Remarks of President William G. Durden '71

Before proceeding, I would like to continue another important Dickinson tradition. Members of the Class of 2003, you owe a significant debt to your families and loved ones—those who have made it possible through their love, guidance and support for you to be here today. Please rise and join me in giving them a round of applause.

Four years ago, you walked up these Old Stone Steps to begin your lives as Dickinsonians. During the past four years, you have had the opportunity and the privilege of receiving one of the finest and most distinctive liberal arts educations in the world. On perhaps just one or two occasions during these years, you may have heard me mention our founder, Dr. Benjamin Rush. A committed revolutionary and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Rush founded our College in the closing days of the American Revolution for the most important purpose imaginable—to prepare those citizens and leaders who would ensure the success of the new democracy.

Rush believed that the type of education Dickinsonians should receive would be markedly different from anything that currently existed. In Europe, Rush encountered an education that was rooted in the past, perceived as ornamental and ancillary, and reserved for those of wealth and privilege. This approach may have been appropriate in a country ruled by a monarch, but in a democracy, Rush maintained, an education must, above all, be useful.

A Dickinson education, according to Rush, was to be rigorous and draw upon existing knowledge. But more importantly, it was to be contemporary, innovative and forward-looking. Dickinson students should study the modern languages and emerging sciences. They should be perpetually curious and stretch their minds to make unusual intellectual connections to create new knowledge. They must maximize the connectivity that springs from this emerging knowledge to advance the welfare of the new nation and those who inhabit it. And, in the true spirit of democracy, Dickinson students should willingly embrace contemporary challenges and differences of opinion to find the consensus that would restore unity of purpose.

Rush lived his entire life with revolutionary gusto—always speaking out and taking a stand on issues that mattered. He was an early and vocal opponent of slavery and capital punishment. He advocated strongly for the education of women and for a strong educational system that would extend from the lower levels through college. As a doctor and early member of the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania school of medicine, he was one of the first proponents of public health policies and practices and he was committed to the care of the mentally ill.

Rush’s vision of a Dickinson education and his personal example continue to guide us. The College remains deeply committed to this enlightened revolutionary frame of mind. At Dickinson, students and faculty join to form a community of inquiry where differing, yet informed opinions clash and where the resulting discomfort is viewed as a creative source for new knowledge. It is a community where sacredly held notions are challenged and, if found wanting, are replaced by useful alternatives. It is a community that rejects superstition. And it is, above all, a community where the basic democratic principles that unite disparate individuals are established and held inviolate.

Throughout the past four years, you have been encouraged both in and out of the classroom to explore and understand the most challenging and serious issues of the day. You have learned how important it is to be civil and respectful of the opinions of others while remaining firm in your own convictions. You have grown to appreciate that the world seeks informed, logically-expressed opinions. You have been given the opportunity to engage the world—globally and locally—through study abroad experiences, internships, service activities and fieldwork. Through your academic forays into various courses and disciplines, you have charted your own intellectual journey, making unusual and unique connections along the way. You have lived and studied with a group of students from increasingly diverse backgrounds and you have learned that, together, you can create your own democratic community. And, in so doing, you have learned that democracy is not always a flawless or purely comfortable process.

In just a few short hours, you will process down these Old West Stone Steps and leave Dickinson as undergraduate students, but you will always be Dickinsonians. I ask you to look down and read on the first step etched by a former student—J.H.A.—with the date 1856—the exact year Dickinson alumnus, James Buchanan, was the president of the United States. Benjamin Rush’s legacy to you is also a responsibility. You are the intellectual heirs of our grand revolutionary tradition. Dickinson has prepared you for lives of leadership and service but it is up to you to translate and apply the qualities, abilities and attributes of a Dickinson education to your communities and your workplace.

I am reminded, as I deliver these words, that I must inject a note of seriousness into this day of celebration. The world that you are about to enter is a daunting one—full of unprecedented challenges and complexities that present problems as well as enormous opportunity. It is a world that is marked by rapid and radical change, national and global dynamism, uncomfortable uncertainty and piercing, unpredictable devastation. Those who will successfully navigate its challenges will be those who can connect the dots when others see only chaos. They will be those who know how important it is to be informed and to understand issues from all perspectives. They will also be those who are able to separate the wheat from the chaff and identify lines of thought and action that are prudent and productive. And they will be those who are not afraid to take a firm stand and speak out in support of their convictions. Dickinson has prepared you for this journey and the College can continue to remain an active part of your life.

Through modern technology and return visits to campus, we invite you to remain engaged as a member of our community of inquiry. Follow the College’s debates on the Web, stay in touch via e-mail, join our on-line “weigh-ins,” and attend our lectures and workshops. Work with your former professors and the Career Center to engage an active, extensive and accomplished Dickinson alumni network. Feel free to join our common reading project next fall—an unprecedented partnership with Atlantic Monthly that will revolve around a series of articles entitled “The Real State of the Nation.” And plan to follow the publications and activities of the Clarke Center as it focuses next year on the theme “For Richer or Poorer: Globalization under Attack” and the following year on the topic of “Religion and Political Power.”

There is perhaps no individual that has done more to use technology to keep Americans informed and engaged than our Commencement speaker, Brian Lamb, Founder and CEO of C-Span. In some ways, Brian Lamb is a modern-day Benjamin Rush. Rush firmly believed that Dickinson’s proximity to the Cumberland County courthouse was one of its greatest assets. Productive citizens, Rush believed, must be fully informed and he expected Dickinson students to spend afternoons in the courthouse as keen observers of the political and judicial process.

Brian Lamb has brought this conception into our living rooms and has given Americans an unfiltered, unedited look at how their democracy functions. Brian Lamb, in the direct spirit of Benjamin Rush, understands that Americans must be informed, engaged, interested and active if our democracy is to succeed. Benjamin Rush would be pleased and we are honored to bring Mr. Lamb officially into the Dickinson community today.

In recent decades, too many Americans have displayed a political complacency that is not only disturbing, but also potentially destructive. The global challenges that now confront us demand that we recommit ourselves to our democracy where dissent is as valuable as assent. As you earn your Dickinson degree, you are also making a commitment to a life of leadership in the 21st century. As you set forth from these limestone walls:

•Engage the United States in thought and action by making it a priority to learn how America thinks, acts and relates to the world;

•Engage the World in thought and action by making it a priority to learn how those from other cultures think, act and relate to the United States;

•Make meaningful and innovative connections through thought and action among intellectual disciplines, people, cultures, faiths, ideas and aspirations; and

•Commit to a lifetime of active and useful learning that absorbs and challenges inherited wisdom and creates new knowledge for the betterment of society.

As recent graduates, you will find comfort and assistance in the worldwide network of Dickinsonians who are waiting to welcome you. You will rise to the formidable challenges of the 21st century and through your many accomplishments and achievements, you will lead lives of personal and professional fulfillment and thereby perpetuate the historic and revolutionary tradition that is distinctively Dickinson’s. I wish you well and I congratulate you on a job well done.

As Benjamin Rush wrote about himself as a signer of the Declaration of Independence and with remarkable brevity, you can then say about yourselves, “You aimed well” and are to leave your mark.

Back to Commencement
Back to Home Page