Nannerl O. Keohane - Opening Convocation (August 24, 1995)

Download
- Rights
- No Re-Use
  In Copyright
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP4
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4348gx66?embed=true' height='500px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4348gx66
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	(organ music)	1:55
	("The Star Spangled Banner")	6:23
-	Let us pray.	7:50
	Oh God, we give you thanks for the gift of new beginnings.	7:53
	We are grateful for times like these,	7:58
	when we are filled with expectation and hope,	8:01
	for the possibilities of the coming academic year.	8:04
	We pray especially for those	8:09
	who have come to Duke University for the first time.	8:10
	That they may soon feel a part of this community.	8:14
	And find support for their personal, academic,	8:17
	and spiritual growth.	8:20
	We pray that they may be challenged	8:22
	to fully develop their gifts,	8:24
	and to become men and women of integrity,	8:26
	and a deep, abiding faith.	8:29
	We pray also for our faculty, administrators, and employees,	8:32
	who work together to create an environment	8:36
	where young minds and lives can be nurtured	8:39
	and dreams fulfilled.	8:42
	Empower us to create genuine human community,	8:44
	where staff and students are encouraged to pursue	8:48
	both individual goals and to faithfully uphold	8:51
	the responsibilities of citizenship.	8:56
	May we learn to value all members of this community	8:58
	for their unique contributions,	9:01
	and establish an environment of mutual support and respect.	9:03
	Remind us that none of us can stand alone,	9:08
	and that we accomplish more together	9:11
	than we ever could separately.	9:13
	Be with us, as our deep center and our long-range vision	9:16
	that our best efforts might be dedicated	9:22
	to worthwhile purposes.	9:25
	In the name of God, amen.	9:27
	(organ music)	9:33
	(choir singing)	10:04
-	Please be seated.	13:58
	It is my privilege to preside over this historic gathering	14:03
	of the university community	14:07
	at the beginning of the new academic year.	14:08
	I'm glad to greet some returning students,	14:11
	transfer students, and also students on exchange	14:14
	from other universities around the world.	14:18
	I give a hearty welcome to the parents and family members	14:20
	who are joining us electronically	14:23
	from Page Auditorium and Reynolds Theater.	14:25
	But this morning our particular focus	14:28
	is on the class of 1999, in Trinity College	14:30
	and the School of Engineering	14:34
	and my remarks are especially directed to you.	14:36
	At this point, the notion of a class	14:40
	is mostly honorific.	14:42
	You're primarily a loosely joined group of individuals.	14:44
	You've come from many different	14:47
	cities, towns, states, countries.	14:49
	You've said, "goodbye" to friends and families.	14:53
	You've prepared yourself quite consciously	14:55
	to embark upon a new stage in your life.	14:58
	And you've done so, I would imagine,	15:01
	with a strong sense of isolation, of novelty,	15:03
	of doing this as a single person	15:07
	striking out for unknown territory.	15:09
	You've just met a few of your companions on this journey.	15:11
	But at this point, you hardly think of yourselves	15:14
	as members of a class.	15:16
	To most of you, the class that still sounds right	15:18
	is the one you graduated with from high school,	15:20
	the class of '95.	15:23
	This is now a rapidly receding set of memories,	15:25
	rather than a present bond, and yet,	15:28
	you're not yet the class of '99.	15:30
	This label, the class of '99, is on your materials,	15:33
	the forms, the signs, the t-shirts.	15:37
	It will now forever follow your name, with an apostrophe.	15:39
	Anytime anyone at Duke refers to you in print,	15:43
	you will be T '89 or E '89.	15:46
	But it's not only a convenient way	15:49
	of giving you a category for providing information.	15:51
	A class, at a place like Duke, develops unity,	15:53
	through shared experience, that for many of you,	15:58
	will become one of life's most significant	16:01
	bonds and boundaries.	16:04
	Your class of 1999 has some distinctive features	16:06
	that may help in this bonding.	16:10
	You are the last class of this present century.	16:12
	Indeed, the last class of the millennium.	16:16
	Fortunately, no one expects you to carry the weight	16:19
	of the whole millennium on your shoulders.	16:22
	We will try to avoid such apocalyptic references,	16:24
	realizing that your status at the end of the millennium	16:27
	is primarily an accident of your parents' timing.	16:29
	A more relevant distinctive feature,	16:35
	one that will have an enormous influence on your life,	16:36
	both as a class and as individuals,	16:40
	is that you are inaugurating East Campus,	16:42
	as a home for the first-year class.	16:45
	More than half of Duke first-year students	16:48
	have lived on East Campus for many years.	16:50
	But you are the first class in Duke history	16:52
	to be entirely housed on one campus,	16:55
	where the facilities and the opportunities	16:58
	will be focused on you.	17:00
	Our university archivist, William King,	17:03
	has shared with me a few facts about your new home.	17:05
	East Campus was the original campus	17:08
	in Durham, for Trinity College,	17:10
	which was the core of the university	17:13
	when it moved here from Randolph County, in 1892.	17:14
	Now, for those of you who live in Randolph,	17:18
	you now know why your residence hall has that name:	17:20
	the college was founded there.	17:23
	The new campus was built	17:25
	on the side of the Durham County fairgrounds,	17:27
	which was called Blackwell Park,	17:29
	which should ring a bell	17:30
	for those of you who live in Blackwell.	17:31
	And one of the most salient features	17:34
	of the fairground was a race track,	17:35
	which may explain why Duke students	17:37
	have always known how to set a fast pace.	17:39
	In 1924, Trinity College became Duke University	17:42
	because of the great generosity of the Duke family.	17:46
	And when West Campus was built six years later,	17:49
	East Campus was the home of Duke's women students.	17:52
	Campuses have always been about,	17:55
	classes have always been available on both campuses,	17:57
	which is why we have 20 minutes between classes,	18:00
	and one of the largest bus systems in the world.	18:02
	And since 1972, students of both sexes	18:06
	have lived on both campuses.	18:09
	Now, when you drove into East Campus from Durham,	18:11
	you may have noticed a statue.	18:14
	You were being welcomed by Washington Duke,	18:16
	the patriarch of the Duke family, sitting in his armchair.	18:18
	Booker T. Washington gave a famous speech	18:22
	on East Campus in 1896.	18:25
	His first in the South, on a non-African American campus.	18:27
	He speaks of this in his biography, Up From Slavery.	18:31
	Theodore Roosevelt, who was the first U.S. president	18:34
	to visit Duke, came to East Campus in 1904.	18:37
	Phi Beta Kappa at Duke was founded there,	18:41
	and there, the Blue Devil became our mascot.	18:43
	Now, in case you've always wondered	18:47
	why Duke has such a distinctive mascot,	18:48
	instead of one of the more familiar	18:51
	lions or tigers or bears,	18:53
	you will be pleased to know Duke students made the choice.	18:55
	This inventive imagination that now shows itself	18:58
	to great effect in Cameron, has a long history.	19:02
	At first, the team was called the Blue and White,	19:05
	or the Methodists,	19:07
	to distinguish them from the Baptists of Wake Forest.	19:08
	But sometimes, somehow that didn't seem to have the ring	19:11
	one would like for a sports team.	19:14
	And when NC State became the Wolf Pack, around 1920,	19:16
	student newspaper launched a campaign for a catchier name.	19:20
	And they suggested that the same be something blue,	19:24
	to go with our university color.	19:27
	Now, there are not a lot of blue items	19:29
	that work well for a sports team.	19:31
	And no suggestion won a majority,	19:34
	but the one that had most support from the students	19:36
	was the Blue Devils.	19:38
	Now, who were the Blue Devils?	19:40
	They were a group of French soldiers in the first World War	19:42
	who fought in the Alps.	19:46
	They were uniquely trained to be effective in the mountains,	19:47
	and they had won international fame	19:50
	for their courage and their distinctive blue uniforms,	19:52
	which featured a cape and a beret.	19:56
	Some of them had toured this country,	19:58
	they were even in a popular song.	19:59
	So, people had heard of them	20:01
	and the students liked that better	20:03
	than "the Polar Bears" or "the Blue Eagles"	20:04
	or "the Royal Blazes", which were the major competition.	20:07
	But there was some feeling that the "Blue Devil" name	20:11
	with these devilish connotations might cause some problems	20:14
	for a Methodist university,	20:16
	so there was no official selection.	20:18
	But the student leaders felt that a name was needed.	20:20
	The Chronicle just kept calling the teams "the Blue Devils",	20:23
	and before we knew it, that had become the name.	20:26
	This had all happened before West Campus was anything more	20:30
	than a gleam in our founder's eyes.	20:33
	Last December, as you know, another historic step was taken,	20:36
	and the trustees approved a plan	20:40
	to house all of you on East Campus.	20:41
	And a great many people have been trying	20:44
	to get ready to welcome you properly.	20:46
	There have been extensive renovations,	20:48
	which you are seeing even now in progress,	20:50
	the historic East Campus Union,	20:53
	which is one of our most interesting buildings,	20:55
	has been totally redesigned specifically with you in mind.	20:57
	The sports fields have been improved,	21:01
	we're beginning to build a new recreational center,	21:03
	and there are other new programs underway.	21:05
	But we've deliberately left many things unplanned	21:08
	because you, the class of 1999, will have a major part	21:12
	in creating this new East Campus,	21:17
	and determining how it will work for you,	21:20
	and for the generations of students who will follow you.	21:23
	You're like actors inaugurating an exciting new role	21:27
	in a play, you will place your mark	21:30
	on Duke in an indelible fashion,	21:33
	as you together explore and define what East Campus means	21:36
	as the home of the entering class.	21:41
	What kind of Duke will you make your own?	21:44
	What version of Duke will we create together	21:47
	over the next year and indeed over the next four years,	21:49
	in your lives and the life of this university.	21:51
	Let's start with the things that were probably in your mind	21:55
	when you decided to come to Duke.	21:57
	You already have some conception of what you expect	21:59
	a university to be like.	22:02
	Sometimes students find that expectations	22:04
	are only partially fulfilled, or even rudely shattered	22:06
	when they actually get to college.	22:10
	Sometimes that's a good thing because	22:12
	some of the expectations may be off base.	22:13
	But other expectations are right and important to you.	22:16
	And as the class of 1999 at Duke,	22:20
	you have a better chance than most students ever do	22:22
	to make your experience conform	22:26
	to your most optimistic expectations.	22:29
	As soon as we begin to talk this way,	22:32
	we stumble again over the fact	22:34
	that you're not a monolithic class, united in your views,	22:36
	but a collection of interesting individuals,	22:39
	each with your own personal hopes and expectations.	22:42
	But all of you came to obtain a baccalaureate degree,	22:46
	with the understanding that this will prepare you	22:50
	in some, as yet, undefined way	22:51
	for the next stages of your life.	22:53
	And you assume that along the way	22:55
	you will become in some, equally vague sense,	22:56
	an educated person.	23:00
	Now, that could be done at almost any college or university.	23:02
	But it couldn't be done at many places	23:05
	as well as it can at Duke.	23:07
	For some of you, the competition for Duke	23:09
	was the Ivy League,	23:11
	for others, it was excellent state universities,	23:12
	or fine liberal arts colleges,	23:15
	and for some of you, from the beginning,	23:17
	nothing but Duke would do.	23:19
	But each of you, in the end, chose Duke.	23:21
	Some of you chose Duke because	23:24
	of the things it has in common	23:26
	with other excellent, demanding research universities.	23:27
	And you expect Duke to differ from those schools	23:30
	only in that the climate is a lot more pleasant,	23:33
	except in August,	23:36
	and the athletic teams are a great deal better,	23:38
	except for ice hockey and other esoterica.	23:40
	Others chose Duke, more or less explicitly	23:44
	because of the ways in which it is different,	23:46
	from some other highly regarded universities.	23:48
	And you are quite clear that you are at Duke	23:50
	partly because it is not Harvard or Yale or Princeton.	23:53
	Now, this distinction may not sound too different.	23:57
	But in practice, it's gotten in the way	23:59
	of some mutual understanding and shared experience.	24:01
	The singular advantage of a fine university	24:04
	is that it brings together a large number	24:07
	of bright students and faculty together, in the same space,	24:10
	and creates the catalytic potential	24:14
	for intellectual ferment.	24:17
	But to make the ferment happen,	24:19
	you have to be willing to get excited about ideas,	24:20
	to talk about what you're doing,	24:23
	in the research lab, or the library,	24:25
	along with all the other things	24:27
	that undergraduates love to talk about.	24:28
	Which surely I do not have to outline for you here.	24:31
	There are many people at Duke who feel that way	24:34
	about intellectual ferment,	24:37
	but it will be your responsibility	24:38
	to build a community of friends,	24:40
	who are comfortable with talking about ideas,	24:42
	who get turned on	24:45
	by the pleasure of intellectual excitement.	24:46
	Now, for some Duke undergraduates,	24:50
	you will find the prevailing wind blows	24:52
	in a slightly different direction.	24:53
	You will hear the phrase,	24:55
	"At Duke, we work hard, and we play hard",	24:57
	as a way of describing a distinctive Duke approach	25:00
	to university life.	25:02
	What that seems to boil down to	25:04
	is a commitment to academics, and a parallel commitment	25:06
	to having a great time, with the understanding	25:09
	that they both take energy and dedication,	25:11
	but they are quite separate,	25:14
	as though a university education were a nine to five job,	25:16
	where you work conscientiously during the day	25:19
	and you come home at night, ready for some heavy partying,	25:22
	intending to forget all about what happened at the office.	25:25
	Now this "work hard, play hard" motif	25:28
	describes a kind of an attitude,	25:30
	and I use the word advisedly in the sense	25:32
	of a person with an attitude that can be quite defensive.	25:34
	It goes something like this,	25:38
	"we're all smart people here at Duke,	25:40
	and we're here to get a BA or BS that will command respect	25:42
	in the world outside.	25:46
	It's important to get good grades,	25:47
	but we're not grinds or nerds and we want to keep	25:50
	academics in its place.	25:52
	The place for academics is the classroom and the library.	25:54
	The rest of the campus is for other things	25:57
	that are more fun."	25:59
	Which means that Duke is a good school,	26:01
	but not too intellectual.	26:02
	If I wanted that, I would have gone somewhere else.	26:04
	So, don't mess with Duke.	26:07
	Don't try to make it something other than it is.	26:08
	Now when I hear this view expressed,	26:11
	I always want to ask what this person with an attitude	26:13
	is really worried about.	26:16
	What is he or she afraid will happen?	26:18
	That if you break down the barriers	26:21
	between the classroom and the library, on the one hand	26:23
	and the Brian Center or Cameron or Wallace Wade	26:25
	or the frat house on the other,	26:29
	Duke parties will suddenly become dull and boring?	26:31
	Or the Blue Devils will be frozen in place,	26:33
	and unable to function?	26:36
	And nobody will have any fun at all?	26:38
	To quote one of my favorite characters, Sir Toby Belch,	26:39
	in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night,	26:43
	"Do you think, because you are virtuous,	26:45
	there will be no more cakes and ale?"	26:48
	Do you think, if you occasionally talk about an idea	26:50
	that you find exciting, outside the library,	26:53
	the whole of Duke will collapse like a house of cards?	26:55
	That seems mighty implausible to me,	27:00
	because I know something about how much Duke students	27:02
	like having a good time,	27:04
	and how strong our impulses are toward great athletics.	27:06
	Nobody wants to change that.	27:10
	Most of the faculty and administrators	27:12
	also chose Duke because of this extraordinary combination	27:15
	of intellectual accomplishment	27:19
	and accomplishment in other parts of life	27:21
	including, most emphatically, excellent athletics.	27:23
	The faculty, Cameron Crazies and Wade Wackos,	27:27
	are just as rabid as the students.	27:31
	So you don't have to worry	27:33
	that they don't understand what makes Duke Duke.	27:34
	But the faculty can debate ideas	27:37
	as passionately as they cheer on the team.	27:39
	And they do so wherever interesting conversations	27:41
	can be found.	27:44
	This gives them the best of both worlds.	27:45
	They get intellectual excitement,	27:47
	and they also get the Blue Devils and the climate.	27:49
	Many faculty members like to include undergraduates	27:52
	in these passionate debates,	27:55
	and are disappointed when sometimes a student will say,	27:56
	either literally or metaphorically,	27:58
	"just the facts, please".	28:01
	"Just tell me what I need to do to get a grade	28:03
	that will get me into law school.	28:05
	And don't bother me, from those big ideas."	28:07
	All of you, the members of the class of '99,	28:10
	are smart or you wouldn't be sitting in the chapel today.	28:13
	You have succeeded at things that you have tried	28:16
	to do before, including academic accomplishment.	28:18
	And if you take the nine to five route,	28:22
	to a university education too literally,	28:25
	you will cheat yourself of a unique opportunity,	28:27
	that you can, never in your life, experience again.	28:30
	To disengage your mind, just when	28:34
	you've joined a great university.	28:36
	To slip your brain out of gear every time	28:37
	you walk out of the library would be ironic,	28:39
	would even be tragic.	28:42
	To use even more straightforward jargon,	28:44
	like, you'd be clueless.	28:45
	If Duke were intended to be a nine to five experience,	28:48
	we wouldn't have built all those residence halls	28:51
	and dining rooms and bookstores	28:53
	and film theaters and concert halls and stadiums.	28:55
	We wouldn't have a community service center,	28:58
	or a coffeehouse.	29:00
	We wouldn't even have our great soaring chapel.	29:01
	James B. Duke could have saved a lot of money	29:04
	by building only classrooms and libraries,	29:07
	and letting you get the rest of your education	29:09
	wherever you could find it.	29:11
	The Duke experience should be comprehensive,	29:13
	omnivorous, all-absorbing, in a way	29:16
	that your life has never been before,	29:19
	and never will be again.	29:21
	That's what it means to be on a university campus,	29:23
	rather than an urban commuter school,	29:26
	where everybody goes home at five,	29:28
	or a virtual university, where everything happens online	29:30
	and you never see another person.	29:34
	A central part of what we call education	29:36
	at a fine, residential university	29:39
	is to let your mind and your body work together,	29:41
	to develop your senses and your spirit	29:44
	at the same time as you exercise your brain.	29:47
	The point of all these wonderful places	29:51
	is so that you can weave together	29:53
	a life with friends, classmates, faculty	29:56
	that will educate you profoundly.	30:00
	That extraordinary magic that we call an education	30:03
	happens when you put it all together.	30:06
	So that the classroom and the playing fields,	30:08
	the library and the East Campus Union,	30:11
	become places where you can get playful with ideas	30:14
	and serious about having fun.	30:17
	And if you deny yourself this opportunity	30:20
	to experience the whole of Duke working together,	30:22
	you and your parents are not getting what you're paying for,	30:25
	and we are well aware that that's a handsome sum.	30:27
	Now, in closing I have some quick suggestions,	30:31
	as university presidents always do,	30:34
	about how you might make good	30:36
	on this holistic Duke experience.	30:37
	My first piece of advice has already been offered,	30:40
	but I want to make it more explicit.	30:42
	Think of your classmates, and other Duke students,	30:45
	as people you can learn from.	30:47
	Don't assume that only the faculty	30:49
	have something to teach you.	30:51
	Duke has brought together about 1,650 of you,	30:53
	6,000 undergraduate students, in all,	30:57
	and more than 11,000, if you also count graduate	31:00
	and professional school students.	31:03
	All of you are curious about the world,	31:05
	and have something to teach each other.	31:07
	So look to each other for stimulating discussions	31:10
	of things you've always wondered about.	31:13
	To sort out ethical puzzles,	31:15
	to mull over an elegant truth in physics.	31:17
	To say what you really should've said	31:19
	when the discussion got very heated in public policy,	31:22
	and you were on the verge	31:25
	of saying something truly brilliant	31:26
	but the class ended before you could get it out.	31:28
	Look to each other to start a new club,	31:31
	to write and perform a play,	31:33
	to plan a trip to somewhere you've always wanted to go.	31:34
	Look to each other, that is,	31:38
	for learning in the largest sense.	31:40
	For learning about life, your emotional ups and downs,	31:42
	for sharing your dreams and your ideas.	31:46
	My second piece of advice is this:	31:49
	just as you think of your fellow students	31:52
	as an amazing resource, also think of the faculty	31:53
	as more than distant authority figures.	31:56
	They are also people from whom you can learn in many ways.	31:59
	And this year you have a special opportunity,	32:02
	because of a new and exciting program	32:04
	called the Faculty Associates,	32:06
	which means that a large number of faculty	32:08
	have deliberately signed on,	32:10
	along with your pre-major advisors	32:12
	and your faculty-in-residence, to help you find your way	32:14
	around this multi-faceted and complicated place.	32:18
	They want to make sure that you learn now,	32:22
	not at the end of your senior year	32:24
	when it's almost too late,	32:25
	about things like the Primate Center, the Duke gardens,	32:27
	Broadway at Duke, Jazz on the East Campus lawn,	32:30
	the best sports stores in town,	32:33
	the places to get a bagel, or a cafe latte.	32:35
	They want to talk with you about sports and films	32:39
	and popular music and world events.	32:41
	For a long time, people at Duke have been asking	32:43
	for better ways for students and faculty	32:45
	to get to know each other.	32:47
	You have a unique opportunity to make this happen.	32:49
	Now, my third piece of advice may surprise you	32:53
	because after I've spent all this time telling you	32:56
	how to develop your mind and body and spirit	32:57
	to take full advantage of this education,	33:00
	I'm now going to tell you	33:03
	not to spend too much time thinking about yourself.	33:05
	You will be subject to homesickness, to anxiety,	33:08
	to bouts of loss of self-confidence,	33:12
	every college student throughout history has been.	33:14
	And when this happens, your inclination	33:17
	may be to brood, to hunker down, to turn inward,	33:19
	even to drink yourself into oblivion.	33:22
	These are not good remedies.	33:25
	The time-tested remedy for these ailments	33:27
	is not to dwell on yourself, but to get outside of yourself.	33:29
	In this chapel, we recall a strong strand	33:33
	in Protestant Christianity, professed by those	33:36
	who founded this place,	33:39
	which was a theme that has been echoed	33:40
	in other great world religions, too.	33:42
	If you want to save your soul, to find yourself,	33:44
	the best way to do it is to lose yourself.	33:48
	To forget yourself, to give yourself to others.	33:51
	This means first noticing that lots of people have troubles	33:54
	at least as great as your own.	33:57
	And then realizing that you might actually	33:59
	be able to do something about it.	34:00
	The troubles might be those of your roommate,	34:02
	or your best friend.	34:04
	But they may also be troubles	34:06
	for someone who is now not known to you,	34:08
	who lives in the city of Durham,	34:11
	who has some things really to worry about.	34:12
	For example, living in a rented house that is falling down	34:14
	and the landlord refuses to do anything about it.	34:18
	Or about children, who are at school with other children	34:21
	dealing drugs.	34:23
	Or about not having a job and not knowing	34:25
	where the grocery money is going to come from.	34:27
	These are troubles that will put our troubles	34:29
	into appropriate perspective.	34:31
	And they are also troubles that you might help to relieve.	34:33
	You might join the folks at the Habitat for Humanity	34:36
	in building a new house for the person	34:39
	whose rental house lets in the rain and the roaches.	34:41
	Or spending time in a big-brother, big-sister relationship	34:44
	with the kid who's trying to find reasons	34:47
	to say no to drugs.	34:49
	Or preparing a meal at a soup kitchen	34:51
	that will relieve anxiety	34:53
	about where the next meal is coming from.	34:54
	Or visiting an old and lonely person	34:57
	for whom your visit will be the most important thing	34:59
	that happens in her life.	35:01
	You'll not only forget your own troubles,	35:03
	you'll also get a better education	35:05
	if you spend some portion of your time	35:07
	thinking about others and you are wise enough	35:09
	to think about how this fits in	35:11
	with what you are learning in the classroom.	35:13
	Again, it's the principle of holistic learning.	35:16
	You'll learn more and use it better and remember it longer	35:18
	if all parts of you, including the impulse to serve,	35:21
	are engaged in the learning.	35:25
	And there are courses and internships and field projects	35:26
	at Duke that encourage you specifically to do that.	35:29
	My fourth piece of advice: take some risks.	35:34
	Take some personal risks.	35:36
	Stretch your mind into some new dimensions,	35:38
	rather than staying on territory that seems familiar.	35:41
	Take a class in something you've never studied before,	35:44
	that will be quite different	35:46
	from what you have, before, excelled in.	35:47
	And do it soon enough that it will shape your education	35:50
	and might even change what you now think	35:54
	that you will major in.	35:56
	Get to know about people and places	35:58
	that you've only heard about before.	36:00
	Make friends with classmates from all backgrounds.	36:02
	Don't just reach out to those who seem most like yourself,	36:05
	and therefore, seem like good prospects	36:08
	for comfortable, supportive relationships.	36:10
	You'll need those comfortable relationships, of course,	36:13
	with people whose religion or race or economic background	36:16
	or part of the country seems closest to your own.	36:19
	They will probably become some of your closest friends.	36:22
	But if you stop there,	36:25
	you will miss one of the great benefits	36:27
	of a university education.	36:28
	At Duke, we are convinced	36:30
	on the basis of lots of good reasons	36:32
	that diverse experiences are one of the cornerstones	36:34
	of a university education.	36:38
	Seeing things from new perspectives,	36:40
	getting to know people whose view of the world	36:42
	differs greatly from your own.	36:44
	If you do this, you have a priceless opportunity	36:47
	to see the world through someone else's eyes,	36:49
	to walk in someone else's moccasins,	36:52
	as the Native American saying goes.	36:54
	And this will multiply your own understanding	36:57
	of the world, in many ways.	37:00
	My final piece of advice has to do with groups.	37:04
	And it stems from the way in which we think	37:07
	about your diverse experience, including exposure	37:09
	to different kinds of groups of people.	37:12
	We would urge you positively, certainly	37:15
	to take advantage of the facilities	37:18
	this university offers to get to know	37:20
	groups of people from around the world.	37:22
	Don't just wait until you might be able	37:24
	to study or travel or work abroad,	37:26
	although plan for that as well.	37:28
	Get to know the groups of people	37:29
	from many different countries	37:31
	who are here, as your classmates and friends at Duke.	37:32
	Go to the special festivals sponsored by these groups.	37:36
	Diwali and Kwanzaa, the first night of Passover,	37:39
	the Chinese New Year, and many more.	37:43
	But remember, that although Duke has lots of groups	37:45
	that you will be invited to join,	37:48
	groups with many kinds of purposes:	37:50
	religious, intellectual, athletic, Greeks and non-Greeks,	37:53
	dramatic, musical, journalistic,	37:58
	or even no purpose at all except the perfectly reasonable	38:00
	goal of just hanging out together and having fun.	38:03
	And although you can certainly enrich your experience	38:06
	in many ways by exploring all these groups,	38:08
	I also urge you to be careful	38:12
	about how you make your commitments.	38:14
	How fully you immerse yourself in any single group,	38:16
	because you will impoverish yourself	38:20
	if you are wholly absorbed by or identified with any group,	38:22
	however meritorious.	38:27
	Your personality should be shaped here	38:28
	as a unique collection of overlapping commitments	38:30
	and curiosities and ideals.	38:34
	And so, although you will want to multiply your experience	38:38
	by joining groups, beware of the pressure to conform,	38:40
	to blend in too fully with the group.	38:45
	At some time, you may disagree with the group.	38:48
	You may be troubled by a stance the group is taking.	38:50
	You must retain enough of your own unique identity	38:53
	to take a separate stand, if you believe that's right.	38:55
	And this will prepare you for similar pressures	38:59
	throughout your lives.	39:02
	And this brings me back, in closing,	39:04
	roughly to where I began.	39:06
	You are, at this time,	39:08
	a very loosely united group of individuals,	39:09
	in the first stages of becoming	39:13
	the class of 1999 at Duke University.	39:15
	This is a historic group for you and for the university.	39:18
	This is your class, which you will make your own.	39:22
	It will shape you and you will shape it.	39:25
	But always remember, that in the end,	39:28
	it is your education, your experience,	39:30
	and you as individuals who richly constitute the whole.	39:33
	A most cordial welcome, and our best wishes	39:37
	for the adventure that lies ahead.	39:40
	Thank you.	39:42
	(applause)	39:44
-	And now I'd like to take a moment to introduce you	39:59
	to a few of the people you'll be getting to know	40:01
	in the faculty administration.	40:03
	And I will ask each of them to stand as I call their names.	40:05
	First of all, the provost, John W. Strobehn.	40:08
	Our chief academic officer,	40:12
	professor of biomedical engineering,	40:13
	John Strobehn is a native of California,	40:16
	whose degrees are from Stanford.	40:18
	He came to us last year from Dartmouth,	40:20
	where he was also provost,	40:21
	and his area of research is hypothermia oncology.	40:23
	Next, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,	40:26
	William Chafe.	40:29
	William Chafe is Alice M. Baldwin Professor of History.	40:30
	This is his first year as dean.	40:34
	He is a graduate of Harvard and of Columbia,	40:36
	and has published extensively on women's studies,	40:38
	the history of the civil rights movement,	40:40
	and race relations in the United States.	40:43
	Dean Richard White, who is Vice Provost	40:45
	for Undergraduate Education and Dean of Trinity College,	40:49
	is university distinguished service professor of botany.	40:51
	He's a graduate of the University of Michigan,	40:55
	and his research is the comparative anatomy	40:57
	of vascular plants.	40:59
	Dean Earl Dowell is Dean of the School of Engineering.	41:01
	He is James A. Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering	41:04
	and Material Science.	41:08
	A graduate of the University of Illinois and of MIT.	41:09
	Dean Dowell has published extensively	41:13
	in his specialty of aerospace engineering.	41:15
	And now I would like to recognize	41:18
	the President of Duke student government, Peggy Cross,	41:19
	a senior from Arlington, Illinois,	41:22
	Peggy is majoring in history and political science.	41:24
	And you will be hearing more for her	41:27
	during the orientation period and throughout the year.	41:29
	Welcome to the presidency, Peggy.	41:31
	And now it is my pleasure	41:35
	to introduce to you Christian Porter,	41:36
	a senior from Greenville, North Carolina,	41:37
	who is chair of the university Honor Council,	41:39
	and will speak with you today about the Honor Code.	41:42
	Christian Porter.	41:45
	(applause)	41:48
-	On behalf of the Duke University Honor Council,	41:55
	I wish to welcome you, the class of 1999,	41:58
	to Duke University.	42:00
	Today begins a new chapter in your life,	42:03
	which will last for the next four years.	42:05
	I hope that you will enjoy your time at Duke.	42:08
	But, most important, I hope that you will take advantage	42:11
	of all the resources which surround you,	42:14
	to learn as much as possible.	42:16
	Duke is an exciting place to learn,	42:19
	cutting-edge technology, enthusiastic faculty,	42:21
	and committed students	42:25
	make Duke a unique learning experience.	42:27
	Learning, however, depends on honestly.	42:30
	It thrives on dialogue and debate,	42:34
	and it flourishes in communities	42:37
	where trust and truthfulness prevail.	42:39
	The undergraduate Honor Code was formed	42:42
	to protect and preserve an environment	42:45
	where learning could occur in its true form.	42:47
	Each member of the class of 1999	42:51
	signed the Honor Code when applying to Duke University.	42:54
	In signing the code, you made a commitment	42:57
	to yourself and this community	43:00
	to abide by the principles and the provisions of that code.	43:02
	The two main provisions of the code are as follows:	43:07
	first, "I will not lie, cheat, or steal	43:10
	in my academic endeavors."	43:13
	The first provision stresses the need	43:15
	for each of us to make a personal commitment	43:17
	to the Honor Code.	43:20
	Our own personal honor is one of the strongest deterrents	43:21
	of academic dishonesty.	43:24
	We have all worked hard to reach this point	43:27
	in our academic careers.	43:29
	We know, however, that everyone can be tempted	43:32
	to betray the principles of truth, honesty, and integrity	43:35
	in order to get ahead.	43:39
	Just remember that you have worked hard your whole life	43:41
	to establish a reputation of success and integrity	43:45
	and one thoughtless act can destroy that forever.	43:49
	The second major provision of the code states,	43:54
	"I will forthrightly oppose each and every instance	43:56
	of academic dishonesty."	44:00
	As this statement shows, the commitment to honor at Duke	44:02
	is not just an individual matter.	44:05
	We are all citizens of this community,	44:08
	and we have a social responsibility to support	44:11
	academic integrity	44:14
	in order to safeguard the learning process.	44:16
	There's a common theme throughout the Honor Code,	44:19
	which ties all the provisions together.	44:22
	Personal choice and personal responsibility	44:25
	are the underlying principles of our Honor Code.	44:29
	Imagine for a moment	44:33
	that everyone followed the first provision of the code.	44:35
	If this were true, there would be no need	44:39
	for proctored examinations.	44:42
	Better yet, students could take their examinations	44:44
	out on the quad, to the library,	44:46
	or back to their residence halls and take them	44:49
	on their own time.	44:51
	Unfortunately, this is not the case.	44:53
	But it could be if we all worked toward that goal.	44:56
	We must work together with our professors,	45:01
	and the academic deans to prevent academic dishonesty.	45:04
	Students have the primary responsibility	45:08
	to make the Honor Code work,	45:11
	but we need the support of the entire Duke community	45:13
	if we hope to be successful.	45:17
	The Honor Code is merely a statement of ideals.	45:19
	The code alone cannot prevent academic dishonesty at Duke.	45:23
	It is our responsibility to make sure	45:27
	that the Honor Code is a success.	45:30
	We must discuss the issues surrounding the code,	45:34
	in our classes, in our residence halls,	45:37
	and in the dining hall.	45:41
	We will be able to raise awareness	45:43
	of the issues through discussion and debate.	45:45
	I challenge each one of you today	45:49
	to take the ideals of the Honor Code to heart.	45:51
	Read it, discuss it, and make it a part	45:55
	of your academic career.	45:59
	Only then will the Honor Code be a success	46:01
	and only then will Duke be the best that it can possibly be.	46:04
	Thank you.	46:10
	(applause)	46:12
-	Thank you, Christian.	46:20
	You probably didn't notice yesterday	46:21
	when you came on campus	46:24
	because you had many more things on your mind,	46:25
	but the flags on campus were flown yesterday at half-staff.	46:27
	And if you did notice, you might've wondered why.	46:31
	We did this to honor the three diplomats	46:34
	from the United States who were killed	46:37
	in Bosnia this past Saturday	46:38
	when their armored personnel carrier	46:40
	plunged off a mountain road.	46:41
	Because all three of them had close ties to this region.	46:43
	Joseph Kruzel was a former Duke professor	46:47
	who specialized in international relations,	46:50
	foreign policy, and arms control,	46:52
	and a deeply beloved member of our faculty.	46:55
	Robert Frasure earned his PhD from Duke in 1970	46:57
	and went on to lead the United States' effort	47:02
	to end the Bosnian war.	47:04
	And Air Force Colonel Nelson Drew	47:06
	was a graduate of our neighbor,	47:08
	the University of North Carolina.	47:10
	We mourn the loss of these brave leaders,	47:12
	who were working to bring peace to the former Yugoslavia.	47:15
	And now it's my privilege to recognize	47:19
	the University Marshall who is responsible	47:21
	for all matters of protocol here.	47:23
	Pelham Wilder Jr., university distinguished	47:25
	service professor of chemistry emeritus	47:28
	and professor of pharmacology, has a few announcements.	47:30
-	Thank you, Madam President.	47:45
	This month, Duke University begins its 158th year	47:47
	of continuous service to the region,	47:51
	the state, the nation, and beyond.	47:54
	From Log Subscription School in 1838	47:57
	to institute, to normal school, to college in 1859	48:01
	to university in 1924, to its present status	48:07
	of internationally recognized research university,	48:11
	all within a century and a half.	48:15
	As you begin to explore what has been thought and done	48:19
	by those who have preceded you,	48:23
	as you attempt to answer for yourselves	48:25
	the crucial question: "who am I?"	48:28
	As you learn to live in harmony	48:30
	with your peers and the environment,	48:32
	and as you prepare, even now,	48:35
	to learn how to identify and formulate solutions	48:37
	to the problems you will be facing in the next century,	48:40
	I wish for each of you the excitement and satisfaction	48:43
	that have been mine over many years,	48:47
	in this community of scholars.	48:49
	Now, with Robert Parkins, the counsel	48:51
	of the Great Flintrop Organ,	48:55
	Jason McStutts, a junior in Trinity College,	48:57
	and a member of the Duke Chorale and the Duke chapel choir,	49:00
	will sing the alma mater, and then lead us in singing	49:03
	of the alma mater for the first time as Duke students.	49:08
	Words and music are provided in your printed programs.	49:12
	Will you please stand?	49:15
	("Dear Old Duke")	49:30
	♪ Dear old Duke thy name we'll sing. ♪	49:41
	♪ To thee our voices raise (we'll raise), ♪	49:48
	♪ To thee our anthems ring, ♪	49:56
	♪ in everlasting praise. ♪	50:03
	♪ And though on life's broad-sea, ♪	50:10
	♪ Our fates may far us bear. ♪	50:17
	♪ We'll ever turn to thee, our alma mater dear. ♪	50:27
	♪ Dear old Duke thy name we'll sing. ♪	50:43
	♪ To thee our voices raise, we'll raise, ♪	50:49
	♪ To thee our anthems ring in everlasting praise. ♪	50:57
	♪ And though on life's broad-sea, ♪	51:10
	♪ Our fates may far us bear. ♪	51:17
	♪ We'll ever turn to thee, our Alma Mater dear. ♪	51:25
	(organ music)	51:46

Item Info

Title:

Nannerl O. Keohane - Opening Convocation (August 24, 1995)

Description:

Sermon start time: 14:03. Sermon end time: 39:44.
While Duke thrives on a "work hard, play hard mentality," this is not to suggest that the two should be separated and one's education treated as a 9 to 5 job. Rather, a true education is received through a holistic approach to the university experience in which one weaves together friendships, and classes, and relationships with faculty in a single, immersive experience. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “A central part of what we call education at a fine, residential university is to let your mind and your body work together, to develop your senses and your spirit at the same time as you exercise your brain. The point of all these wonderful places is so that you can weave together a life with friends, classmates, faculty that will educate you profoundly. That extraordinary magic that we call an education happens when you put it all together.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4348gx66

Date:

August 24, 1995

Speaker:

Keohane, Nannerl O.

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0438
ref9622_aw4
uachapelsermaud
duke:321761
dcrmv001416
ark:/87924/r4348gx66
d29fc898-7d06-436a-a840-77d59f73ca5c

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection