Every spring, for one hundred and fifty-two years,
the president of Cornell University
has stood in front of its graduating class to offer congratulations,
good wishes, and usually a few words of advice.
Commencement is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication
a celebration of effort rewarded
and experiences shared.
It’s a time for each year’s class to come together
for the last time as Cornell students,
before heading out into the world as Cornell graduates.
This year, as all of us know, is different.
Throughout the unprecedented events of these past months,
as our community’s lives and expectations have been
upended, reshaped, and upended again,
our hearts have been most of all with you,
our graduating seniors.
Since the day you arrived at Cornell, all of you expected
to end your time on campus the way that generations of Cornellians have:
celebrating Commencement in Ithaca, with caps and gowns with families and friends.
That is what all of you deserve,
and it is exactly what we will do, as soon as we responsibly can.
And I can’t wait to celebrate with you:
a class that will always have its own place in the history of Cornell.
Just like a teacher isn’t supposed to have favorite students,
a university president isn’t supposed to have a favorite class.
But the Class of 2020 will always be special to me, for what we have shared.
When I arrived on campus as Cornell’s president in 2017,
today’s graduating seniors were freshmen.
In the years that have passed since then,
all of us have learned, and grown, and become Cornellians together.
And while none of us would have chosen for your last semester here to end the way that it did,
sometimes, it’s the darkest times in our lives that ultimately teach us the most.
I’ve always noticed that the most successful and the happiest people I've ever known
share two characteristics:
one, is that they find ways to spend their lives focused not on themselves, but on other people;
and two is that they’re able to cope with and adapt to change.
And as difficult and traumatic as the events of this year have been,
all of us should take pride in what our community has done:
We put the lives and the health of others ahead of our own disappointments,
and we found new and different and creative way to continue to learn,
continue to connect, and continue to pursue our Cornell mission.
And there is no question that each of you has had a profound lesson in dealing with change.
If there’s one thing we all learned this year,
it’s that Cornell is more than just a place. It is an ethos, it is a community,
and it is who we are, wherever we are.
I am so very proud of each and every one of you.
And from every school and college at Cornell:
from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
and from the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
from the College of Arts and Sciences
from the College of Engineering
from the College of Human Ecology
from Computing and Information Science
from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
from the School of Hotel Administration
from the Dyson School
from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations
from the College of Veterinary Medicine
from the Law School
from Cornell Tech
from the Graduate School
from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
Congratulations, Class of 2020!
We can’t wait to see you all back in Ithaca, on Schoellkopf Field,
and celebrate Commencement with you in real life.
♫ Far above Cayuga's waters, With its waves of blue,
♫ Stands our noble Alma Mater, Glorious to view.
♫ Lift the chorus, speed it onward, Loud her praises tell;
♫ Hail to thee, our Alma Mater! Hail, all hail, Cornell!
♫ Far above the busy humming Of the bustling town,
♫ Reared against the arch of heaven, Looks she proudly down.
♫ Lift the chorus, speed it onward, Loud her praises tell;
♫ Hail to thee, our Alma Mater! Hail, all hail, Cornell!