of
the Glenn R. Huntoon Award
for Superior Teaching was an
associate professor of literature
who joined CMC only one year
earlier, Professor Derik Smith.
This award is given annually to the faculty
member chosen from a list of nominees submitted
by the entire student body as
outstanding teacher of the year.
Professor Smith teaches courses on African
American literature and autobiography,
hip hop poetics, and American prison
texts, and FWS courses on race
and blackness in American cinema.
A student commented that Professor Smith's
class was the best, most interesting,
and most engaging class I have ever been a part
of, and Professor Smith's knowledge, passion,
and attitude toward the subject
and its teaching are unparalleled.
Congratulations, Professor Smith.
Last year's Faculty Scholarship Award went
to professor of mathematics, Sam Nelson.
This prize is awarded annually by a faculty
committee to recognize outstanding research,
scholarship, or creative work at CMC.
One of the faculty members who nominated
Professor Nelson for the award said it all.
He is the world expert in all topics
related to quandles and biquandles
and has published an astounding
79 research papers.
He has worked with 40 undergraduate
student co-authors and counting.
He is not only a top-notch researcher widely
admired for his creativity and expertise,
he also places equal emphasis on teaching
and training undergraduates to
collaborate in his research.
Indeed, he embodies the ideal
of a CMC professor,
placing equal emphasis on teaching and research.
The rest of the CMC faculty
could not agree more.
Congratulations, Professor Nelson.
The winner of the Dean's Distinguished Service
Award last year was Curb Family Associate
Professor of Business and Law and
George R. Roberts Fellow, Josh Rosett.
This prize is awarded by the
dean of faculty in recognition
of significant service to the college.
During his six-year tenure as director
of the Financial Economics Institute,
Professor Rosett supported
as many as 40 students a year
to conduct high-quality research with faculty.
He brought crucial data to student
and faculty research projects
and organized networking trips,
conferences, and speakers.
He did an enormous amount of
work for external reviews.
In the words of the dean of faculty, it
is a massive job, and Josh has done it
with his customary care, kindness,
commitment, and effectiveness.
He is a man whom I have come to admire because
of his integrity, his commitment to the college,
his commitment to students, and his reliability.
Congratulations to Professor Rosett and,
again, to all of our faculty award winners.
I am pleased to introduce our
convocation speaker, George Thomas,
Burnet C. Wohlford Professor of
American Political Institutions.
Professor Thomas came to CMC in 2007.
Since then, he has been the legal studies
program coordinator, PPE program coordinator,
and now director of the Salvatori Center for the
Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World.
He is a member of Phi Beta
Kappa Tau of California at CMC.
Professor Thomas is a prolific scholar
with a deep commitment to student learning.
He teaches the PPE Politics Tutorial
and Seminar, Constitutional Law,
and a new mini course this semester
on race and the Constitution.
His scholarly areas of expertise are American
constitutionalism, American political thought,
constitutional law, and the Supreme Court.
He has published several books, a constitutional
law casebook, and over 25 journal articles,
book chapters, and essays on these topics.
For one article, he received the American
Political Science Association's Alexander George
Award for the best article
on qualitative methods.
In his role as director of the Salvatori Center,
Professor Thomas reaches across disciplines
to spark research collaborations, promote
the dissemination of scholarly work
in academic presentations and publications,
and engage the campus community in relevant,
timely discussions around topics such as civil
liberties, civic engagement, and free speech,
which make him an ideal speaker
for today's convocation.
Please join me in welcoming
Professor George Thomas.
>> President Chodosh, Dean Uvin,
members of the board, students,
faculty, staff, alumni, and parents.
Welcome, as Claremont McKenna
begins its 75th year.
Let me extend a particular welcome to our
incoming first years and their families.
If I can borrow a bit from Edmund Burke.
We can think of CMC as a partnership between
the living, the dead, and the to be born.
You might think a bit about
the to be born is a stretch,
but development almost certainly
has its eye on [inaudible].
The serious point is that an institution
like CMC is the work of generations.
Let's welcome first years into this partnership.
You benefit from an extended community
of those who have come before you.
We're delighted you're taking your first
steps with us as you transition to adulthood,
and we eagerly look forward
to your contribution.
It's an odd beginning to the year for us all.
I remember sitting in a meeting
surrounded by students in March,
two days before Friday the 13th, as it happens,
when the college announced we would have
to move online for the rest of the semester.
We knew it was the right decision,
but it was awful, all the same.
We were heartened by the thought
that it would be temporary.
As we said our goodbyes, we all looked forward
to seeing one another in person in the fall
when we would pick up normal life at CMC.
That's not exactly how it worked out.
You heard, I'm sure, that you're
living in an historical moment.
It feels weighty in ways
that can be overbearing.
It can also seem like a flood
of one damn thing after another
that you cannot begin to
sort out or think through.
I want to talk about what it
means to be living history.
Perhaps the most jarring thing about
living history is not knowing what's
on the other side, the uncertainty of it all.
When you're living through history, you don't
know how it turns out, and you don't know,
in part, because it depends on the
sort of things you do at that moment.
You have a tendency to speak of the
inevitability of history with a capital H
as if we're just along for the ride.
We tend to speak as if what's
right is historically inevitable,
as if the hard work were done and we're
just waiting for history to catch up.
I want to disabuse you of this notion.
How history turns out depends
on what we do and how we live.
The path doesn't materialize until we take it.
This can be daunting, but it's
always been the human condition.
Let me indulge in a bit of
constitutional history.
Imagine Frederick Douglass,
born enslaved in 1818.
He escaped from insufferable human bondage,
having no idea whether he'd make it.
From moment to moment, he didn't
know what would happen next.
Disguised as a sailor, he
traveled from Baltimore
to New York by train, boat, and [inaudible].
When he entered the streets of
New York, he said to himself,
I am a free man, but it was
a precarious freedom.
He was always at risk.
His future as a free man was radically
uncertain, yet Douglass persisted.
Six years after he escaped to freedom, he
was formally emancipated when supporters
in England purchased him from his former owner.
Consider that ugly truth.
A free man by right, certainly
free in mind and soul,
had to be bought so that
he could lawfully be free.
Securing his own freedom
was not enough for Douglass.
In writings, like Narrative Life of
Frederick Douglass, An American Slave,
and his public speeches, he would come to teach
his country the meaning of self-government,
that it inexorably rested on
the idea of human equality.
He forced his country to reckon with its
original sin of enslaving human beings.
In doing so, he shaped the
constitutional understandings
of statement like Abraham Lincoln.
Douglass' recent biographer, David Blight,
argues that his journey began
when he learned to read.
Teaching blacks, free or enslaved,
was forbidden by Maryland law.
Beyond the law, Douglass' owner forbade
it because knowledge would make him unfit
in mind and body for human bondage.
Being prohibited from reading,
from acquiring knowledge, was,
Douglass recalled in his autobiography,
akin to the first antislavery
lecture he'd ever witnessed.
He found a form of liberation in his
learning, which he shared with others,
teaching enslaved blacks to read, using Noah
Webster's Spelling Book, the Columbian Orator,
and the Bible, where in secret
they would come to learn the power
of education and its link to freedom.
Douglass' mastery of language and rhetoric
came out most fully in his demands for freedom
and equality, in his brilliant and searing,
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,
delivered with profound irony on July 5, 1852.
He turned a traditional Independence
Day speech in Rochester, New York,
into a powerful indictment
of American democracy.
He highlighted the disharmony between a
nation that aspires to freedom and equality
and the brutal reality of slavery.
Speaking to a largely white audience,
Douglass insisted the Declaration
of Independence is the ream bolt to
the chain of your nation's destiny.
The principles contained in that
instrument are saving principles.
Stand by those principles.
Be true to them on all occasions, in all
places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.
Turning to his own position, as a
black American, Douglass continued.
The rich inheritance of justice, liberty,
prosperity, and independence bequeathed
by your fathers is shared by you not by me.
To those enslaved and denied
citizenship, because they were black,
the Fourth of July was a day that reveals
to him more than all the other days
in the year the gross injustice and
cruelty to which he is the constant victim.
Douglass was following a long tradition
of black Americans forgotten by history,
who turned to the Declaration's
principles to criticize slavery
and to expose American hypocrisy.
Acting as citizens, a status they were all too
often denied by law, they claimed the promise
of equality and demanded their fellow
Americans recall the language of their creed.
All men are created equal.
Five years after Frederick Douglass' speech,
the Supreme Court formally declared that blacks,
free or enslaved, could not be
citizens of the United States.
In the wake of the Dred Scott decision,
Douglass insisted that slavery
had mastered the constitution.
But rather than understanding the
constitution as a pro-slavery document,
a position he could have easily taken up,
Douglass insisted that properly understood
with equality at its core, it
was, in essence, anti-slavery.
The arguments Douglass made helped shape
the overarching logic of the 13th, 14th,
and 15th amendments to the constitution.
Amendment to abolished slavery, astute
citizenship, guaranteed equal protection
of the laws and granted blacks
the right to vote.
It was a step to formally completing
the incomplete constitution
of 1787, when it came to racial equality.
When Douglas escaped from
enslavement, he had his courage,
his character, and his self-education.
He had no idea his path would take him so far.
He could not have known the footprint he
would leave on history or his country.
Triumphantly, he witnessed an
emergent new birth of freedom.
Tragically, it was a fleeting moment.
Douglas lived to see his triumph erased with the
entrenchment of Jim Crow and white supremacy,
formalized in constitutional law with the
Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson,
decide a year after Douglass died.
Pause to let that sink in.
To read Douglass is to have
your conscience seared
to be swayed, odd, overwhelmed by his words.
But Douglass' cause did not
triumph in his lifetime.
Despite the justice of his cause, there was
nothing inevitable about the historical outcome.
Words on parchment are not enough on their own.
It should be a reminder to us
that democracy is not inevitable.
It is the work of generations.
It depends not only on the formalities of law
but our own attitudes and
actions to carry it forward.
Yet, let me offer you something more uplifting.
Today, when we consider constitutional
questions of equality, freedom, and citizenship,
Douglass has had a lasting
impact on our thinking.
He has certainly had a more profound influence
on our understanding of equality and citizenship
than Chief Justice Roger Taney, the
author of the Dred Scott decision,
a shameful decision the country
would prefer to forget.
Looking back, Douglass' understanding
can seem inevitable precisely
because they have shaped our
thinking, but they were not.
They were fashioned by the hard work
of building a more perfect union.
Douglass' ideas gave hope to many others
as they continued the difficult work
of bringing the promise of American
ideals into line with reality,
especially when it comes to racial equality.
In the face of uncertainty, and overwhelming
odds, like Douglass, they persisted.
I hope your liberal arts education at
CMC will help you understand the subtlety
and complexity of history.
I hope it will allow you to better understand
the present by having a sense of the past.
More than that, I hope your liberal arts
education will nourish your freedom of mind,
even as it impresses on you a sense of
obligation for shaping the world we inhabit
and share in the steps you take each day.
Before concluding, let me say a few
more words about liberal arts education.
While the world swirls around you, I hope
you on occasion remove yourself from it.
I hope you take these precious years, a
gift like nothing else you'll ever be given,
to hold the outside work at bay just a bit.
Spend some time reading literature,
debating philosophy, or exploring physics,
for no other reason that it's fascinating.
Put your phone away, take a break from social
media, and take time to get to know yourself.
Yet I saw this because I think liberal arts
education can better equip you to think
about the problems the world is facing precisely
because it allows you to
get some distance from them.
It allows you to better understand the world
you inhabit, because it does not take things
like human equality and democracy for granted.
Studying philosophy, history, and government
will illuminate that these were ideas
that had to be earned across time.
They remain in need of a defense.
We forget that at our peril.
At its best, liberal arts education is
training for democratic citizenship.
The virtues of a liberal education mirror the
characteristics required of democratic citizens,
the ability to grasp and evaluate
arguments and evidence, and to articulate
and defend ideas in a reasoned manner.
Liberal arts education will also help
you see the world through another's eyes,
a gift of sight that will
forever change your vision.
It can make the things we assume
seem strange and unfamiliar.
In my constitutional law
courses, I make my students engage
in some comparative constitutional
cases to highlight this point
so that they better understand the American
constitution by placing it in perspective.
In a similar vein, James Baldwin wrote
about how he discovered what it meant
to be an American only when he left
America and lived abroad in Paris.
He began his essay Discovering What It Means To
Be An American quoting the novelist Henry James,
a Boston brahman from a distinguished
family that included his brother,
the Harvard philosopher and
psychologist, William James.
James' rarified world was a world away from the
poverty Baldwin grew up in in Harlem, where,
incidentally, he attended
Frederick Douglass Junior High.
Much like Douglass before him, he discovered a
path to freedom and self-understanding in books.
As Baldwin wrote, this perpetual
dealing with people very different
from myself caused a shattering in me of
preconceptions I scarcely knew I held.
He encountered people whose sense of
reality is entirely different from his own.
The crucial point for Baldwin,
largely self-taught like Douglass,
was that he came to see things from another
point of view, and this forces the writer
to reconsider many things he
had always taken for granted.
This is the crucial hope of liberal education.
It can give you a deeper understanding of the
world and a deeper understanding of yourself.
Now, back to living in our historical moment.
We don't know what's next, but we do know that
the challenges we face are not as overwhelming
as what others have faced in the past.
Just think of Frederick Douglass.
The uncertainty and disruption we're
experiencing can take an awful human toll.
It can also push us to think about things
anew, forcing us to rethink our assumptions.
The mindset we nourish by way of liberal arts
education will give us the reason, character,
and humanity to make it through this time.
If we can harness the talent
and energy of our students,
we will come out of our current
moment better than we went in.
I am, in fact, most hopeful
about the future when I think
of the role CMC students
will play in shaping it.
So, in the face of uncertainty at this
historical moment, let us see the possibility.
Welcome to the new year.
Now, please join us with Elizabeth
Morgan singing Alma Mater.
[ Music ]
>> We're the sons and the daughters of Claremont
McKenna and proud of our famed alma mater.
With friends of our youth,
seeking wisdom, seeking truth,
we will lead on from Claremont McKenna.
We have Crescit Cum Commercio Civitas
As our motto at Claremont McKenna.
We always will be part of dear old
CMC, ever loyal to Claremont McKenna.
[music]
>> Good afternoon, good evening,
and good morning.
This is my first time giving a speech to
so many people in different time zones,
so I figured I should cover all my bases.
I want to warmly welcome my peers,
faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, parents,
and most of all, the newest
members of the CMC community.
Welcome Class of 2024 and
our new transfer students.
I never could have imagined
that I'd be delivering a speech
like this from my childhood bedroom.
Honestly, it's a little strange
to have my stacks of textbooks
and tax returns next to my
Legos and YMCA trophies.
Despite being a little disoriented, I am
optimistic about what this academic year holds.
If the past few months have shown me
anything, it's that CMCers are not quitters.
In fact, let me tell you a
little bit about who we are.
For one, we're innovators.
Just last week, I spoke with a student
who spent his summer developing
custom 3D printed face masks
for hospital workers across the country.
Within the college's many working groups and
committees, I'm constantly impressed by students
who creatively develop ways to make our
community more accessible and efficient.
Two, we're advocates.
Many CMC students have stepped up in the
past few months in the fight against racism
in our country, from leading
protests to sharing resources online.
In June, the [inaudible] student
governments teamed up to raise over $50,000
for five nonprofits that are
combatting racial inequality.
Three, we're scholars.
Whether it's hosting speaker series,
tracking down the election year,
or the effects of the pandemic, our
research institutes generate a ton
of academic work that's respected and
utilized by experts throughout the world.
And while we have brilliant faculty at the helm
of these projects, it's the students who are
on the ground, grinding data analysis,
conducting interviews, or scouring papers.
The students are the ones
that make it all happen.
Behind all the work that we do for the world,
perhaps the most important characteristic
that defines is that we're family.
As I enter my last year as a student, I
can tell you for sure that the friends
and mentors I've met at CMC will be
cherished for the rest of my life.
That being said, being an older
sibling for 17 long years has taught me
that even the most loving family will
experience conflict from time to time.
CMC is certainly not perfect.
Our own institution has benefitted
from systems of oppression,
and it's our responsibility
to confront and correct that.
As a student leader, this is the greatest
change that I can hope to inspire,
and I'm grateful for all the leaders
before me that have helped pave the way.
My biggest hope is that in three years,
one of the first years that's listening now
will be delivering a similar speech reflecting
on all the progress that the CMC
community has made since you first arrived.
As an institution, we should always look towards
how we can make our community more inclusive
and accessible.
Being family means we're willing to
work together, better each other,
and support our members, even
through the toughest of times.
The journey ahead will definitely
not be easy, but I'm so excited
to share this moment with you now.
To the staff, faculty, and trustees,
I hope you'll join me in my commitment
to make CMC the best that it can possibly be.
To the Class of 2024, welcome
to this beautiful community
of innovators, advocates, and scholars.
Welcome to our family.
Thank you and best of luck this year.
[ Music ]
