RUTH SIMMONS: Good day and congratulations,
Princeton University Class of 2021.
It was with pleasure and a good deal of humility
that I accepted the invitation to address you.
It was with pleasure because of my high regard
and gratitude for what Princeton has meant in my life.
It was with admiration for the many ways the university
has evolved during my lifetime,
expanding greatly on its commitment
to ideals of high purpose and service.
While I'm not able to stand at this ceremonial oaken lectern
in Princeton's magnificent Collegiate Gothic chapel
to deliver this address,
I can assure you that I am there in spirit
as I visualize all of you
celebrating the end of your time at Princeton,
and the beginning of important life journeys.
Were I in the Chapel today
instead of standing on my own campus
at Prairie View A&M University,
I would once again marvel at such a creation
inspired by iconographic stonework,
and carvings from the Middle Ages on the one hand,
and post-revolutionary France on the other.
The architects' homage to Princeton's motto
reflects well the way in which the university
and society as a whole evolves,
taking from different traditions and periods
a means to understanding our current times.
I am excited to imagine the many ways
that you will carry on this tradition,
bravely serving a world in urgent need of change,
insight and comfort.
I first arrived at Princeton a refugee from Los Angeles,
where I had been associate dean of the Graduate School
at the University of Southern California.
The implementation of the college system at Princeton
piqued my interest.
"What must it be?", I thought at the time,
"to emphasize to such an extent the importance
and artful design of the undergraduate community
of learning?"
I must say I knew in an instant
that I wanted to be a part of such an experiment,
for I had long understood
how powerfully important these years of study can be
in one's life.
As a child of poverty who never imagined
even being able to attend college,
my own discovery that learning could be as enabling
and transformative as I found it to be as an undergraduate
changed the direction of my life in a powerful way.
You see, I was born on a large plantation in East Texas,
where my parents were sharecroppers.
Education in rural Grapeland, in the 1940s and '50s,
was a luxury that my family of 12 children
could ill afford,
because for children to attend school on a regular basis
meant frankly fewer hands to work in the fields.
So when the opportunity arrived in 1952
to relocate to Houston,
my parents chose to be a part of that Great Migration
to provide a better life for their children.
As a consequence, my younger siblings and I
were able to attend school every day.
That opportunity not only saved our lives
but opened wide possibilities that we had never dared dream.
You see, discrimination and Jim Crow were one thing
in the urban South but quite another in rural areas.
The rules of racial segregation and discrimination
were stricter in rural areas,
and the enforcement of violations of the code of segregation
were often more brutally enforced.
Racial protocols included the requirement for Blacks
to pay proper respect to whites,
a restriction on what areas Blacks could frequent,
and most tellingly a prohibition against harboring ambitions
deemed unsuitable for Blacks.
Today, my siblings and I are grateful that our parents
taught us how to behave in such a racial context
because their doing so kept us safe,
and able to live to adulthood.
That might sound familiar to you
if you are aware of what today's parents
must teach their children to keep them safe
from racial violence.
It won't surprise you then that as a child of those times,
I found education to be magical.
The classroom afforded an idealized environment
that differed radically from what I experienced
outside of school.
There I could be empowered and nourished
by a sense of belonging to an inclusive world beyond
the trenchant bigotry that greeted me
as soon as I shut the schoolhouse door behind me.
The classroom experience also gave me insights
into what I might encounter in the world
without the ubiquitous shackles of shame
and profiling created by racial hatred and dogma.
I held onto and recalled often
the pivotal moments in my education
when consciousness of my proper place in the world
took hold, promising me that I could be a better person
than the world imagined I could be.
So when I arrived at Princeton in 1983,
I was pleased to participate in the college system
that seemed to capture what these years could mean
in an individual's life.
I also relished the opportunity to experience firsthand
the college system,
and to see how it might advance the process of learning
from difference.
Bringing students together from varied backgrounds
seemed an ideal way to assuage the continuing divisions
and disparities in the country.
As director of studies for Butler College,
I reveled in seeing the ways in which my Princeton students
were challenged to be in the company
of those so different from themselves.
I was persuaded that we were in the process
of creating new kinds of citizens
and leaders for the world,
ones who would understand better
how to navigate the differences among us.
So I went about my work at Princeton
hoping to accelerate the impact of learning
from difference across the campus,
among faculty, in the curriculum,
among the administration.
Needless to say in that period
there was much good work to do --
addressing the way that minorities
were stopped on campus by public safety,
pushing for more women to be hired and compensated fairly,
promoting strong women's studies
and African American studies programs,
and diversifying the faculty.
The work was difficult but immensely gratifying.
While interacting with difference
can at times be frustrating and unsettling,
it remains an unparalleled opportunity for us all.
Some may be persuaded that it is far more comfortable
to be surrounded by clones of themselves,
but such a choice tends to be more reinforcing
than challenging,
stifling learning rather than stoking growth and creativity.
Over the decades, I have watched with delight
as students have suddenly and unexpectedly been transfixed
by an insight gained from the encounter with difference.
I have seen them awakened by critical insights
offered by countervailing views.
I've observed the awakening in them
of deep and authentic concern for others.
As a Black woman, I never expected men or whites
to understand or be concerned for my welfare.
Growing up in a traditional household with seven brothers
who were anointed as more important
than we girls in the family,
I was prepared for the fact that I would always be seen
as not only racially but also gender inferior
for the rest of my life.
At Princeton, I personally encountered
and benefited from difference
in a way that I had only imagined for my students.
Aaron Lemonick, a Jewish man from Philadelphia,
who had as far as I could see nothing in common with me,
stepped onto my path,
and became my protector and advocate,
encouraging me to accept a presidency
that I did not have the confidence to accept
without prodding.
The president of Princeton at the time, Harold Shapiro,
gave me opportunities to grow
and mature as an administrator
that also placed me on the path to university leadership.
How could it be that this child of Jim Crow,
who once only aspired to graduate from high school
and find menial work, could become a university president?
"No how, no way,"
that would have been my answer.
However, these two men so different in background from me,
went to the trouble to see that path for me.
It was they who encouraged me to be confident
of my ability to lead.
Such is the gift of difference.
We cannot always predict the race, gender,
religion or identity of the individuals
who will have the greatest impact on our lives.
Appreciating that fact can open avenues of growth
and achievement that lead to a life
of extraordinary benefits.
A diverse environment also offers passageways
to enlightened service.
Opening our minds to the many ways in which others
contribute to advancing our world
is just one benefit of a diverse environment,
but the greatest benefit is the way in which
such an environment can help us understand
how to build mutually respectful and safe communities
in which we acknowledge and care for one another
through times of trial and adversity.
Our country is now in the throes of such a period.
There are those who wish to re-propagate
notions of racial superiority.
Had we not seen this spoken and acted out,
we might have thought the idea of such a resurgence
far-fetched or absurd.
After all, an enlightened nation would never stand for it.
But this dangerous turn is real,
and one that should make us sit up straight,
take stock of how well we are focusing
on improving our efforts in diversity,
and recommit to the hard work of fostering
mutual understanding.
Every institution, every individual and every community
must turn its attention to fostering relations among people
that allow us to live peacefully in a world rife
with competing aims, conflicting opinions
and diverse histories.
Now you are all by virtue of your experience at Princeton
richly endowed with the gift of diversity in your lives.
In fact, Princeton could be the most diverse environment
you experience in your lives
unless you take deliberate steps to forestall a reversion
to modern segregation by race and class.
I urge you to make certain that you do not take that path.
Whatever you do, wherever you go,
let diversity inform and shape your life and work.
If you do this,
you'll be doing this nation and the world
an important service.
More importantly, when encountering those who would hate
and denigrate those who are different,
have the courage to dispute the validity of such bile.
Your actions to defend those who are attacked
for their difference will be a beacon for others.
Give no quarter to discrimination, harassment, bias
and other tools of hatred.
This university invited Martin Luther King Jr.
to speak at the chapel in 1960.
Imagine those seated in the chapel
who would have had the opportunity of a lifetime
to hear him.
Martin Luther King Jr. went to India,
and returned to his work in this country
inspired by the great Mahatma Gandhi.
Returning from India,
he spoke of finding in this different culture and philosophy
a direction for his own work,
nonviolent protest.
Now, try to imagine this nation
without the civil rights movement
inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.'s encounter
with Gandhi's philosophy.
An openness to difference
changed the future of this country.
While not all your encounters with diversity
will be as dramatic or as impactful as this one,
yours might just point to different solutions
for the divisions that trouble us.
My encounter with difference fueled a career
that otherwise could never have happened.
Serving as president of Smith College
and then Brown University was as improbable as any path
that could have been imagined for me.
Born and reared under Jim Crow, going to a Black college,
being impoverished in assets and in outlook,
how could I become the first African American
to lead an Ivy League University?
Improbability dwells comfortably
with those who would embrace the lessons
of diversity and difference.
Now president of a Black college,
I am still learning from difference,
still insisting on diversity,
and still preaching to my students
about the value of such experiences.
I'll never stop imparting to others
what is so plain to see,
that is, as a nation we have much work to do
to overturn the legacy of pain
caused by the practice of racial exclusion and exploitation.
Our experience with that failed strategy
should teach us well what we must do
in terms of including and respecting difference
in all the ways we can.
So I ask you to work hard for clarity of mind
and purity of heart when it comes to this issue.
You need not be perfect,
but you must ever be in the process
of perfecting your ability to be a force for good
when it comes to mediating in this space.
Your wisdom and experience will be needed.
Your goodwill and empathy will be a salve
for fractured communities.
Your hopeful leadership can help to save us.
So be a warrior for justice and equal treatment,
whatever path you chose.
I'm immensely proud of my long association with Princeton,
where I have been continuously involved
since my first arrival.
I am grateful for the lessons it taught me,
and the room it gave me
to be the person that I wanted to be.
I have to tell you that I was outspoken
and critical of Princeton,
and the university heard me.
I was unschooled in how to navigate change,
and Princeton gave me time to develop a style of engagement
that worked for me.
Most of all, I came to Princeton wanting to hide away
in its tree-lined streets,
and Princeton threw me into the world to enact change.
I am certain that you all could produce
a similar list of prods that came to you
as a consequence of your relationship with this university.
It isn't easy in this brash world to discover
and retain a sense of who you want and need to be.
Treasure the confidence that you have gained here.
Reach out to those who have accompanied you on this journey,
and feel renewed in your determination to excel
at being who you are.
I wish you the best in your endeavors,
and in your hopes for the future.
Most of all, I wish for you a future
rich in friends and colleagues
from across the broadest spectrum of humanity.
If God grants you that,
you will be the richer for it.
Thank you, congratulations, and Godspeed.