“You have inherited more than a set of rights and an admissions letter. You arrived here with opinions you have never examined, assumptions about what you are good at, and tastes assembled in large part by machines. None of that is your fault. All of it is now your responsibility.”
That was some of the wisdom shared Aug. 18 by Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences, during a convocation for new students and their caregivers.
Before Loewen’s talk under a white tent on the Arts Quad, students and families milled about. The excitement of new students was muddled with the bittersweet feelings of families who were preparing to shortly say goodbye.
Alicia Yau ’30 from northern Virginia chatted animatedly with a group of new friends. “I love how diverse Cornell is, that there are so many people in different schools, so many people from different backgrounds,” she said. “I love how you can talk to anyone and learn new perspectives and new insights. Everyone is so diverse, but so interconnected and I think that’s really beautiful.”
Amy Vassilev ’30 of Westchester, N.Y. said she’s excited about “meeting new people, getting involved in campus and joining clubs,” including perhaps a dance club. Esha Madamalla ‘30, from Virginia, said she “thought everyone would be closed off and missing home, but I’m so surprised that everyone’s been so open and friendly. You can literally go up to anyone and just start walking with them and have a conversation.”
Those varied conversations are some of the experiences Loewen urged students to have during their time here, as he told students they will play a role in three revolutions: the challenge of creating a “more perfect union” that framers of the Constitution realized 250 years ago would be a job for each successive generation; the revolution that created Cornell after the Civil War, of rebuilding American democracy and society; and the third revolution being one they will carry out on themselves.
“Every generation arrives at college facing pressures to become something predetermined. The world will tell you which careers are practical, which opinions are acceptable, which identities are valuable and which forms of knowledge deserve attention.
“But that’s for you to decide, not to merely accept,” Loewen said.
Loewen encouraged students to read and to resist the temptation to “surrender your concentration in exchange for speed, novelty, outrage or convenience.”
“You are in a fight against those who want your attention but do not care about your interest. They care whether you watch, click, react and return. They may present themselves as sources of information, entertainment or community, but their primary goal is often to capture and hold your attention,” Loewen said.
Truth, he said, is always more complex than a soundbite, video or AI summary.
At the same time, Loewen asked students to consider what they owe others, including society writ large.
“Democracy and free society depend on people who can live with disagreement without treating every disagreement as a personal threat,” he said. “It depends on people who understand that freedom is not simply the right to express oneself, but also the discipline of taking responsibility for what one says and does.”
At Cornell, he said, students don’t always agree with their professors or their fellow classmates, but they should expect to be challenged. And learn to respectfully challenge others.
Loewen’s wish for students? To win this final revolution.
“The first revolution built that republic. The second built this university to serve it. The third is yours, and its purpose is to give the first two the people they were always going to need,” he said.
“You may leave Cornell as a scientist, an artist, a physician, a teacher, a lawyer, an entrepreneur, a scholar, a public servant or something that none of us can yet name. But the person you become while doing that work will matter just as much.”
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