| |
Comment on this article
Laboratory
for Free Expression
Baccalaureate
Address: May 24 & 25, 2003
Summer 2003
by Richard C. Levin
Four
years ago, when I welcomed you at your Freshman Assembly, I reflected the widespread optimism that accompanied our entry into
a new millennium. I spoke of the potential of the Information Revolution
to raise the standard of living here and around the world, and I
heralded the coming Genetics Revolution and its potential for dramatic
improvement in human health. I suggested that the economic and social
impact of these developments would equal or exceed that of the Industrial
Revolution of the 18th century, the building of the railroads in
the 19th century, and the invention and diffusion of the automobile
in the 20th century.
I would still stand
by this prediction, but how very different the world seems four
years later. The challenges we have all faced, both outside and
within the university, were not those we expected four years ago.
Shortly after you came to Yale, our rapidly growing economy sputtered
to a halt. Unemployment increased, and the stock markets tumbled.
Then came the appalling attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the anthrax scare, military
intervention in Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, the
campus was saddened this January by the tragic death of four students in an auto accident and shocked
this week by a bombing at the law school.
You entered Yale at
a time of great optimism, and you leave at a time of great uncertainty.
The opportunities presented by the revolutions in information technology
and genetics persist, and they will be yours to make the most of
in the years ahead. But these opportunities will be most productively
pursued in an environment of reduced uncertainty, and the creation
of such an environment will require clarity, wisdom, and ingenuity.
Despite America's unprecedented
military power, the principles defining the geo-political order
of the planet remain uncertain -- in part because of America's ambivalence
about its role in the world and in part because of the world's ambivalence
about America's power. Is the future to be guided by a unilateralist
America, or by a wider community of nations? Is America's objective
to spread democratic institutions throughout the world, or is it
merely to unseat the most egregious of tyrants? Can peace in the
Middle East be achieved, and, if it is, will terrorism subside?
Finding the answers to these questions will require our best efforts
-- your best efforts.
When
I greeted you four years ago, I related the story of Edward Whymper, the 19th-century British mountaineer who, at the age of 25 after
seven unsuccessful attempts, made the first ascent of the Matterhorn.
I provided you with examples of Whymper's curiosity, resourcefulness,
and analytic thinking to inspire you to prepare for the challenges
of a revolutionary time. But in fact the lessons derived from Whymper's
experience are no less relevant to the challenging uncertainties
we confront today. Let me reinforce these lessons by recalling what
I told you once before:
"Perhaps the most impressive
demonstration of Whymper's curiosity, resourcefulness, and analytic
thinking is his discussion of how, after seven failed attempts to
climb the Matterhorn from the southwest, he decided to attack the
mountain from the northeast. From this direction, the perspective
represented in most photographs, the mountain appears to be utterly
inaccessible, yet it yielded to Whymper's first attempt. What led
him to take a new approach? First, he noticed that snow accumulated
on the steep eastern face of the mountain, despite what appeared
to be a slope of 60 to 70 degrees. By hiking to untraveled passes
both north and south of the mountain, he confirmed that the slope,
despite appearances, was no more than 40 degrees. Second, he observed
that the strata of rock in the mountain were not parallel to the
ground; instead, they sloped upward from southwest to northeast.
This meant that the ledges, and the possible hand and footholds
that they offered, sloped inward on the northeast side, making them
easier for the climber than on the more frequently attempted route.
"In this example there
are many lessons that bear on your [life's] adventure. You can turn
repeated failure into success if you are curious enough, resourceful
enough, and analytic enough to look at things in a new way. You
have to think outside the box. Don't take received opinion for granted.
Look at problems from all perspectives, and use the power of reason
to draw inferences. Ask questions, and don't hesitate to accept
surprising answers if your observations have been careful and your
reasoning has been rigorous."
I have
every confidence that you have lived by these lessons these past
four years. Curiosity
is in abundant supply here. In your course work, at masters' teas
and public lectures, and in conversations with your classmates,
every one of you has encountered new ideas and new perspectives.
And your decisions to embrace, reject, or modify them have shaped
your lives. Your resourcefulness is manifest everywhere, in the
dozens of new student organizations created by members of your class.
Two of you mobilized 66 Yale undergraduates to devote 18,000 hours
to tutoring Fair Haven fifth graders in mathematics; another member
of your class established a health education program in four local
high schools. And as for developing the capacity for analytic thinking
-- this is nothing less than the primary purpose of the whole curriculum.
Let me take a moment
to remind you of the special attributes of the place that has given
you ample room to exercise and develop these qualities of open-mindedness,
initiative, and critical thinking. Yale, like other great American
universities, is a laboratory for free expression, a microcosm of
the values we proclaim as the greatest treasures of our constitutional
democracy. When the Iraqi war began, I wrote the following words
to the entire Yale community:
"In an environment
of civility, where we
respect and listen carefully
to one another, controversy stimulates learning. We need to leave
ample space for free expression and bring the tools of reason and
analysis to bear on the arguments we hear. In the weeks to come,
let us, as a university community, continue to model the free, open,
and tolerant society that the United States at its best represents.
And let us also learn from this experience of war, through reflection
and conversation."
I'm
proud of the way we modeled freedom, openness, and toleration during
the past two months. Although there were a small number of incidents in which students were
harassed because of their political views, the prevailing atmosphere
was one of civility, respect, and a desire to learn. Thanks to the
efforts of John Gaddis and Cynthia Farrar and many others, we held
12 teach-ins concerned with various aspects of the war, Iraqi civilization,
global governance, nation-building, and patriotism. These provided
the community an opportunity for learning at a depth not found in
the public news media. These lectures and panel discussions are
still worthy of your attention, and all are available in video on
the Yale Web
site.
The environment we create
within the American university is a powerful instrument for mutual
understanding among nations. We have nearly 1,800 international students at Yale, and a comparable number of visiting scholars.
For many of them, Yale is the first place they have ever lived where
they can truly speak their minds, where they can challenge the authority
of teachers, where ideas alone prevail -- not status, rank, power,
or privilege. This struck me forcefully in my conversations last
fall with the first cohort of Yale World Fellows. This group of
emerging leaders included former cabinet ministers from Peru and
Ecuador, the founder of a micro-lending bank in India, a television
anchorperson from Cameroon, and a law school dean from China. By
their own testimony, the first group of Fellows returns home with
a deep appreciation of the values of a democratic society; many
of them reported experiencing genuinely free expression and freedom
of inquiry for the first time.
In the wake of September
11, our government has understandably required more careful scrutiny
of those seeking to enter the country on student visas. It has also,
through the Patriot Act and various administrative rulings, begun
to restrict the range of subjects that students from certain countries
can study and the types of materials they can work with in university
laboratories. One recognizes the legitimate concerns for safety
and security that drive these changes in policy, but at the same
time one worries about excessively restricting who may study here
and what they may study.
There will be good
reasons for denying entry to some prospective students, but we should
remember that an enduring peace requires mutual understanding, and
there is no better guarantee of peace than to ensure that the leaders
of the next generation have an opportunity to learn from one another
during the formative periods of their lives. There is less reason
to deny students, once enrolled here, access to the full range of
our curriculum and research activities. Unfortunate as it would
be to deny visas to promising
students who may learn from exposure to a free and open society,
it would be even more unfortunate to have such students denied the
very freedom we hope they will come to appreciate.
You
have had the privilege these past four years of living and
working under conditions that gave you almost unlimited opportunity
to exercise your curiosity and resourcefulness and to develop your
capacity to think critically. You are now prepared to move beyond
your Yale adventure to challenges that were unforeseen four years
ago, as we heralded the revolutions in science and technology that
continue to hold out so much hope for the future. Your task is to
shape lives that take full advantage of the liberal education you
received here -- lives of personal and professional fulfillment,
to be sure, but also lives that make a difference in the world.
If we are to preserve the freedom that exists in this university
and in this nation, if freedom's blessings are to be extended, peacefully,
to those who are oppressed, we will need your engagement and your
leadership.
Women and men of the
Class of 2003: The world is all before you. Your generation has
the potential to end hunger, cure disease, and extend the domain
of freedom. Yale has prepared you well, but you will need all the
intelligence and wisdom you can muster. You can, you must, and you
will rise to meet the challenges of these uncertain and revolutionary
times.  |
|
