Good morning, friends. Thank you for joining me here in this sacred space at the heart of our campus. I cannot imagine a better way to begin my last academic year as your president.
What will this semester bring for me? For you? For our community?
It鈥檚 been years since those questions existed outside of the pandemic, outside of testing cadences, dashboard statistics, and contingency plans. Yet鈥攄espite the procession and persistence of variants鈥攊t finally feels as if we can live life again. And I want to take a moment to recognize that change鈥攁nd to be filled with gratitude and hope for it.
So, here we are, imagining the future together. A lot could go right this semester鈥攁 lot could go wrong. Nothing is certain except for one thing: If you and I are doing our jobs鈥攁re doing what this institution expects and demands of us鈥攚hat this nation needs of us鈥攚hat this world needs of us鈥攚e will be arguing.
Everywhere the stakes have gotten higher, and what we have to lose鈥攁 functioning democracy, a habitable planet, the list goes on鈥攈as become clearer and clearer. Gone are the days of quiet assurance and polite acquiescence. If we stand for Veritas, we must speak for Veritas. We must be both its bearer and its defender.
Being quick to understand and slow to judge does not mean being unwilling to argue鈥攊t means arguing in a way that celebrates and strengthens our mission, that demonstrates the power of knowledge and the forbearance of wisdom.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks鈥� argument for argument is among the most compelling I have encountered. We ought to argue, he asserts, 鈥渙ut of a desire to discover the truth, not out of cantankerousness or a wish to prevail over [our fellows],鈥� not 鈥渙ut of envy and contentiousness and ambition for victory.鈥�
When we argue for the sake of the latter, he continues, 鈥渨hat is at stake is not truth but power, and the result is that both sides suffer. If you win, I lose. But if I win, I also lose, because in diminishing you, I diminish myself [鈥 The opposite is the case when the argument is for the sake of truth. If I win, I win. But if I lose, I also win鈥攂ecause being defeated by the truth is the only form of defeat that is also a victory.鈥�
Rabbi Sacks referred to this type of argument as argument not for the sake of victory but for the sake of heaven. As we begin again to imagine the future鈥攁s individuals and as a community鈥攎ay we all find ways to resist the lure of righteousness. May we embrace the possibility of transcendence through argument. And may we live life again with greater appreciation of its fragility鈥攁nd for our dependence on one another.
Our beloved Harvard鈥攁nd all of the institutions that preserve and protect truth鈥�must endure. And we must do all that we can to see that they do, with gratitude and hope for our time and for times to come.
Thank you鈥攁nd take care.