Speeches
University Commencement Address 2009
John B. Simpson, University at Buffalo
May 10, 2009
Good morning, and a warm welcome to all of our friends and family here with us today. I’d especially like to wish a very happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers joining us today for this happy occasion. Most of all, congratulations to the Class of 2009!
Today each of you is joining a family of approximately 210,000 graduates living in some 125 countries. As part of this alumni community, you will be part of a rich Univerity at Buffalo tradition—joining the long line of individuals dedicated to using their education to reach others, to change lives, to make a meaningful difference in the world.
“I believe we must reprioritize the acquisition of higher education not simply as a personal goal, but as a national goal - one that is critical to our economic prosperity, to our social and political well-being . . . and to our national security.” John B. Simpson President
This conviction—the belief that knowledge can and should change the world—has been core to our University’s mission throughout our history, since the university was founded as a private medical school in 1846, until the present day, where the University at Buffalo has become the largest and most comprehensive public university in New York.
I suppose that all commencements are, in fact, a time to contemplate change. It’s something of a cliché to say that “We live in a time of great change.” Yet there is something quite remarkable and even unprecedented about the environment you now enter as alums.
I have attended quite a few commencements, and I do not remember a time when a group of graduates emerged into a world with so much uncertainty.
In a way that we have not done for perhaps half a century, our society is looking for answers to big questions. We are testing some of our most basic assumptions about things like the economy, the role of government, and the prospects for progress.
Debating these weighty issues is, from time to time, a good thing. I am concerned, however, that our nation’s commitment to public higher education is eroding just when it needs strengthening, and that this erosion is occurring without benefit of broad national discussion, and without a clear and well-articulated strategy.
The past decade has witnessed the acceleration of two trends. Both of them are harmful for public higher education, and therefore harmful to our country.
The first of these is the increasing view that higher education is, first and foremost, a private good, and – if you follow that logic – one that should therefore be financed largely through private or individual means.
Driven by a consumerist, materialist culture, this view sees students as customers, and it prioritizes choice, “efficiency,” and price to the denial of academic quality, rigor, and innovation as fundamental in considering the place—and the value--of higher education.
Moreover, it suggests that the ultimate goal of higher education is the preparation of individuals for personal success, rather than the cultivation of an educated and socially responsible citizenry—the latter an absolutely necessary role of higher education in America.
Higher education, in fact, provides both personal and societal benefits of enormous proportion, and we simply cannot lose sight of the broader and fundamental contributions of higher education to our country’s well-being. We need the very best public higher education system we can have.
The second trend is the constant squeezing of higher education budgets by states. States, it appears, are myopic: they just can’t resist looking to higher education as an immediate source of budget savings for today’s crisis, regardless of the long-term consequences of this penny-wise and pound-foolish philosophy.
It is the metaphorical “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,” 21st Century style.
Throughout your time as students, you and your family have surely felt the impact of this trend. Some of you—now or at some future point in your lives—will be continuing your studies at the graduate or professional level, and will continue to feel the weight of these challenges if the status quo remains unchanged.
But even for those of you who don’t have immediate plans to continue with your higher education, while it may be tempting to think that you’re safely escaping the academic world just in time to avoid the worst of these cuts, I think you will find that what is happening in higher education will affect virtually every sphere of public life in the U.S.
Our nation’s fundamental public priorities—providing for an educated citizenry, securing the quality of life and health care for all, ensuring the safety and welfare of our nation and its citizens—are so interconnected that what happens in one of these spheres cannot fail to impact the others.
Here’s one example: recently, President Obama’s top budget official told me and a number of other college presidents that the primary way we will solve our education funding crisis is by getting our arms around the issue of exploding health care costs.
The argument is that by creating a health care system that is more efficient, affordable, and just will not only be a boon for our nation’s health. It also will alleviate the financial pressures on states.
And I believe we must – we must –reprioritize the acquisition of higher education not simply as a personal goal, but as a national goal – one that is critical to our economic prosperity, to our social and political well-being . . . and to our national security.
So whatever route your careers may take you, how our nation approaches its educational priorities will affect you, for better or for worse.
The challenge is for all of us to understand our futures, our needs, and our goals as interconnected. Just as the important issues of health policy and higher education policy are intrinsically connected, so we all must recognize that there can be no meaningful individual progress without also advancing the public good.
The truth of this statement has special relevance to you, our newest alumni, and the future leaders who will make the decisions, ask the questions, and push the conversations that shape our 21st Century world.
Whatever paths lie ahead of you—whether you remain in higher education or pursue careers in the health care field, work in business, social work, engineering, architecture, the arts, sciences, humanities, or virtually any other field in existence—all of you will find that your professions involve improving the quality of life for all, not just for the few.
Each of you will tackle the challenges of our future in your own way. My sincere hope – and belief – is that your UB education has provided you the tools and temperament to do great things. We are waiting with great pride and anticipation to see how you—our newest alumni—will use your UB education. Congratulations on all you have achieved as students of the University at Buffalo, and best wishes for all you have yet to achieve as our alumni!
