Matriculation Address 2003

August 27, 2003

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the faculty, staff and administration, the Board of Trustees who are represented here today by someone much beloved by all the alumni in the crowd, Dean Emeritus Bernie Harleston, but most importantly, to the members of the class of 2007, welcome to the Hill. Welcome to the start of what I hope will be four years of extraordinary personal and intellectual growth. Welcome to Tufts.

You have all taken a long journey to get here. You have traveled from far and wide, from 46 states and 42 countries. You have studied hard, and survived a college admissions process that is grueling for students and parents alike. But all those college tours, dreadful college essays, and college interviews are now behind you. You have survived seemingly endless discussions with your parents about what to buy, what to bring, and whether all your stuff would all fit into whatever vehicle you used to get here. At least a few of you spent enough in the last week preparing to come to college that you could have single-handedly lifted many small nations out of recession.

I suspect many of you have had poignant conversations with your parents in which they cautioned you about behaving responsibly, about studying hard, about avoiding some of the temptations that you are certain to encounter while living on your own. Some of you may even have extracted a promise from your folks that they would not cry when they said goodbye, lest they embarrass you. To all the parents assembled, I now grant you a special Presidential release from all such promises. They are still your kids. When the time comes, hug them, hold them tight, and cry if you want.

In short, the long journey that has brought you to Tufts is about to end. But as is so often true in life, the end of one journey is the start of another. What will you make of this new journey? What challenges and opportunities await you in the next four years?

You are entering Tufts at a remarkable time in history. We face so many profound challenges that cry out for new knowledge, understanding, and creativity. At Tufts, you will have the opportunity to explore these questions through your coursework and through collaboration with the faculty. You are fortunate to be attending a research university where the faculty are true teacher-scholars. Teaching at Tufts is not something faculty do in their spare time. Our faculty teach because they love students, and draw energy and strength from their daily interaction with you. But they are also serious scholars of their disciplines, working at the cutting edge of their fields. Virtually all are passionate about their research. If you want to get to know your professors well, just ask them what excites them about their scholarship. Then sit back, fasten your seat belt, and keep your hands inside the ride. You will be treated to an animated discussion that I hope will prove infectious.

My own life was changed by just such a conversation. I recall timidly going up to one of my professors after an economics class my sophomore year. I had a question about a footnote in a reading. Much to my surprise, the professor invited me back to his office to chat. What followed was a lively conversation about a then emerging field in economics - game theory. He encouraged me to explore the subject jointly with him. We spent the next four months working on it together. It was from him that I learned to appreciate the joy of discovery. He also taught me that if I applied the same intensity of effort to intellectual pursuits that I had previously only devoted to a few girls and some sports, I could generate ideas that would be of great interest to others. This professor became my mentor and lifelong friend. I am an academic because of him.

This past year we created a new program to encourage this type of student-faculty interaction. It is called the Summer Scholars Program, and it underwrites stipends for undergraduates working collaboratively with faculty at each of our eight schools and four affiliated teaching hospitals. Your fellow Tufts students worked this past summer with faculty on an astonishing array of topics: Joel Wertheimer collaborated with Professor Erin Kelly of the Philosophy Department on research related to moral responsibility and punishment. Jennifer Cho worked with Dr. Cynthia Cole, a neonatologist at Tufts-New England Medical Center, to explore how oxygen therapy influences the health of premature infants. Gabriela Soriano collaborated with Professor Wendy Qiu at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy to investigate the relationship between insulin, cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer Disease. And Rachel Jarvis worked with Professor Edith Balbach in the Department of Community Health to try to understand how the tobacco industry specifically markets to women. I could easily describe 25 additional projects. To get the most out of Tufts you must take advantage of opportunities like these.

Not all of the learning that goes on at Tufts occurs in the classroom or the laboratory. Some of the most valuable lessons you are likely to learn will be taught elsewhere: on the playing fields, on the stage, in your living groups, or in the 168 student organizations that thrive on this campus. In these activities you will learn the value of teamwork, leadership, preparation, management, and getting people with very different views to pull together to achieve a common purpose. These are all life skills that are essential for success in virtually any field of endeavor.

No doubt many of you have elected to study at Tufts in part because we are located so close to Boston. Get to know the city. It is one of the great cities of the world, rich in culture and texture. Attend a concert at Symphony Hall. Take in an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts - admission is free to all Tufts students. Get yourself to the Gardner Museum and see the Italian villa that Mrs. Jack built along the Fenway, complete with one of the most extraordinary private art collections ever assembled. As long as you are on a culture tour, take in Fenway Park, home of our beloved Boston Red Sox. (Yes, even Yankee fans are welcome.) It is one of the best places to watch a baseball game, anywhere. Try to become familiar with the history of the city and its surrounding neighborhoods. Within walking distance of this campus you can see Royall House where slaves were once quartered, the path taken by Paul Revere on his famous ride, and the Minuteman Trail along which the colonists battled the British on their retreat from Lexington and Concord on April 18, 1775.

Of course, Boston still celebrates Patriot's Day. On this date every year Boston has one of the largest block parties in the world organized around the running of the Boston Marathon. Literally a million people turn out to cheer 20,000 runners as they make their way from Hopkinton to Boston, a distance of 26 miles, 385 yards. Last year I led a team of 40 students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents in running the race. We trained together throughout the year and we were cheered on by hundreds of Tufts volunteers who lined the course handing out water to all the runners on race day. If any of you are interested in running the race, start training. I am planning to do it again this year. And even if you are not a marathoner, feel free to join me on one of my morning runs at 6AM. I don't run every day. My knees won't take it. So if you want to run, send me an email and we will find a time. This offer extends to parents as well.

One reason why you have come to Tufts is to be exposed to people who are different from you. We value and embrace diversity because we learn from our differences. Too often we take much for granted about our own view of the world. It is only when we confront others who see the world through different eyes that we come to understand our own assumptions, biases, and expectations.

Each year Adele and I invite every member of the senior class to dinner at our home, Gifford House, during spring semester. At these dinners, held over a two-week span, we invite students to share with us their most memorable experience from their four years at Tufts. The stories we hear are quite wonderful, but one from last year stands out. A member of the football team - a very large, muscular young man from Michigan - described meeting his roommate on matriculation day - a skinny, bookish student from Hong Kong who spoke a very heavily accented English. As the student explained, he immediately thought about requesting a change. It seemed the two roommates had nothing in common except that they were both first year students at Tufts. You can imagine how this story ends. Even though they traveled in different social circles on campus, they became fast friends. The student from Michigan learned much about life in Asia, and even entered and won the Asian-American Jeopardy contest sponsored by the Asian-American Club. We can only begin to imagine what the young man from Hong Kong learned from this relationship.

Go out of your way to seek out those who are different from you. You will be amazed at what you learn, and also what you have to teach.

Great universities like Tufts also encourage open and free expression of all sorts of ideas. We do not embrace orthodoxy of thought, either from the left or the right. Occasionally, passions will run high as people debate the issues of the moment. You may even find that people will sometimes express ideas that make you uncomfortable or that you find offensive. Tufts is not a precious place, devoid of controversy. Indeed, life here would be terribly dull if we all agreed. One sign of intellectual maturity is to be able to accept an intellectual challenge without interpreting it as a personal affront. Your responsibility as a citizen of Tufts is to treat others with civility and respect.

As you sit here today, you join a wonderful tradition of alumni who have preceded you on the Hill. You already owe much to these alums. The reputation that Tufts enjoys is largely due to their considerable accomplishments. Let me mention just a few ways that they are shaping the world. When you trade on eBay, you are encountering the handiwork of its founder, Pierre Omidyar, '88. When you read the New York Times, you are reading a paper published by Arthur Sulzberger, '74. Do you like the music of Tracy Chapman? She graduated from Tufts in 1986. Are you a fan of David Letterman, Everybody Loves Raymond, or Ed? They are all produced by Rob Burnett, '84. For baseball fans, Wendy Selig-Prieb, '82 is the only woman to run a professional baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers. When you watch the Democratic National Convention next year, its chairman will be another alum, Bill Richardson, '70, Governor of New Mexico, and former Secretary of Energy and Ambassador to the UN. I could go on. I fully expect that some day either I or one of my successors will be describing your accomplishments to successive generations of Tufts students. May you find your inspiration here at Tufts.

The 82,000 Tufts alumni, who are represented here today by the President of the Alumni Association, Alan MacDougall, are a tremendous resource to you. Already, they have interviewed you, helped to erect buildings on this campus, and have underwritten scholarships that support your education. In the future, they will be an important source of career advice and contacts. In their own way, each is carrying on a wonderful Tufts tradition that we hope you will continue: that each generation helps to provide for the next. Wherever you go in the world, there will be fellow Tufts alums there ready to help.

Class of 2007, in the next few hours you will say goodbye to your friends and family. You will truly be on your own. No one will tell you when to study, what to eat, or when to go to sleep. If your roommate will tolerate the mess, no one will even tell you to clean up your room. If you are sick, it will be your responsibility to go to the infirmary. Part of what you are here to learn is to make these choices and others responsibly. We have great confidence in your ability to do so.

There may be times when you are tempted to engage in activities that may seem fun at the moment, but that would put you at risk. Please think twice before doing so. If you must ask yourself whether it is wise to do something, it probably is not. Similarly, if you would have a hard time explaining your contemplated actions to your mother, please take a pass.

I must also tell you that Tufts is not a consequence-free zone. You cannot expect to flaunt the law or behave in ways that would get you in trouble elsewhere and get a free pass merely because you are a tuition-paying Tufts student. Part of growing up is learning to take responsibility for your actions. We expect that you be the type of person that you described in your application. The admissions office assures me that none of you claimed to be loud, obnoxious, and offensive to your neighbors. We don't expect you to behave that way here either.

You have been prepared well for this day by your parents, family and friends. They have raised you to be independent men and women. Many of your parents have also sacrificed enormously so that you may enjoy the privilege of a Tufts education. Honor their sacrifice by making the most of this extraordinary opportunity.

I have a favor to ask of each of you. Please stay in touch with your families. Like you they are going through a period of adjustment. Since the day they brought you home from the hospital you have been the center of their lives.

Now you must learn to live independently, and they must adjust to a life in which you are no longer a constant presence. While you have advisors, deans, peer leaders and others to help you make the transition to college, your families are on their own. It is up to you to help them through this period of adjustment. Send them email. Give them a call. They will also deeply appreciate the occasional letter.

And now a word for the parents: Being a parent is not always easy. For most of us, it is the most challenging and rewarding job we will ever undertake. The fact that your sons and daughters are matriculating at Tufts is evidence that you have done your job well. However, while I am certain that you are enormously proud of your kids, no doubt today is a day of mixed emotions. My wife Adele and I understand how you feel.

Last year at this time, we put our youngest son on an airplane to spend his junior year abroad. With him went our hopes and aspirations, and what remained behind was our anxiety. No doubt you are anxious about whether your children are ready, whether they are prepared for all that awaits them, whether they will act with maturity, whether they will use good judgment. We all raise our children to be independent, yet when they reach the moment when they are ready to spread their wings our natural inclination is to cling to them.

I must now ask you to do the hardest thing you have ever done as a parent. Let go. Let your kids fight their own battles. Learning to deal with a large organization is another useful life skill that they will master at Tufts, if you let them. You must trust your sons and daughters to make the right choices. Of course they will make mistakes. We did too when we were their age. But you must also give them the space and the opportunity to learn from their errors. Rest assured they will remember the lessons that you, their first teachers, have taught them. And of course, we are here to help.

This is a caring place, a good place. All of us at Tufts are here to help your sons and daughters continue to grow and learn, to build upon the wonderful foundation that you have so lovingly provided to them.

So, members of the Class of 2007, welcome and congratulations! Your time has come. I speak for the entire faculty and staff of this great university when I say we are delighted to have you join this special community and to take your place on the Hill. We look forward to getting to know you, to teaching you, to learning from you and with you. May your next four years be filled with challenge, opportunity, growth, and fulfillment.

Good luck to you all.