九色视频

Members of the Board of Trustees, the faculty and staff, distinguished guests, new recipients of graduate degrees and the Class of 2025, I am honored to present some brief remarks on the occasion of this Commencement.

It's a thrill for me to stand before you among these distinguished educators. They know that questions about education have only become more urgent these days, especially in the face of authoritarianism that challenges not only expertise, but even the value of freedom, freedom of inquiry and expression—both of which are deeply tied to diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Free expression depends on a diversity of viewpoints to be meaningful, otherwise we have only an echo chamber. In recent years, universities have undermined our own arguments for diversity by not working hard enough to promote intellectual heterogeneity on our campuses. The soft despotism of shared opinion has a counter-educational effect. In the humanities and interpretive social sciences, especially, the student doesn’t hear enough dissenting views when departments hire only faculty with whom they are comfortable politically. Teaching suffers when political views pass as dogma in the classroom. Complexity is given short shrift when progressive pieties—any pieties— are presented as conclusions.

Free expression becomes powerful when the commitment to diversity creates dynamic yet safe enough spaces for people with very different views to explore those differences. That doesn’t mean one needs to allow threats and harassment. It doesn’t mean we should join in the puerile scapegoating of trans people and immigrants by those with fearful power. But it does mean that many views that might disturb us will get a hearing. We might discover we were wrong to dismiss those ideas or learn why those ideas have been persuasive to others. We might discover something about ourselves and the community to which we belong.

Inclusion, or belonging, is also an important value connected to free speech. In successful courses, students are much more likely to have difficult conversations once they have established a sense of community in the classroom. Once everyone feels included in a shared endeavor, once they feel they belong, they are better able to take a stand in opposition to others, or to explore ideas that might have otherwise seemed unmentionable. When people are strangers to one another, or when they have deep-seated suspicions of one another, the commitment to free speech is not nearly as productive as it is when folks have a common purpose.

Free speech yields a healthy bounty if diversity and belonging are in the soil. It is also vital to ensure that access to speaking and the ability to be heard are open to all. Free speech needs basic fairness to be a meaningful value. If a few people talk over everyone else in a classroom, nobody learns very much. Good teachers find ways to keep those people engaged, but not let their engagement make it less likely that others will learn. Ideally, they see the fairness in this, and others will be encouraged to play a role in the conversation. That's what equity looks like in the classroom.

Freedom of expression is vital for educational institutions—as are diversity, inclusion, and equity. That’s why the recent attacks on DEI are so misguided. Of course, we should practice anti-discrimination, but that won’t be enough to create the heterogeneity out of which a robust education grows. We need safe enough spaces for people from diverse backgrounds with a mix of ideas to learn from one another with courage and resilience, and we must ensure that access to those spaces and conduct within them are fair. We know how to do this without demonizing minority groups or minority opinions. We know how to do this without stirring up engagement through rage, scapegoating, and hatred. And we can do it, as long as we resist the attempts by politicians and their billionaire allies to drown us out with invective and fear mongering.

Practicing education is like practicing democracy—both are collaborative, experimental paths of improvement, both depend on inclusion rather than segregation. And both are now very much endangered. If we don’t defend education and protect democracy we will lose them as vital parts of our American heritage. Beware of those who are afraid of those experiments; stand up against those who fear fluidity, who ban books, who are frightened by diversity, free expression, and creative transformation. Pay attention to and learn from those whose views are different from your own, especially when they are suffering. Paying attention is the foundation for education as the practice of freedom, helping us build new communities.

Some of you who graduate today will have felt the power of this already; some will feel it years from now. This graduate, from 1978, feels it still.

Over these past four years, I have learned from many of you in my classes, in your roles in student government, and, yes, even in your demonstrations. In your courageous company I am encouraged to believe that we may yet be able to build a politics and a culture characterized by compassionate solidarity rather than fear and resentment. I know that you will find new ways to make connections across cultural borders—new ways to build community. And when this happens, you will feel the power and the promise of your education. And we, your Wesleyan family, we will be proud of how you keep your education alive by making it effective in the world.

It’s been nearly four years since we unloaded cars together right here on campus, since the great flood of your first week. It seems like a very short time ago. As you prepare to depart, please remember that no matter how far you travel, you will always have a home here 九色视频. Wherever your exciting pursuits lead you, please come back to alma mater. Come back often to share your news, your memories, and your dreams. Thank you and good luck!