For this, my inaugural column for California magazine as chancellor, I want to share with you an abbreviated version of the remarks I offered at my investiture ceremony in October. I hope and believe they capture the values, priorities, and aspirations that will guide all that I do during my time in office. Words alone cannot describe how much I look forward to working with you, our community of fellow alumni.
I am filled today with profound humility, unbridled excitement, and deep gratitude for this opportunity to serve our university, this beautifully chaotic and always thrilling place that has no equal.
I have had an ongoing love affair with Berkeley since I arrived here as an undergraduate. Berkeley helped build who I am and has provided me with an incredible, never-ending supply of meaning and purpose; a passion for discovery and learning; and amazing interpersonal connections that form the ties that bind me to this campus and community.
For these reasons—and more—I owe this place so much, and so, as we start out on this journey together, no two words are more important than these: Thank you!
Thank you to the students, staff, faculty, and alumni who have warmly greeted the start of my tenure, who are expressing their caring and commitment by sharing with me their ideas and aspirations for our future, who on a daily basis manifest the values, standards, and principles that make this university our university.
And thank you all for your belief in Berkeley. Not just in what and who we are today, but also your belief in what we can be, and your faith that together we can and will create a future that does justice to our past.
While this has been described as my inauguration, I see this not as a personal ceremony, but a communal one, an inauguration of another era of excellence for our university. I am certain that together we can and will write a new chapter in the remarkable story of Berkeley’s never-ending quest to open and explore new horizons on behalf of the greater good.
This is truly our celebration, for there is little if anything I can or even want to accomplish on my own, and that is exactly the way it should be at a place built by the people, of the people, and for the people of our state, our country, and the world. This is truly the people’s university that serves as an unequaled engine of socioeconomic mobility and a firehose of energy, ambition, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
The Berkeley I know and love is a place animated by complex challenges and our innate discomfort with the status quo. Our constant pursuit of a better way by necessity entails dealing with the peril and promise of uncharted territory. But this I know: The strength of our community makes Berkeley uniquely capable of rising to meet the challenges and opportunities before us.
If you are looking for a sense of entitlement, sorry, you’ve come to the wrong place. This is a community that prefers to earn what it seeks, and so today, I ask and hope for your continued caring and participation. And in return, I promise that I will always strive to be a partner who is transparent and engaged, and open to new ideas and constructive criticism. I will strive to be a chancellor not just for some parts, but for all of our university.
None of this is to say that our community itself is not in need of care and attention. We must renew our commitment to protecting and facilitating the constructive collision of ideas, to free speech and academic freedom, to providing every community member with a true sense of belonging; to preparing our students to be true changemakers; to supporting diversity of perspectives, origins, and identities; to ensuring this university is and will forever remain our university.
Together, these principles and attributes are what enable us to take intellectual risks, to venture into the unknown, to advance the greater good, and to model and embody a way of being in community, of bringing people together, that offers an antidote for so much of what ails modern society.
If I’m certain of one thing, it is that now more than ever the world needs what higher education, in general, has to offer and what Berkeley, in particular, was built to provide. We have the needed ability to illuminate the path to better days with the bright lights of Berkeley’s teaching, research, and public service.
With a strong, cohesive community, with unity of purpose, with respect for the eternal values and principles at the heart of our unique institutional identity, and with an unwavering commitment to excellence and access, there is nothing beyond the reach of our university.
Fiat lux….and let’s roll on, you wonderful Bears!
