哈佛大学首任黑人女校长，就职演讲很精彩

译文社今年出版了《真理：哈佛大学与美国经验》，书名“真理”取自哈佛校徽上的拉丁语单词“VERITAS”。

这本书是一部风格独特的哈佛校史，它呈现出世界顶尖学府哈佛大学与美国社会之间的互动——美国社会的深层次变化，在校园里激荡，而校园里的变革，又成为美国社会变革的先声。在学校与社会的互动中，哈佛大学从一所默默无闻的殖民地的学校，成长为举世闻名的高等学府。

因此，观察哈佛大学的变化，往往能窥见美国社会正在发生的变革，这正是所谓“读懂了哈佛，也就读懂了美国”。

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今年，哈佛大学又迎来了新的变化：北京时间2023年9月30日2:00，哈佛大学校长Claudine Gay就职典礼举办，她是哈佛大学第30任校长，也是哈佛大学第一位黑人女校长和第二任女性校长。

Claudine Gay曾就读于菲利普斯埃克塞特学院，随后进入斯坦福大学学习经济学，获得安娜劳拉迈尔斯经济学最佳本科论文奖；而后又考入哈佛大学从事政治学。2018年起，Claudine Gay开始担任哈佛人文科学学院院长。

以下为Claudine Gay校长在就职典礼上的演讲视频及中英文稿。她鼓励哈佛学生以及所有年轻人，鼓起富有远见的勇气，问出“为什么不”。从她被任命为哈佛校长这件事以及她的演讲中，我们可以看到美国社会的变革趋势。

本文转载自微信公众号“北京格理特教育”

感谢你们冒雨前来，但抱歉，我不会缩短我的演讲。

家人、朋友、同事、学生、博士后、校友、贵宾们，今天我站在你们面前，为领导哈佛的前景而谦卑，为你们对我的信任而坚定，为你们对这所独特学府和高等教育共同事业的承诺而振奋。

我非常感谢校董会对我的信任，感谢我的前任们提供给我他们的观点、智慧和支持，感谢我的同事和校内外的导师们，他们的领导方式一直在指引和激励着我。我还要感谢校园社区的许多成员，是他们几个月来的辛勤工作才使今天的活动成为可能。谢谢你们。

最重要的是，是爱让我振奋，从我记事起，爱就一直赋予我力量，支撑着我，是爱成就了现在的我。

我的父亲Sony Gay是绝对的乐观主义者，他对世界上其他人充满好奇，这是他传给我和弟弟的双重天赋。我的母亲Claudette Gay今年早些时候去世了，但在得知我当选的消息之前，她露出了灿烂的笑容。

我非常希望她能在这里，哪怕只是为了有机会听到她说“我早就说吧”。我的父母都是独自一人离开了在海地所熟悉的一切，来到美国创造新的生活，他们明白，仅仅来到美国是不够的，他们急切地寻求大学教育，以保障他们自己和家人的未来生活。这个未来包括我最好的朋友兼好丈夫Chris Aphandelis。与Chris结婚是我做过的最正确的决定。他总是把我们的家庭放在第一位，他让我的每一天都充满希望。还有我们心爱的儿子Costa，他已经开始展示许多天赋。他也在提醒我，摆在我面前以及所有人面前的工作的意义，还有我们对未来的重要的责任。

近20代哈佛大学的历任校长们一直坚守着这份珍贵的信任。今天，我在这里感受到了这 29 位前任校长的风采，而与我同台的三位前任校长对这个讲台也并不陌生，他们为我们设立了很高的标准。Drew Faust在她的就职演说中指出，就职演说顾名思义是一种特殊的体裁，是还不知道自己在说什么的人发表的声明，我今天的发言也不例外。但是，我将试图打破这种流派，谈谈我确信的一件事，那就是勇气的重要性。没有勇气，我今天就不可能站在这里。

大约4个世纪以前，距离我站的地方不到 400 码的地方，四个被奴役的人，Bilha、Titus、Venus和Juba，作为哈佛大学校长的个人财产，在Wadsworth宅邸生活和工作。我的故事不是他们的故事。我是亚洲移民的女儿。但是，我们与许多开拓者的故事，都因这所学校长期的排外历史以及克服排外的漫长抵抗和坚韧历程而联系在一起。

正因为所有那些跨越世纪、敢于创造不同未来的人们集体的勇气，在我们国家和世界面临挑战的时刻，我站在这个舞台上，在这个宏伟的剧院里，肩负着作为第一人的重任和荣誉，我能说："我是Claudine Gay，哈佛大学校长。”

这种勇气，正是我今天要思考的。这所大学的勇气，我们排除万难质疑世界现状，想象并创造一个更好的世界的决心。这就是哈佛的使命。

约翰·亚当斯（John Adams）将其起草到马萨诸塞州宪法中，批准了我们的宪章，以庆祝在剑桥成立的大学，在那里，人们可以传播智慧和知识从而维护权利和自由，传播教育的机会和优势，并灌输人性原则。

通过不断以新的视野和活力重新致力于我们的中心目标，我们推动了人类的前景，正如每一代人都必须相信自己所处的时代一样，这些任务从未像现在这样紧迫。

我们对世界的贡献将取决于哈佛的勇气，取决于我们是否有勇气提出两个推动我们工作的问题：为什么和为什么不；取决于我们是否有勇气自信地回答他人：为什么在这儿，为什么是现在。

“为什么”是人们很早就会问的问题。如果你认识一个小孩子，你就很清楚这一点：我们为什么在这里？为什么月亮不在白天出来？为什么我早餐不能吃冰淇淋？为什么她还在说话？当我们接受周围默认的答案时，我们会停止问为什么，直到有事情激发我们质疑这些答案。

哈佛一直是一个追问“为什么”的地方。它为我们的研究和教学注入了活力。“为什么”是科学突破、探索成就和追求知识本身的问题。

新颖的艺术形式、身体和社会弊病的新疗法，为什么是对的，为什么是错的。这些都颠覆了传统智慧，激发了人们追求和可能性。“为什么？”这就是师生们如何迈向发现，相互挑战，将理解和洞察力推向更高水平的原因。这个简单的问题正是学术生活的基础。

现在理想的情况是，我们不需要问为什么的勇气。我们不应该像小孩子一样感到会被责备或指责的风险。但是，“为什么”戳中了问题的要害，引发了疑虑，让人瞠目结舌，与那些可能更喜欢肯尼迪总统曾说过的“享受不带脑子发表观点舒爽”的人发生了冲突。

坚持“为什么”就是放弃沉默的安全感、闲聊的轻松感和随大众的满足感。为什么的目标不是舒适，而是知识。知识改变生活；获得知识是我们的目的。当我们致力于将开放式探究和言论自由作为学术界的基本价值观时，我们就能实现这一目标。

我们个人和集体的探索能力取决于我们是否愿意就各种观点展开辩论、揭露和重新考虑各种假设、收集事实和证据、谨慎谦逊地交谈和倾听，并以加深理解和寻求真理为目标。

政治哲学家John Rawls曾在哈佛大学任教30年，他在讲授自己的著作《正义论》时，会同时讲授那些与他意见相左的人的作品。他的学生回忆说，他会鼓励他们本着同样的精神去聆听音乐，这意味着和谐、对比，所有这些都是本着同样的精神。

我们将背景、生活经历和观点的多样性作为一种制度要求。我们这样做，并不是暗地里追求平静或达成共识；而是因为我们相信动态参与的价值，以及思想和观点碰撞时所产生的学习效果。欢迎不同观点的社区之所以能够蓬勃发展，并不是因为他们认可所有观点都是正确的，而是因为他们会对所有观点的优点提出质疑。

现在，所有这些都很容易抽象化，尤其是站在罕见的高度，但却很难保持和实践。辩论和吸纳不同的观点和经验，虽然对我们的工作至关重要，但并不总是那么容易做到。在社交媒体的热度和党派的谩骂中，辩论和吸收不同的观点会让人感到不适。不适感会削弱我们的决心，使我们容易受到反驳言论的影响。这时，我们必须有哈佛人的勇气，对真理的爱到足以承受寻求真理和讲述真理所带来的挑战，对真理的爱到敢问为什么。

现在，了解世界的愿望促使我们问为什么，而改善世界的希望迫使我们问为什么不。“为什么不”是对行动的呼唤，是做看似不可能之事的愿望。为什么不改善海地和卢旺达的医疗状况？为什么不把无辜的人从死囚牢里救出来？为什么不绘制大脑千亿神经元图？为什么不缩小从学前教育到成人教育的持续差距？为什么不在各条战线上与气候危机作斗争？为什么不在最黑暗的深海和最遥远的时空点燃探索之火？

问“为什么不”应该是哈佛大学的座右铭，愿意被人觉得愚蠢，冒着被嘲笑的风险，或被当作梦想家。我们一次又一次地看到了这一点，看到了即使成功似乎遥不可及也要放手一搏的勇气，看到了合作、倾听、妥协、成长的勇气，看到了以不同的方式将我们的想象力和才能汇聚在一起的勇气。

作为文理学院院长，我见证了问“为什么不”的力量，当时这里基本上因为疫情清空了，不确定性让这里安静下来。我们已经动摇了，许多人都这样做了。但我们敢于合作——教职员工、学生。整个大学的学校共享理念、资源和我们的力量。我们搁置了长期以来对教学和研究的假设、我们重新思考我们社区的性质、我们打破了合作的障碍、我们行动迅速果断，有着强烈的共同目标感、我们成为了他人的榜样。能成为这所大学的一员，我感到前所未有的自豪。

当我设想13年后哈佛大学成立400周年时，我看到了一个以新的、扩展的方式在我们自己和社会之间建立联系的机构，一个人们问“为什么不”和问“为什么”一样急切的机构。为什么不通过我们的奖学金、外联和伙伴关系改善世界各地人们的生活呢？通过与公民、行业和政府建立新的联盟，我们可以加快发现和传播新知识和有效理念，从而在从身心失调到政治失调等各种重大问题上为公众服务。

我们要有工作做。为什么不通过我们的教育计划让尽可能多的人受益呢？通过使用在疫情期间来之不易的、由新技术推动的新教学方式和地点，我们可以接触到更多的学习者，改变更多的生活，并将教育的力量带到校园以外的社区。为什么不向全世界开放我们的书籍、物品和文物宝库呢？让更多的人了解我们5亿件丰富的藏品。

我们将文明的无数元素抛入活生生的世界，它们的错误、智慧和美好，都被下一代重新考虑、重塑和铭记。当我们鼓起勇气提出“为什么不”的问题，将新的思维方式与新的行动方式结合起来时，我们就扩大了哈佛成为什么样的学校以及哈佛能为世界做些什么的可能性。我们还培养那些敢于问“为什么不是我”的人的勇气。一个简单的问题，却能引发深刻的变革。

当女性被排斥在哈佛大学图书馆之外时， Margaret Fuller通过自己的努力进入了哈佛大学图书馆，并出版了有关女权主义和人权的奠基性著作。Ralph Bunche在哈佛大学政府部门寻求研究生奖学金，并帮助瓦解殖民主义和促使中东停火，最终获得诺贝尔和平奖。

今天，我们当中有许多人是因为他们敢于提出“为什么不是我”的问题，他们才有存在。哈佛大学在寻求真理和行善方面拥有超乎寻常的能力，充满了改变个人生活和社区前景的巨大潜力。这意味着光问“为什么”和“为什么不”是不够的，永远都不够。

哈佛肩负着特殊的责任，我们有责任通过培养对自由社会至关重要的准则和价值观，通过确保知识不仅在学生和教师之间，而且在所有公民之间自由流动，使他们能够做出明智的决定，来帮助巩固我们的民主。我们有责任探索、定义并帮助解决社会中最棘手的问题——与暴政、贫困、疾病和战争作斗争；保护地球及其人民免受气候变化的破坏。有责任通过发现人才和希望，并将这些人才带到哈佛，从而创造机会。

我们仍在从Conan校长开始的征途上认真汲取更多的人才，为我们的学校提供其应有的卓越品质，为我们的多元化社会提供满足需求和期望的领导者。当然，我们不能独自完成这项工作。今天与我们一起出席会议的还有来自远近各州和各国的院校代表，以及来自州政府和地方政府的值得信赖的合作伙伴，是他们让我们能够共同为国家和英联邦做出贡献。我希望今天能加强我们之间的联系。你们给了我们勇气。

对于“为什么选择这里”这个问题，最有说服力的答案可以从我们共同努力帮助他人茁壮成长的方式中找到。现在，我们做得如何取决于你问的是谁。根据最近的一些调查，近40%的美国人认为高等教育对国家有负面影响，大多数人认为获得四年制学位是一个糟糕的赌注，还有一些人认为大学教育根本不重要。尽管有大量证据表明，教育对经济流动性以及个人和家庭幸福起着至关重要的作用，但这些观点依然存在。

而这一悖论正是“为什么是现在”的答案，因为现在需要我们，以后才有机会。我们正处于这样一个时刻：人们对各类机构的信任度不断下降；人们可以无休止地获取信息，但却对“相信谁”和“相信什么”心存疑虑和冲突；政治两极分化如此极端，以至于人们宁愿陷入僵局，也不愿进行务实的合作。与此同时，地球在变暖，不平等在加剧，民主制度在动摇，下一次疫情也在逼近。如果不是现在，那是何时？

重建对高等教育使命和机构的信任并非易事。部分原因在于我们是否有勇气面对自己的不完美和错误，是否有勇气以崭新和开放的精神向外看，是否有勇气以大胆和振奋人心的雄心来迎接这个充满怀疑和不安的社会。这体现在我们所从事的研究和我们所教育的学生身上。我们每天都在通过履行使命改变世界。

勇气是艰难的，也是难以持久的，但我们随处可见，在面对战争和不公、疾病和损失时，在为了更伟大的目标而坚持不懈的故事中，我们看到了勇气。W.E.B. 杜波依斯作为第一位获得哈佛博士学位的非裔美国人从哈佛毕业14年后，创办了有色人种协进会和一份名为《危机》的报纸，这份报纸记录了争取人权斗争的非凡历程，他在报纸上发表了一位名叫Langston Hughes的打零工的年轻人的诗作。

在Hughes的一首诗中，一位母亲对她的儿子说：对我来说，生活不是水晶阶梯”。尽管如此，她还是告诉儿子，她一直在爬，爬过了大头钉，爬过了碎片，爬过了被撕裂的木板，所以她恳求他，“不要回头，不要坐在台阶上”。她给他上了一课，不是教他如何达到目标，而是教他无论遇到什么阻碍都要克服困难，因为克服困难是前进的唯一途径。

勇气是一种性格。它不会发牢骚，不会抱怨，也不会扭扭捏捏。它也不会假装风险和挑战不存在。有勇气面对恐惧，找到决心。

在这个充满危险和怀疑的世界里，我们也必须坚守我们的目标。我们不仅要为我们的学生，而且要为那些永远不会踏入哈佛院子的数十亿人，他们的生活也会因为我们的工作而向前迈进这一步。

今天，这句话和我父母鼓起勇气离开太子港时一样正确：如果你想建设更美好的生活，如果你想建设更美好的世界，高等教育是最好的基础。这并不是因为我们是完美的，我们并不完美，而是因为我们有勇气承认我们的不完美，因为不完美留下了改进的空间，留下了超越我们今天所能梦想的一切的上升空间。

我在演讲开始时声称，我对勇气有所了解，这也许是一个大胆的说法，但并不是自夸。勇气存在于一种有目的的超脱之中，即使在前进的过程中，我们也要承认自己的恐惧和错误。用艾略特的话说，我们向着真理前行，不让周围的黑暗决定我们的光芒。在勇气中，我们找到自由，我们敢于想象，共同创造不同的未来。

我从我的父母身上学到了这一点，他们在生活中默默耕耘，寄予厚望，为我和弟弟开辟了一个充满可能性的世界。当整个社区在新冠疫情期间进行重组时，我在这个校园里见证了这一点，这是集体表观遗传学的壮举，重塑了我们的机构基因。四个多世纪以来，从Wadsworth府邸到今天这个讲台的短途和长途跋涉中，你们也看到了这一点。这就是哈佛的勇气。

从1992年我读研究生的那一天起，我就喜欢上了这个地方。现在，你们给了我极大的殊荣，带领这所大学走向未来，用它明亮但有时难以控制的恒星星座来指引方向。让我们鼓起勇气成为世界现在需要的东西，鼓起勇气保持开放性和多样性，我们需要问“为什么”，鼓起富有远见的勇气问“为什么不”。

要有勇气聆听其他观点的声音，要有勇气承认我们的错误和正视我们的不足，要有勇气将混乱转化为革新和重塑的力量。为什么不在这里，为什么不在现在？我们每个人都有这种勇气；我们可以从彼此身上看到这种勇气。让我们一起鼓起勇气。

谢谢大家，哈佛大学第30任校长在在座各位的支持下就职。

Thank you for soldiering through the rain, and I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna shorten my speech.

Family, friends, colleagues, students, and postdocs, alumni, distinguished guests, I stand before you today, humbled by the prospect of leading Harvard, emboldened by the trust you have placed in me, and energized by your own commitment to this singular institution and to the common cause of higher education.

I am grateful beyond measure to the governing boards for placing their confidence in me, to my predecessors for offering their perspectives, their wisdom, and their support, to my colleagues and mentors from this university and beyond for leading in ways that continue to guide and inspire me. I am thankful to the many members of our campus community who have worked so hard for so many months to make today's event possible. Thank you.

And most of all, I'm uplifted by love, love that has empowered and sustained me for as long as I can remember, love that has made me who I am.

My dad, Sony Gay, is unmatched in his optimism and in his curiosity about people in the world, twin gifts that he passed on to my brother and me. My mom, Claudette Gay, passed away earlier this year, but not before learning of my election and smiling broadly at the news.

I wish very much that she were here, if only for the chance to hear her say, "I told you so." Both of my parents, each on their own, left everything they knew in Haiti to forge new lives in the United States, and because they understood that coming to America was not enough, they eagerly sought college education to ensure the future they wanted for themselves and for their family. That future came to include my best friend and my wonderful husband, Chris Aphandelis. Married with Chris remain the best decision I ever made. He has always put our family first, and he makes this day and every day to come possible for me. And our beloved son, Costa, in moments big and small with the many gifts he has already begun to share with the world. He reminds me of the meaning of the work before me, the work before all of us, and our responsibility to the future.

For nearly 20 generations, Harvard presidents have upheld that precious trust. I feel the presence of those 29 predecessors here today, and the three former presidents sharing the stage with me, who are no strangers to this podium, have set a high rhetorical bar. Although Drew Faust helpfully pointed out in her inaugural address that inaugural speeches are a peculiar genre by definition, pronouncements by individuals who do not yet know what they are talking about, I claim no exception for my remarks today. But I will attempt to defy the genre by talking about one thing I do know, and that is the importance of courage. Without which my presence here today would not be possible.

Not 400 yards from where I stand, some 4 centuries ago, four enslaved people, Bilha, Titus, Venus, and Juba, lived and worked in Wadsworth House as the personal property of the president of Harvard University. My story is not their story. I'm a daughter of Asian immigrants to this country. But our stories and the stories of the many trailblazers between us are linked by this institution's long history of exclusion and the long journey of resistance and resilience to overcome it.

And because of the collective courage of all those who walked that impossible distance across centuries and dared to create a different future, I stand before you on this stage in this distinguished company and magnificent theater, at this moment of challenge in our nation and in the world, with the weight and the honor of being a first, able to say, "I am Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University."

Their courage, that courage, is what I want to reflect on today. The courage of this university, our resolve against all odds to question the world as it is and imagine and make a better one. It is what Harvard was made to do.

John Adams drafted it right into the Massachusetts constitution to ratify our charter, celebrating the university at Cambridge, where wisdom and knowledge diffused generally among the body of the people could preserve their rights and liberties, spread the opportunities and advantages of education, and inculcate the principles of humanity.

By continually recommitting ourselves to our central purpose with renewed vision and vigor, we advance the prospects of humankind and as every generation must believe of its own time, never have those tasks felt more urgent.

What we offer to the world will depend on Harvard's courage, our courage to ask two questions that propel our work: why and why not. It will depend on the courage to answer with confidence to others: why here and why now.

"Why" is a question that comes to us early in life. If you know a young child, you know this well: Why are we here? Why is the moon out during the day? Why can't I eat ice cream for breakfast? Why is she still talking? We may be tempted to stop asking why when we accept the default answers around us until something sparks us to question those answers.

Harvard has always been a place to ask why. It animates our research and teaching. "Why" is the question of scientific breakthroughs, achieve discoveries, and the pursuit of knowledge itself.

Fresh artistic forms, new remedies for physical and social ills, why rights wrongs overturns conventional wisdom and opens the blue sky of human pursuit and possibility. Why is how students and faculty move toward discovery and challenge each other to push to the next levels of understanding and insight. This simple query is the very basis of academic life.

Now, ideally, we shouldn't need courage to ask why. We should feel no more danger of recrimination or risk of censure than a young child. But why pokes at things, it raises doubts and raises eyebrows, it clashes with those who may prefer, as President Kennedy once said, "the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

To persist with why is to give up the safety of silence, the ease of idle chatter, the satisfaction of an echo chamber. The goal of why is not comfort; it is knowledge. Knowledge is what transforms lives; knowledge is our purpose. We serve that purpose best when we commit to open inquiry and freedom of expression as foundational values of our academic community.

Our individual and collective capacity for discovery depends on our willingness to debate ideas, to expose and reconsider assumptions, to marshal facts and evidence, to talk and to listen with care and humility, and with the goal of deeper understanding and as seekers of truth.

The political philosopher John Rawls, who spent 30 years on the Harvard faculty, would teach his magisterial work, "A Theory of Justice," alongside the works of those who most powerfully disagreed with him. And his students recall that he would encourage them to listen for the music, that means harmony, counterpoint, and all in that same spirit.

We embrace diversity of backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives as an institutional imperative. When we do that, it's not with a secret hope for calm or consensus; it's because we believe in the value of dynamic engagement and the learning that happens when ideas and opinions collide. Communities that welcome diverse perspectives thrive, not because they endorse all as valid, but because they question all on their merits.

Now, all of this is easy to salute in the abstract, especially from these rarefied heights, but it's hard to protect and practice. Debate and the inclusion of diverse viewpoints and experiences, while essential for our work, are not always easy to live with. They can be a recipe for discomfort, fired in the heat of social media and partisan rancor. And discomfort can weaken our resolve and make us vulnerable to a rhetoric of control and containment that really has no place in the academy. And that is when we must summon the courage to be Harvard, to love truth enough to endure the challenge of truth-seeking and truth-telling, to love truth enough to ask why.

Now, the desire to understand the world urges us to ask why, and it's the hope to improve the world that compels us to ask why not. "Why not" is a call to action, the aspiration to do what might seem impossible. Why not improve healthcare in Haiti and Rwanda? Why not get the innocent off death row? Why not map the one hundred billion neurons of the brain? Or close persistent gaps in education from pre-K to adult learners? Why not fight the climate crisis on every front? Or keep lit the flame of exploration in the darkest depths of the sea and the furthest reaches of space-time?

Asking "why not" should be a Harvard refrain, the willingness to sound foolish, to risk ridicule, and be dismissed as a dreamer. We have seen it time and again, the courage to take a chance, even when success seems beyond reach, and the courage to collaborate, to listen, to compromise, to grow, to bring our imaginations and talents together in a different way.

I witnessed the power of asking "why not" as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences when this space was largely emptied by a pandemic and quieted by uncertainty. We might have faltered; many did. But we dared to work together — faculty, staff, students. Schools across the university shared ideas, resources, and our strength. We set aside long-held assumptions about teaching and research. We rethought the nature of our community. We broke down barriers to collaboration. We acted quickly and decisively, with a strong sense of shared purpose, and we became a model for others. I had never been prouder to be part of this university.

When I envision Harvard on our 400th anniversary, just 13 years away, I see an institution that connects in new and expanded ways among ourselves and with society, an institution whose people ask "why not" as eagerly as they ask "why." Why not improve people's lives everywhere through our scholarship, outreach, and partnerships? By building new coalitions with citizens, industry, and government, we can accelerate the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge and effective ideas to serve the public good on every matter of consequence, from disorders of the mind and body to disorders of the body politic.

We have work to do. Why not reach as many people as possible through our educational programs? By using new forms of how and where we teach, hard-won during the pandemic and boosted by new technologies, we can reach more learners, change more lives, and bring the power of education to communities far beyond our campuses. Why not open our treasure troves of books, objects, and artifacts to the world? By increasing access to our magnificent collections, verging now on half a billion items.

We cast the myriad elements of civilization into the living world, in all their error and wisdom and beauty, to be reconsidered, remade, and remembered by the next generation. When we summon our courage to ask "why not," to join new ways of thinking with new ways of acting, we expand the possibilities of what Harvard can be and what Harvard can do for the world. We also foster the courage of those who dare to ask, "why not me?" A simple question that can spark profound change.

The moment Margaret Fuller talked her way into the Harvard library when women were excluded from the entire institution and went on to publish foundational works on feminism and human rights. The day Ralph Bunche sought a graduate fellowship in Harvard's government department and went on to help dismantle colonialism and arrange a ceasefire in the Middle East that would win him the Nobel Peace Prize.

There are many among us here today whose presence would be unimaginable were it not for their courage to ask, "why not me?", which leads us finally to why here and why now. Harvard is blessed with outsized capacity to seek truth and to do good, imbued with awesome potential to change the lives of individuals and the prospects of communities. This means that asking "why" and "why not" is not enough; it can never be enough.

Harvard has a special responsibility, our responsibility to help anchor our democracy by cultivating norms and values essential to a free society, and by ensuring the free flow of knowledge not only among students and faculty but to all citizens to enable them to make informed decisions. A responsibility to explore, define, and help solve the most vexing problems of society — the struggle against tyranny, poverty, disease, and war; the challenge of protecting a planet and its people from the devastation of climate change. A responsibility to create opportunity by identifying talent and promise wherever it resides and bringing that talent to Harvard.

We are still on a journey that began in earnest with President Conan to draw from a deeper pool of talent and provide our institution with the excellence it deserves and our diverse society with the leaders it needs and expects. Of course, we cannot do this alone. Joining us today are delegates from institutions representing states and nations near and far, and our trusted partners from state and local governments who make possible our collective contributions to the country and to the Commonwealth. I hope that today strengthens our connections. You give us courage.

The most compelling answer to "why here" can be found in the way that we all work together to help others thrive. Now, how well we are doing depends on who you ask. According to some recent surveys, almost 40 percent of Americans believe higher education has a negative effect on the country, a majority think that earning a four-year degree is a bad bet, and still others that a college education doesn't matter at all. These views persist despite volumes of evidence demonstrating the critical role of education for economic mobility and for individual and family well-being.

And in that paradox lies the answer to "why now," because now needs us so that later has a fighting chance. We are in a moment of declining trust in institutions of all kinds, of endless accessed information but doubts and conflict about who and what to believe, of political polarization so extreme that gridlock is preferred to pragmatic collaboration. And all the while, the planet warms, inequality grows, democracies falter, and the next pandemic looms. If not now, then when?

Rebuilding trust in the mission and institutions of higher education won't be easy. It lies partly in our courage to face our imperfections and mistakes, to turn outward with a fresh and open spirit, meeting a doubtful and restless society with audacious and uplifting ambitions. Present in both the research we undertake and the students we educate. Present in the world that we are changing every day by fulfilling our mission.

Courage is hard, and it's hard to sustain, but we see it everywhere, steady in the face of war and injustice, sickness and loss, in stories of perseverance for a greater purpose. Fourteen years after he graduated from Harvard as the first African American to earn a Harvard PhD, W.E.B. Du Bois founded the NAACP and a newspaper called "The Crisis," an extraordinary record of the struggle for human rights, where he published the poems of a young man working odd jobs named Langston Hughes.

In one of Hughes' poems, a mother says to her son, "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair." Still, she tells him she's been climbing on through the tacks and splinters and boards torn up, and so she implores him, "Don't you turn back, don't you sit down on the steps." She gives him a lesson, not of reaching a goal, but of pushing through difficulty no matter the impediments, because pushing through is the only way of moving forward.

Courage is a disposition. It does not whine or complain or wring its hands. It also does not pretend that risk and challenge do not exist. Courage faces fear and finds resolve.

And so must we hold fast to our purpose in a dangerous and skeptical world. Far from defending an ivory tower, we strive to pour a staircase open to all, an upward path with no boards torn up, not only for our students but for the billions of people who will never set foot in Harvard Yard yet whose lives may advance this step because of what we do.

It is as true today as it was when my parents mustered the courage to leave Port-au-Prince: If you want to build a better life, if you want to build a better world, higher education is the best foundation. Not because we are perfect, we are not, but because we find the courage to admit our imperfections, because imperfection leaves room for improvement, room to ascend beyond anything we can dream of today.

I began this address claiming that I know something about courage, a bold claim perhaps, but not a boastful one. Courage abides in a kind of purposeful detachment, admitting our fears and false steps even as we advance. To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, we journey toward truth, not allowing our light to be determined by the darkness around us. In courage, we find freedom where we dare to imagine and make a different future together.

I learned it from my parents, who built a life of quiet achievement and high expectations that opened a world of possibility for my brother and me. I witnessed it on this campus when the entire community reorganized itself during COVID, a feat of collective epigenetics that refashioned our institutional DNA. You have seen it too, over four centuries, in the short walk and long journey from Wadsworth House to this podium today. That is the courage to be Harvard.

I have loved this place since the day I arrived as a graduate student in 1992, and now you have given me the great honor of leading this university into the future, setting a compass by its constellation of brilliant if sometimes unruly stars. Let us summon the courage to be what the world needs now, the courage to preserve the openness and the diversity that we need to ask why, and the visionary courage to ask why not.

The courage to listen for the music in other points of view, the courage to admit our mistakes and confront our shortcomings, the courage to convert disruption into forces of renewal and reinvention. Why not here, why not now? We have it in each of us; we can see it in one another. Let us be courageous together.

Thank you, the 30th president of Harvard University, having been installed in the favoring presence of the company here assembled.

- END -

《真理》

👉 点击购买纸质书

[美]安德鲁·施莱辛格 著
谢秉强 译
上海译文出版社

本书对世界顶尖学府哈佛大学做了一次全面彻底的历史回顾，展现了哈佛从一所清教思想主导的学校成长为全球科学和社科人文教学研究重镇的历程。最难能可贵的是，本书呈现了哈佛与美国数百年来社会变革与动荡的紧密联系。哈佛历任校长和校务委员会秉持着“真理”（VERITAS）这一校训，在“旧世界的桎梏”中不断突破前行：从平息宗教狂热，到与英国王室断绝关系；从录取第一名黑人学生，到招收第一批女性学生；从反对纳粹分子，到拥抱多元文化世界……

哈佛前校长劳伦斯·萨默斯曾说：“我们重视真理本身，但我们还因为理解真理可以对这个世界产生深远影响，对千百万人的生活产生深远影响，而重视真理。”

本书的基础是一部名校史，因哈佛在全球范围里的的成就和影响，又全然超出了一部校史的意义和价值。本书兼具学术性和可读性，史料丰富，有学术深度和全角视野，文笔简练活泼，充满活力，可读性极强。