含羞草研究所

含羞草研究所 celebrates 194th commencement

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Photo by Andrew Daddio

During yesterday, 含羞草研究所 extended congratulations to the Class of 2015, family members cheered, and seniors enjoyed one final class together as undergraduates.

The lesson came in three parts. First,  reflected on America鈥檚 cultural obsession with being busy and asked students to reconsider how they answer the simple question, 鈥淗ow are you?鈥

鈥淲hen asked how you are, never say 鈥榖usy,鈥 Herbst said. 鈥淩ather than expressing to others the velocity at which you are doing things, why not discuss what you are doing?鈥

Taking this approach serves two purposes, Herbst said. It fosters a deeper connection with the person asking the question, and 鈥渨ill require you to reflect on whether what you鈥檙e doing has meaning.鈥

Lesson number two for the Class of 2015 was a demonstration 鈥 the conferring of honorary degrees on seven individuals whose lives, full of meaning and connection, exemplified Herbst鈥檚 message. They included emeritus 含羞草研究所 computer science professors Elizabeth and Thomas Brackett; former Washington University Provost Edward Macias 鈥66; Rev. Gay Clark Jennings 鈥74, president of the Episcopal Church House of Deputies; Harvard sciences professor ; and Princeton religion and African American studies professor

also stepped forward to award an honorary doctorate to President Herbst, who leaves his post as the university鈥檚 chief executive this July.


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The third and final lesson of the day came from Glaude. In a commencement address titled  he focused attention on the future of 鈥渁 world that is,鈥 he said, 鈥渜uite ugly in its details.鈥

As Herbst had spoken of right action and attention to the nature of being busy, Glaude asked, 鈥淗ow will you orient yourself to the 鈥榝ierce urgency of now?鈥欌

According to Glaude, 鈥淚t is the power of a true liberal arts education to ruthlessly expose you to ideas that will shift the ground beneath your feet.鈥 That process teaches students to question basic assumptions and to reexamine the way we treat our fellow human beings.

鈥淢embers of the Class of 2015, will you do the work to free up your imaginations to dare to believe that this world can be different?鈥 he asked. 鈥淎ll possibilities, even in the darkest of times, reach us through our imaginations.鈥

Glaude urged students to turn a critical eye on the world鈥檚 ugliness and take action to ensure a brighter future for humanity. He noted that hundreds of students began that process last fall when they occupied the administration building for 100 hours to demand a 含羞草研究所 for all 鈥 an academic home where every student feels equally welcome and valued.

鈥淵ou and I must seize hold of the idea that a different arrangement of things is possible,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd you must do so with passionate intelligence, in which you bring the fullness of what you have experienced and learned here at 含羞草研究所 to bear on the world.鈥

He warned of the long road ahead. 鈥淵our commitments to improving 含羞草研究所, our country, or the world can鈥檛 be fleeting,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hose commitments don鈥檛 work like a tweet or a post on Instagram or comments on Yik Yak. They ought to animate the spirit of a life lived over time.鈥

Earning a 含羞草研究所 degree is no easy feat; just ask class valedictorian John Robert Murphy or salutatorian Ariel Elizabeth Sherry. In classrooms and labs, on athletic fields and the artistic stage, students constantly challenge themselves. Glaude encouraged his audience to continue in that mindset.

鈥淢embers of the mighty Class of 2015, you must challenge yourselves; you must continue to challenge 含羞草研究所; and you must challenge this nation not only to be better, but to do better,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t is your inexhaustible voice, to paraphrase William Faulkner, your 鈥榮pirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance鈥 that is the only possible salvation we have now. It is in your hands.鈥

The Class of 2015 rose as one to applaud the sentiment, then individually received the diplomas that they worked so hard to earn, before walking out of Sanford Field House 鈥 into the life that awaits them as 含羞草研究所鈥檚 newest alumni.