The Valedictories

All mankind is your brother

A little over a hundred years ago, in thetime of President Nathan Lord, eachgraduating senior was required to deliver aten-minute oration at Commencement.The benumbing proceedings lasted all day.

No longer reckoned by the rise and fallof the sun, the talks this year lasted barelyfive or six minutes. The words were aboutDartmouth and life after Dartmouth.There was no thunder from a Solzhenitsynor, for that matter, lightning from a MarkTwain. There were simply the seniorvaledictory to the College and thePresident's valedictory to the seniors.

The first was given by Douglas Wildes,of Sanford, Maine, who ranked first in hisclass with a cumulative average of 3.99 outof a possible 4.0. He combined a major inphysics and mathematics (and was active inthe Wind Ensemble and the Outing Club)and will undertake graduate study in thesame academic subjects at St. John'sCollege, Cambridge.

MEN AND WOMEN of DARTMOUTH. How many times have we heard this phrase?... have we used this phrase? And how many times have we stopped to think of what it can and does mean? I would like to use these few minutes to take "Men and Women of Dartmouth" and break it down to its constituent parts, to put it back together, and to explore how it relates to each of us here today.

Men and Women. No longer adolescents, not young adults, but Men and Women. We, as a graduating class, have come through three to four years, nine to twelve terms, at Dartmouth. We are now changing roles. No longer are we liberal, idealistic intellectuals, or radical and rebellious fraternity bro'. We are about to find long-term jobs, to enter graduate or professional school - to start our careers. We are no longer "so and so's kid, off in New Hampshire for college, helping out here for the summer." We will be recognized individuals - a career, an apartment, business contacts, social circles. We will provide the new blood, the new directions of leadership - consistent with present methods of work - for which the world is looking to us. We, Men and Women, are about to become partners in society.

Dartmouth. A college. A university. An undergraduate education, with affiliated graduate and professional programs. A small town, a rural atmosphere. A national and international blend of cultures, an intellectual center. A "country club," yet one with a definite function, both academic and social. We have learned skills, knowledge - and we have learned how to learn, to reason, to judge. We have, through our experiences, made social adjustments, gained maturity. College is a time for bacchanalian excesses, intellectual idealism, close friendships, passing acquaintanceships, long and diligent study, and punting, at any time, and for any reason. Dartmouth, undying, has given us many experiences, many memories, in guiding us toward this transition point of our lives.

Of. Webster's dictionaries give several alternate definitions. I will choose two to apply to our present discussion.

Of - "from, specif, from the whole, or total number, constituting." We are men and women, a part of Dartmouth. One fourth of her undergraduate body, about to become one 40th of her alumni. Dartmouth is people, the people that make her up students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni. She is shaped by our opinions, our interests, our actions. She is supported by our time and money, through meetings with prospective students, through activities of our Dartmouth clubs, through contributions to our Alumni Fund. Without people, there is no institution the "Spirit of Dartmouth" is the sum of the bonds which have developed between each of us.

Of - "having as a distinguishing quality or attribute; characterized by." Dartmouth will continue to affect us, to shape our lives, throughout the future. We are changing our roles, from students to co-equal partners in society. As men and women of Dartmouth, we have an education which is a known quantity in many areas of the job market. We are accepted as having met a high standard. Our Dartmouth background - the knowledge and skills learned, the attitudes and experiences gained - will" support us through our careers, our social activities, the remainder of our lives. We belong to the Dartmouth fraternity - not a house on the row, but a larger brotherhood of Men and Women students, alumni, friends - who have shared in, who can be characterized by, their Dartmouth Experience.

We are Men and Women - Of - Dartmouth. Men and Women, about to step forth into society, to become partners with our predecessors. Dartmouth - a small college - and there are those of us that love her. And a two-way connection between us: Dartmouth is her students, alumni, faculty, friends; and-we, as men and women, shall forever remain under the spell of this, our Dartmouth.

DOUGLAS G. WILDES '78

TRADITION dictates that the President of the College should have a few last words of farewell. It's always one of my most difficult assignments. After four years of education at Dartmouth what can 1 add in a very few minutes? After all, you've all just received diplomas which I've personally signed testifying to the fact that you now know all there is to know.

Strangely enough, I made a choice I've never made before, and your valedictorian seems to have made the very same choice. He chose a text, and I, too, chose a text to discuss. He chose the phrase "Men and Women of Dartmouth," and I happened to choose the Trustees' definition of the purpose of Dartmouth College: "... the education of men and women with a high potential for making a significant positive impact on society."

I chose that text because I firmly believe that your class has that high potential. You have demonstrated it in many ways during your four years at Dartmouth. The question I want to ask you now - and it is my last chance for it - is: Will you in the future live up to that potential? Will your acts in the rest of your life demonstrate the potential that we know you have? I've seen too many people of enormous ability and great talent who have wasted their talents. I hope that you will combine the potential you have with a sense of dedication without which the achievement will not occur. You will have to choose those tasks to which you want to dedicate yourself, but it is that dedication that is essential.

I know that in college there were those occasions when you could with an extra effort have gotten an A in a course, but you found it easier and more comfortable to settle for a C+. Your efforts will continue to be graded - perhaps not in letter grades - but what is less important to me than the grading the outside world will give you is the grading that you will give yourself on how satisfied you are with your own achievements. And it is on that grading scale that I hope that you will never settle for a comfortable C+.

Secondly, I want to say to you that you are certain in the coming years to run into adversity. I've had occasion to counsel with a few of you when you've felt you've gotten a particularly bad break at Dartmouth, or when an individual, or perhaps the institution, was unfair to you. Some of you, indeed, felt that that event was the end of the world. I know it is not easy to overcome such events, but human beings do have the courage to fight adversity in the outside world. The fundamental question is: Can you fight it within yourself? Because while you may win against the outside world, if you become a bitter person, resentful of everything around you, then you are going to lose the most important battle.

I know that your class has championed many causes when you were here at Dartmouth, and I hope that as individuals you will continue to do so. I hope you will make commitments in your life, and at the same time I hope that you will keep a perspec- tive, that you will not become fanatics who tear down an entire edifice because of its imperfection. I hope that your commitments will be thoughtful ones because we already have too many individuals who advocate highly oversimplified solutions to the very complex problems of our society. I hope you will always have the courage of your convictions, and I hope you will mix it with that slight doubt that just possibly the other person might be right. And I hope that as you champion causes, one of those causes will be Dartmouth.

When I pronounced that magic incantation a few minutes ago, I turned you from seniors into alumni. And I believe that the Class of 1978 as an alumni class indeed has a high potential for the future of this institution. I have watched you for four years; I've seen the many initiatives you have taken in class organization, in assuring class cohesion as perhaps no other class has tried before. I have seen the number of special projects sponsored by individuals within your class, or your entire class, and I believe you are leaving this institution as the best organized class, certainly, in the modern history of Dartmouth. Indeed, I want to make a prediction. I would like to predict that when you come back for your fifth reunion, you will find that the Class of 1983 will firmly believe that many of the things your class did for the first time are among the oldest traditions of the College.

I know you have very high potential to help this institution, but will you live up to it? Because the College needs your support - not blindly, not unquestioningly - you should ever press Dartmouth to become an even greater institution. I do know that most of you have a deep love for this college, and I hope that this love will never die.

And finally, there is that potential to help others to make that positive impact on society. You know we bring honorary degree recipients here in part because by honoring them we are honoring Dart- mouth. But in part we bring them here so that you may see examples of what it is that human beings may aspire to within their lives. And I hope that you will use your Dartmouth education above all to make this a better world. For, men and women of Dartmouth, all mankind is your brother, and you are your brother's keeper.

JOHN G. KEMENY