Vol.4 Issue No.1 - University of Guelph

Page 4Newsletter TitleMichael Grand’s Convocation AddressAlistair Summerlee (President) , MichaelGrand, Maureen Mancuso (Provost), KerryMr. Vice Chancellor, graduate class, parents,family and friends:To begin, I would like to thank Dean Daly forinviting me to address the graduating class.When I asked Dean Daly whether there wereany rules for framing my comments he saidthere were only two: Don’t talk about your researchAND don’t speak for more than fiveminutes.To ask an academic to not speak about one’sintellectual passions, and to be brief, no less, areindeed cruel and unusual punishments. Nevertheless,in the spirit of this occasion, I will giveit a try.A formal university education is directed towardsthe mastery of several disciplinary subjects,the integration and analysis of this material,the ability to communicate, and to do all ofthis while under the pressure of evaluation. Asyou are about to receive your degrees, clearly,you have accomplished these tasks. I suspect,however, for many of you, a few months fromnow, the formal content of your courses will be adistant memory. If this is so, then why have youexpended such efforts to arrive at this station inyour life? Was your university education simplyan expensive interlude between adolescence andadulthood?I would suggest that it is not the explicit aspectsof your education, but the implicit ones, whichreflect the most valuable and enduring part ofyour time at the University of Guelph.So, let me give you my wish list for what I hopeyou have learned from your experiences in theclassroom, laboratory, library, and yes, even theBrass Taps and the Bullring, the UC and theAthletic Centre:I hope that you have learned to be able to challengethe contextual meaning of information.Knowledge is neither neutral nor wholly objective.It is always value laden, as meaning is onlyunderstood within the context in which it isgenerated. Today, with such easy access to information,we rarely take the time to considerthe contextual meaning of these facts. We have aresponsibility to slow down this process in orderto fully appreciate who generated this informationand whose interests are being served bythe form in which such information is presented.I hope you have learned to be able to articulate athoughtful and principled perspective. You havelearned much. You must continue to share yourunderstandings. Of particular concern for me isthe drift in our culture towards a style of discoursethat is based on divisiveness and disparagementrather than a thoughtful engagementwith the challenges of our country. What isimportant is not just what we say, but how wesay it.I hope you have learned to demonstrate respectfor others. The University of Guelph is movingtowards the creation of a School for Civil Society.It could not have come at a more auspiciousmoment in our history. The demographics ofCanada are changing dramatically. We have themost diverse population in the world. We bringdifferent cultural understandings to our encounters.We do not always share a common meansof talking to each other. You are about to leave acommunity that honors the opportunity to civillydisagree with each other without belittlingthose who hold contrary views. It is my wishthat you will carry this respectful style into yourfuture lives.I hope you have learned to be a risk taker, tostrike out from the crowd, to go to those placeswhere the outcome is uncertain. Don’t worryparents, I am not asking that your sons anddaughters put their lives in danger, but to pushbeyond their comfort zone in order to find outwhat they are truly capable of being.I hope you have learned to be able to see opportunityin life’s disappointments. One of the fewthings that I can guarantee is that life will notalways go as you had hoped it would...but whenthis happens, we are also presented with thechance to re-evaluate where we have been headingand what we really wish to be doing. If youcan think of disappointment not as loss but anopportunity for time-out and self reflection, youwill have gained much.I hope you are aware of the privilege and theresponsibilities that accompany your formaleducation. In truth, very few in our society havehad the opportunity to spend a prolonged periodof time encountering profound and excitingideas. You have been asked to work on the leadingedge of emerging culture, generated throughuniversity research and teaching. The challengefor you is whether you are willing to leave thisUniversity with a commitment to be a goodcitizen, one who will carry on this task of generatingculture: to not accept what is given but toalways ask what is possible and then to reachwell beyond your grasp.And this is where I am going to break DeanDaly’s rules about a convocation address. Manyyears ago, a young graduate student came to meand asked that I supervise her thesis. It was tobe one on search and reunion in adoption. I declinedas I knew almost nothing of the topic, butshe persisted and once I started reading theliterature, I realized that she had set me on a lifetrajectory. Together, we published her resultsand the article is often cited in the literature.What is of more importance is that we took theresults to the street. After 25 years of politicalactivism, 90% of adult adoptees and their birthparents have the legal right to obtain identifyinginformation about their kin. Our research gaveus the legitimacy to help pry open sealed recordsacross this country. For me, academic freedomdoes not just mean that we have the opportunityto explore any topic we wish, but with it comesthe responsibility to make Canada a better society.Finally, I hope that you are ready to make acommitment to something, particularly a commitmentto community. Viktor Frankl, aViennese psychiatrist, who barely survived theAuschwitz death camp wrote “Ever more people,today, have the means to live, but no meaning tolive for.” It is my wish for you that your time atthe University of Guelph has helped you to setgoals and direction in your life. The path youtake will not be our path, and this is exactly as itshould be. What is important is that you buildmeaning into your lives and the lives that youwill touch. I wish you courage and fulfillment asyou continue your life’s journey. Congratulationsfor all that you have accomplished!