Thank you, Brie, for that introduction, and thanks to the colleagues and students here on stage with me. I’d also like to thank my colleagues across Grounds who have helped with move-in and numerous events to welcome you all here – I think they deserve a round of applause.
To the Class of 2029, I’m honored to serve as president and delighted to welcome you to the University of Virginia. Even though we had to move indoors today, I hope you will take a moment to appreciate this where you are receiving your education, a UNESCO World Heritage site bounded by gems of American architecture. I’m grateful every day to work in such beautiful surroundings.
But that is not really what I mean when I welcome you to the University of Virginia. A university, in its original meaning, is the collective body of teachers and students who engage in higher education. As of today, you are a member of that collective body. You are the University of Virginia. Every one of you.
In the next four years, you will grow intellectually, socially, and personally. You will make lifelong friends. You will be exposed to new ideas. You will debate, discuss, analyze, and contemplate. You will probably look back on these years as some of the most impactful and enjoyable of your life, if the experiences of those who have preceded you are any indicator. I hope very much that you do, and my colleagues and I will do everything we can to support your growth and well-being during your time on Grounds.
You have worked hard to get to where you are today. What is the purpose? Or, put differently, why does the University of Virginia exist? One answer is personal to you. A college degree opens many doors. On average, more education is associated with higher earnings and longer and healthier lives. Education can also make you a better person, a point to which I’ll return in a minute.
An alternative answer is social. Universities prepare students to contribute to the well-being of their fellow citizens as leaders, entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors, lawyers, artists, writers, researchers, and other essential roles. A more educated society is a more dynamic society, better prepared to face large-scale challenges and seize emerging opportunities.
You will encounter in UVA’s classrooms the ancient and fundamental debate over the primacy of individual versus collective goals. But when it comes to the purpose of this university, there is no conflict between the two. Each of you is an end, not just a means; the University exists in large part to help you develop your full potential. Yet we also recognize that developing your full potential is beneficial to the larger society. The University’s founder, Thomas Jefferson, believed that education was essential to the maintenance of freedom and representative government.
Indeed, part of our stated mission is to train what we call “citizen leaders.” Does this mean that each of you should aspire or expect to become an elected official or a CEO? Not at all. But each of you will be members of numerous communities—your family, your workplace, your neighborhood, perhaps a religious community, social organizations, or other groups. You should aspire to be actively engaged in those communities and to do your best to help them flourish. In them, you will lead not by issuing commands, but by setting an example, rolling up your sleeves, and doing what needs to be done, which is leadership at its best. And indeed, you do not need to wait until graduation to practice such leadership. There are more than 800 student organizations on Grounds and many opportunities to join in UVA’s long and proud tradition of student self-governance. We do not just hope that you will lead while you are here; we expect you to.
Having talked about why you are here, let me turn to another important question: How can you make the most of it? I encourage you to get outside your comfort zone. Get to know people with whom you think you have little in common. Try things that you haven’t done before. And take courses that challenge you.
It is also customary on these occasions to urge you to find your passion. I will not do so because it isn’t practical advice. Some of you will become intensely focused on a specific area of study or activity, and others won’t. Either is perfectly fine, and you may not discover which category you fit into for some time.
So instead, I urge you to find your curiosity—and then satisfy it. What specific knowledge will be most useful to you after graduation? Given the pace of technological, social, and economic change, that question is almost impossible to answer. If we could travel back in time a mere ten years and ask the incoming students, “how many of you will routinely use artificial intelligence in your work?”, perhaps a dozen hands would have raised. All we can say confidently is that the ability to think critically, creatively, and deeply will serve you well in work and in life.
I therefore suggest that you seek out a liberal education. By that I mean simply that you should consider your time here as a voyage of discovery and not merely preparation for a career. Whether inside the classroom or out, take time to consider the most fundamental questions of our existence: What is virtue? What is truth? What is beauty? What does it mean to live a good life?
We are fortunate at UVA to have a wealth of exceptional teachers who are ready to guide you through these eternal questions and who also care deeply about their students. Your experience will be enriched if you do not merely take their courses but also get to know them.
Among your classmates and professors, you will encounter people whose most deeply held convictions and values differ from yours. That, too, is part of a rich educational experience, as is learning to disagree without insult or acrimony.
Again, let me offer some advice to help you navigate these differences. It helps to frame conversations around ideas, not personalities. Make it a point to say, “I think that idea is wrong for the following reasons” rather than “I think you are wrong.” It drives home the point that you can respect the other person even as you disagree. Perhaps you will even discover that you like the other person despite your disagreement. To rule out friendship and camaraderie with those who do not share your opinions and values often harms you more than it does them.
Finally, back your arguments with logic and evidence, not outrage or scorn. Explain why you find your position persuasive. And listen thoughtfully and respectfully when someone else explains why they find a different position persuasive. Today you will pledge to follow UVA’s honor code. The underlying idea is simple: you will promise not to lie, cheat, or steal. By making a public declaration of your commitment not to lie, cheat, or steal, you enter a community of trust. A reputation for trustworthiness will serve you long after your formal education is over. It will constitute a valuable asset in your professional and personal lives, as valuable as anything you will learn here. And, as I’m sure you’ve heard many times before, once broken, trust is very difficult to reestablish. Commit to yourself that you will do everything in your power not to break it.
That leads me to a final observation about the journey before you. For most of you, college will mark a transition from being a teenager subject to parental oversight to being an autonomous adult. You will live and study in a large community, which necessarily means following a set of rules. There are things you may not do, including lying, cheating, and stealing. There are things you must do, such as register for your courses in a timely manner.
In between lies a broad range of activities that are neither required nor prohibited. You will have more freedom than you are perhaps used to. Exercising that freedom, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes is an unavoidable part of the process of becoming an adult.
These experiences will lead you to a personal code of conduct. Your personal code of conduct is simply a way of identifying those things that you have a right to do but nevertheless will not do, and those things that you are not required to do but will make a habit of doing. You have a right to fling anonymous insults at people online. Perhaps you will decide not to. You are not required to assist a classmate who is feeling overwhelmed. Perhaps you will choose to do so. These habits are an important part of the way that you will answer one of life’s most important questions: Am I a good person?
Let me accordingly end this speech, as we end so many on these Grounds, with a quote from Thomas Jefferson, in a letter written to a nephew: “Above all things, lose no occasion of exercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be charitable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly, courageous, etc. Consider every act of this kind as an exercise which will strengthen your moral faculties and increase your worth.”
With that, Class of 2029, I wish you the very best of luck. I’m delighted that you are here, and I have no doubt that you will change UVA for the better, just as it will change you. Thank you.
And now, I’m delighted to welcome my colleague Vice President and Chief Student Affairs Officer Kenyon Bonner. Kenyon?