Opening Convocation - August 31, 2003
Remarks by William G. Durden '71, President

Welcome to the official opening of the 231st year of Dickinson College, an institution that was borne out of revolution and continues to be guided by revolutionary intent as we define a distinctively American liberal arts education for the 21st century. The College was founded by Dr. Benjamin Rush and named for John Dickinson, a complex patriot known as the "penman of the American Revolution." Chartered just six days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Dickinson was the first college or university established at the close of the American Revolution. It was, and remains, a revolutionary college for a revolutionary age.

Benjamin Rush founded our College for the highest purpose imaginable-to prepare the citizens leaders who would secure the success of the democratic experiment that is the United States. Rush instinctively knew that a different type of university education would have to be offered in the new country where shared democratic values were highly prized. He knew that, in the new nation, the value of a liberal education would be interpreted through the thought and action of its graduates and by the extent to which it proved ultimately useful to advancing a just, compassionate and economically responsible democracy. The traditional liberal arts education of Rush's day was steeped solely in a study of the past and perceived largely as a luxury reserved for the privileged few with no obligation beyond its egotistical pursuit. To Rush, this approach was simply inappropriate for an idealistic, newly emerging democracy that depended for its vitality upon widespread citizen intellect and leadership.

Rush's vision continues to guide us today. In our efforts to prepare you to become the citizen-leaders of your generation, we aspire to provide you with a liberal arts education that is rigorous, challenging and, ultimately useful-a liberal education that moves beyond the circumspect to the connective and engaging. And this potentially elusive word "useful" must be understood in a way that is respectful of Dr. Rush's intentions and, yet, is adjusted to contemporary challenges.

A "useful" education for Dickinson today is one that prepares you to be well-informed about the most pressing social, political, cultural, and scientific issues of the day. You must be able to anticipate issues that will confront future generations based on our actions now, to analyze these challenges from multiple perspectives and to see connections among disparate areas of knowledge and research. Only in this way can you begin to address these pressing issues-intellectually and through personal and collective action-so that you can assume positions of leadership, be liberated from prosaic, unexamined thought and be welcoming of more rigorous, more demanding interpretations of events and issues. We wish to move you in thought and disposition from the provincial to the cosmopolitan. A "useful" Dickinson education will allow you to create, while an undergraduate, new knowledge based upon student/faculty research and a working engagement with the wider world-in the United States and internationally-through internships, mentorships and volunteerism.

We are committed to adapting constantly Rush's vision to meet the demands of the 21st century, fully recognizing that the contributors and leaders of tomorrow will still possess those characteristics that defined purposeful leadership in Rush's time-those who can recognize and seize opportunity, make rapid and meaningful connections among disparate ideas, and embrace idealism by leaving the world a better place than they found it. And that, of course, includes leaving Dickinson College an even better place when you graduate-we, at Dickinson, are never self-satisfied. Your Dickinson education will prepare you to overcome challenges and constantly seek to understand the complexities of a fast-paced, increasingly global age and communicate those insights effectively. We aspire to attain Dr. Rush's ultimate objective-to make Dickinson, in his own words, "First in America"-"first" for a distinctively American undergraduate education that engages the world in all its complexity. We do so from our distinctive, inherited assets.

Today, at the start of another academic year, I extend a special welcome to the members of the Class of 2007 and other new students who are just beginning their preparation as life-long Dickinsonians. I also offer special greetings to those of you who are beginning your senior year-those who are nearing the end of your formal Dickinson education and who have already demonstrated through your achievements thus far the qualities of a true Dickinsonian. By your accomplishments and your examples, you will serve as mentors and a source of inspiration to the incoming students. You will set the standard. You define our aspirations and those of students who follow you. You mark, no less, our reputation to the world.

And that reputation is considerable and growing rapidly-as should be expected with any vital, alive community. Our community is humbled and gratified by the massive "third-party" recognition we have garnered in recent years for the excellence of our academic programs, our faculty, and our students. We have, for example, been recognized by at least three national organizations for having the most outstanding commitment to a globally engaged curriculum among all liberal arts colleges in the country. We have been cited by the Princeton Review (on the basis of its annual unscientific, national undergraduate student survey) as possessing the best college or university library in the country. We have a steadily increasing reputation and placement among American's top-tier liberal arts colleges as established in national publications. Based on our strength in global education, Dickinson was the sole choice of the U.S. Department of State among American colleges and universities to develop and conduct a national "Young Ambassadors" pilot program for distinguished university students from North Africa and the Middle East to gain a greater understanding of American government and society.

Our faculty continue to gain national and international recognition for their research and teaching accomplishments. Within just the past few months, one of our professors was awarded the Neustadt Prize for the best book written on the American presidency. Another received the Michael Harrington Award for exemplary teaching from the American Sociological Association. And yet another completed a distinguished residency in poetry at the Robert Frost House. Finally, Dickinson graduates are receiving a conspicuously high number of competitive national awards, such as the Fulbright, Truman, Beckman and Howard Hughes fellowships and scholarships-a testament to the opportunity a Dickinson education presents to each of you. These citations are but examples. We-all of us-have reason to be proud of our association with the intellectual community that is Dickinson College.

And now I officially welcome all you gathered here today and, with the assistance of this old gavel, ceremoniously open the College for the 2003-2004 academic year.