Valedictory to '73

MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF 1973:

It is an awesome task for the President of the College to be given a few minutes at the close of Commencement to explain to the Senior Class the meaning of four years of education and to give them advice for the rest of their lives. It is clear that no person is up to that task.

Instead, I tried to think of one thing I could say in the closing moments of the ceremony that might be meaningful to you and possibly useful for your future. You had an opportunity here for a fine liberal arts education, whether you took advantage of it or not. If there is a single thought I would like you to carry away with you, I hope it would be a respect for truth.

I would like to say a few words about truth. There is a great capacity for human beings to deceive themselves. We see the world as we want to see it. We form friendships with others whose beliefs are identical with our own so that we may continue to tell each other how right we are and how wrong everyone else is.

I would like to give you a small parting gift by sharing a secret with you. It has been rumored on campus during this academic year that I and my family moved out of the President's House at the beginning of the year. I heard it first last fall and again as recently as Friday. Many of you may have been wondering where we have been living and I thought that since you are now leaving, I ought to let you in on the secret: We have been living in the President's House for the past three years. We are living there now, and we hope to continue to live there for at least a few more years.

The last time I revealed that "secret" to an undergraduate he looked me in the eye and I thought it was only politeness that prevented him from calling me a liar. He had heard the rumor from so many different people that he thought he surely knew the truth. That particular rumor has always been a source of amusement to me. There have been others, just as untrue, that have not been equally amusing. But this is not the occasion to discuss them.

I do hope that as you gain a little perspective after leaving Dartmouth you will find time in your mind to disentangle the truth about the College from that fictionalized version of Dartmouth that some undergraduates are so fond of. I hope you will see the College as it is, with its very great strengths and with its shortcomings.

Truth can be harsh and lies comforting. But there is something about deception which destroys the nature of human beings. I must say that of all the national events of the past decade or so, the ones that frightened me most were those where I felt I had no idea of what the truth was.

But there are other forms of deception that are perhaps even more dangerous. We tend not to look at people as individuals, but as stereotypes. The most ancient of these are the religious stereotypes, held by those who say they know what "all Jews" or “all Catholics" are like. This kind of religious prejudice seems to be unshakable by the truth. Second, there are the stereotypes of race, the prejudice against someone of a different color. Some human beings need to build up their egos by finding groups they can look down on. Third, there are the stereotypes of the sexes as you, the women of the Class of 1973, are well aware. These stereotypes are pernicious for both sexes. At least with racial and religious prejudice, we do not insist that all people we meet live up to our pre-formed notions. But with sex stereotypes we do precisely that. If men and women do not live up to narrowly defined sex roles, society can apply the most terrible sanctions. I do not know why it is that, in the question of sex, we seem to have such difficulty in facing the truth.

I would now like to turn to a different kind of stereotype, that of the undergraduate's view of the alumnus. I know many of you have talked about what "they," the alumni, are like. But a few moments ago I pronounced a magic incantation that changed you in a split second from seniors to alumni and alumnae. You are now "they"! And the truth is that without the support of the alumni – and now the alumnae – this College cannot survive. I'm not asking you for a large financial donation – that can wait until next year – but your service to the College is essential.

I feel there are certain services for which the youngest of the alumni classes are perhaps best qualified, and I would like to single out one such service: the identification and recruitment of good students for the College. I know many of you would like to shape Dartmouth – one way or the other – and that is your privilege. But I would say to you that there is no more effective way to shape the College than to play an active role in the recruitment of students you feel are well qualified to come to Dartmouth.

I make two appeals to the women of the graduating class. Since you are the first ones who can tell women candidates what it is truly like here, I hope you will tell it as it is, both the good and the bad. Also, as the first women of the first coeducational class in the history of the College, I know you felt like pioneers and may feel your work is now over. However, I hope you will be willing to work with the alumni clubs of the College to prepare them for the coming of hundreds, and eventually thousands, of alumnae who will follow you.

My final word to you, members of the Class of 1973, is to try to be truthful about mankind. Do not close your eyes to the faults of Man; do not ignore the great problems of the nation and the world; do not practice the very common deception where you convince yourself the problems are so great that you have an excuse for a life of selfishness devoted totally to pleasure. For the truth is that there is nothing more satisfying in life than being able to help fellow human beings.

Men and women of Dartmouth: all mankind is your brother and you are your brother's keeper.