Embracing the Future 2008
Hello! Welcome, students, family members, staff and faculty to this wonderful event, “Embracing the Future.” On behalf of the University’s central administration, and the staff and faculty at the University of Oregon, I want to welcome each and every one of you to this wonderful University and to our vibrant community.
As Vice President for Student Affairs, I have the enviable job of working for and with student’s every day. The Division of Student Affairs is made up of departments, programs and professionals whose sole job is to concern themselves with…students. Whether students are in or out of the classroom, Student Affairs staff helps to ensure that learning, growth, success, excitement and challenge happens all of the time. We truly have the best jobs on campus!
I want to welcome all of the new students in the audience who will be joining us fall 2008. What a big decision each of you has made! You are our future and we embrace the excitement of what your presence and your potential will bring to our university and also bring to our world. You have made one of the most important decisions in your lives, and we at the University want to be a partner in helping you attain the outstanding educational experience you deserve. Thank you for choosing to become a Duck—for choosing us as the place that you want to spend your college life—for without you, the University of Oregon would just be a place of glorious buildings and great shrubbery---pretty boring!!
The University of Oregon is the flagship institution of the Oregon University System. That means we attract the best and brightest students and the most acclaimed and successful faculty and staff. You are attending the most respected institution in Oregon—congratulations to you for being accepted to such a prestigious place!
For you students who are still thinking about things, trying to weigh the benefits of attending our University or another one—I hope you are experiencing a sense of just how exciting it will be when you decide to join the University of Oregon community. I encourage you to take a good look at the possibilities for the future and how you can attain your goals by joining our community. It’s a hard decision, but I am sure you will do what is right for you—which, in my humble opinion, would be becoming a University of Oregon student!
Before I go much further, I would like each of the students here today to take a moment and think about how you got here—newly admitted college student—how does that sound? Pretty, good, huh?? Well, you didn’t do that on your own. Don’t get me wrong—I know you put in the hard work, the countless hours of studying, providing community service, playing your sport, working hard—that was all you. But I am also sure that other people in your lives helped you as well. So I want you to take a moment thank all of the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, other family members, friends or whomever helped you financially, emotionally, spiritually to gain the success that you are enjoying right now—how about a round of applause for all of those who have supported you and will continue to support you!
And, for those supporters who are in the audience, you need to know that your job is not over. As a matter of fact, a little known secret is that students age 18-24 who are going off to college need support and guidance more than ever. A different kind of support and a different kind of guidance for sure, but your job is just starting! Thank you for all that you have done to help your student get to this point—you should be proud, just look at the results.
I would like to tell you a little bit about the students at the University of Oregon. Our students are from a wide range of cities and towns throughout Oregon and the 49 contiguous states. On average, our students achieve a 3.5 GPA as they enter college and involve themselves in a variety of programs including internships, study abroad and the Peace Corp, to name a few. Our students are comfortable taking the initiative, they have big dreams and they want to do well. We have a large international student population from many, many countries in the world. We just admitted the most racially and ethnically diverse incoming class in our history. We launched the Pathway Oregon program that will ensure that students from all socioeconomic statuses are able to attend our great University, regardless of their economic situation.
This event, Embracing our Future, is geared toward those students who self-identify as members of an underrepresented group—be that race, ethnicity, social-economic status, physical ability, sexual orientation—we know how important it is to make sure that our campus is a place that individuals of all races, religions, ethnicities and cultures feel safe and welcomed and are afforded the rights and opportunities to flourish. We work tirelessly to ensure that our community is one in which all students not only survive but thrive. You see we are a microcosm of the larger United States—we have an obligation to find ways to work in partnerships to challenge ourselves to understand each other and those things that we don’t understand and to leave this experience better people, better citizens and more equipped to fight intolerance and bigotry wherever we might encounter it. At a recent students of color event, the student organizers deemed this year to be the year of activism for our student body. These involved and bright students are interested in finding ways to bring social justice initiatives forward and to ensure that all students, faculty and staff have the privilege of living and working in a vibrant respectful community and that we as a community are contributing in positive ways to our state and to our nation. You can and should be a part of that.
The University of Oregon is a great place to be, and the opportunities are limitless. You should know that there are a multitude of things you, as a new student, can do to become involved at the university. We have over 150 programs and clubs through our student government. Our campus hosts a plethora of events, programs and new initiatives for students. I encourage you to consider involvement in freshmen interest groups, become involved in your residence hall, join one of our clubs, sign up for a team or sporting event through the Recreation Center, join a student advisory committee, get involved in a research group, run for and/or get involved in student government, attend special programs put on through our leadership office, help to organize a conference, make plans to study abroad, volunteer, join a fraternity or sorority, go on a trip with our outdoor program, oh, and you might consider attending a football game or two—as student, you receive tickets for that!! There is so much to do and so many opportunities to become involved; you just have to take the first step. And the great thing about you becoming involved is as a person who identifies membership in an underrepresented group, you will bring a perspective and life experience that will be incredibly invaluable and needed. We need your voice. Please don’t get me wrong—I am not suggesting that you should serve as the token person on some group or event—I can say with great exasperation—been there done that! No, I am talking about the benefits that come when members of our communities, from all backgrounds and walks of life become involved and are present and accounted for. I am talking about building the type of multicultural society that we must achieve as this country experiences the shifts in demographics that are occurring as we speak. I want to be honest with you –the University of Oregon, just like many Universities, has struggled with our diversity efforts; such as diversifying our student body and increasing the diversity of faculty and staff. Just two years ago, we launched our first ever 5-year diversity plan to ensure that we have effective strategies in place to do better and to be more—and we are making progress. We are committed to making sure that our students are not only prepared academically, but are also ready and able to be global citizens in our rapidly changing world. As educators, we must take responsibility for this. Why is this important? Because our students must develop a sense of contextual fluidity -- the ability to move fluidly from context to context or place to place while staying rooted in who they are; and they must also develop the skills and abilities of cultural competency—which is the knowledge, awareness and skills of how one’s cultural background and upbringing interacts with others from different cultures and the ability to work and live successfully with a variety of different people. These are not just flowery ideals that we can talk about and put little substance to. Now that our University (and many others, years before us), are beginning to articulate a commitment to the ideals of internationalization, multiculturalism and diversity, we as members of this community have a responsibility that cannot be ignored. By accepting admission into the University of Oregon, you have that responsibility as well. A responsibility to social justice, to making this place better than when you came, to speaking up, being involved and challenging all of us to do better—I know you will be able to make a difference. Your education is about so much more than reading, writing and arithmetic, or gaining skills to secure a good job—we promise you, we will prepare you for all of that—your education is also about the life lessons and experiences that will shape you as well as your obligation to making our country and our world a place that reflects these ideals—that is what education is really about.
Students, you are our brightest future. You will be the next psychologist, elementary teacher, microbiologist, physician, congresswoman, Nobel Peace Prize winner—the next university president that helps advance the agenda of access for all students regardless of economic status, the next PRESIDENT of the United States, to really understand and then capitalize on the huge potential of this multicultural society! We need you to be here, we need to make sure you have everything you need to succeed here and we need you to stay and make the differences on this campus, in this state and in the world that I know you can make. I am so glad that you are here, because when I see you and I imagine the things that you are going to accomplish, I have great hope.
Before I leave the stage, however, I want to talk about one other thing. And that is how we intersect with each other—how we people of color, sexual minorities, gender minorities, people from disadvantaged backgrounds, or abilities—how we all intersect. At a student of color event earlier in the year, I was so pleased to see that the theme of the event was the intersectionality among our communities. Because we have not always remembered that, and we still struggle to embrace the power we can achieve in understanding each other and building community. I know you young people know what I am talking about. The younger generation is always ahead of the older generation—if we are willing to listen to our students, we will learn so much—that’s why I like hanging out with students—they remind me of what is important and what we are fighting for everyday. So I want to leave you with the challenge to make sure that you always reach out to others and appreciate the complexity that all of us bring to whatever situation we are in. We may not intersect on race, but we may intersect on religion, or gender or area of the country that we grew up in. We are truly connected, and we must never forget that. Because, at the end of the day, if we harness all of the power in this room, on this campus, we can truly change the world.
Thank you for listening, I hope each and every one of you has a fantastic academic year. Thank you for making this important decision and for joining our community. I hope you vow right now that you WILL make a difference while you are on this campus and that you will become involved in the community right away—because we need you, and engagement and involvement are critical to your educational experience. My door is always open to you—do your best, make us proud and be the change you want to see in the world! Go Ducks!