Listen, folks. At MIT, we value freedom of expression. But today is about the graduates, so it’s time for me to charge you all. So good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, Governor Healey, who I’m so happy to have here.
OK, OK, folks, there is a time and a place to express yourselves, and you will have many, many years to do it. Let’s talk today about our graduates.
So I have to give a shout out to the members of the Class of 1975 in their incredibly fashionable red jackets! And of course, to you, all the members of the Class of 2025 – and your devoted family, and your friends!
So, at MIT, it’s customary for the president to deliver a “charge” to the graduating class. And I’ll start by reflecting briefly on the world we make together here at MIT.
Now, as you’ve seen, at MIT, we allow a lot of room for disagreement, whether the subject is scientific, personal, or political. The friction of disagreement is a very effective way that sharpen each other’s thinking. (And if you don’t believe me, I’d urge you all to attend a faculty meeting!)
But in this disconcerting time, as we prepare to send the Class of 2025 out into the world, I want to celebrate three fundamental things that we do agree on – the rock-solid foundation of our shared work and our understanding.
First, we believe in the beauty and power of the scientific method. Winston Churchill once observed that, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise,” In fact, as he famously acknowledged, “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all of the other forms that have ever been tried.”
And you could say the same – with reverence! – for the scientific method. None of us would argue that it’s “perfect or all-wise.”
But the scientific method remains the single most reliable tool humans have ever devised to arrive at the truth about the physical world. It is designed to root out error, protect us against our own biases and assumptions, and provide a systematic way to turn facts we cannot see at first into knowledge we can act on.
It is hard to imagine anything more useful than that.
Second, we believe in the beauty and power of fundamental scientific discovery – the incredibly intricate, maddening, heroic, intoxicating process of exploration and testing that somehow got stuck with the bland label “basic research.”
We believe scientific discovery is deeply valuable and inspiring, in and of itself – and we know that it’s absolutely essential for driving innovation and delivering new tools, technologies, treatments, and cures.
And finally – from direct personal experience here at MIT – we know that we’re sharper, more rigorous, more curious, more inventive and more likely to achieve breakthrough results when we work together with brilliant people, across a broad spectrum of backgrounds, perspectives, and viewpoints, from across the country and all around the world.
You do not find the big ideas in an echo chamber!
And I want to say something I’ve said repeatedly: MIT would not be MIT without our international students!
The beauty and the power of the scientific method. The beauty and power of scientific discovery. And frankly, the beauty and power of the Institute’s incredible global community.
For those of us associated with MIT, these three concepts may seem almost too obvious to require explanation, let alone celebration.
But we find ourselves in a bewildering time, a time when these concepts have never been more important – and have rarely been in such peril.
So now, I offer my charge to the members of the Class of 2025.
To today’s graduates:
I hope and believe that, in your time here, you’ve prepared yourselves very effectively for the next steps in your life and your career. I wish you every success in that next step, and all that come after it.
But I must ask that each of you take on another job. A lifelong job. An urgent job.
I need you all to become ambassadors for the way we think and work and thrive at MIT.
Ambassadors for scientific thinking and scientific discovery! For thoughtful research of every kind, here – and at universities across the country! For the importance of research to the advancement of our nation – and our species! And ambassadors for the limitless possibilities when we understand, appreciate and magnify each other’s talent and potential, in a thriving global community.
This ambassadorship has no salary besides your sense of its crucial importance. But I hope you will accept the responsibility – because no one else can make this case more effectively. And these concepts are the indispensable foundation of everything else we aim to achieve.
There’s only one way to get through MIT.
The hard way.
Each of you has done that – and in the context of historic challenges. May all the strengths and insights that you’ve gained here serve you brilliantly on the road ahead. Thank you all – and congratulations!
