Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[ Music ]
[ Applause ]
>> Please everybody be seated.
I'm Susan Collins, the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean
of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
It was such a pleasure to meet so many of you yesterday
at our graduation open house and tonight it is truly an honor
to welcome you here to Rackham Auditorium
for our Centennial Commencement Ceremony.
Welcome, it is fabulous to have all of you here with us.
[ Applause ]
Well, I'd like to begin by introducing
to you our platform party.
To my right and your left is Professor John Chachere
who will be reading the names of our graduates
as they cross the stage a little later this evening.
And then Senator Carl Levin our commencement speaker
who has served the State of Michigan--
[ Applause ]
He has served the State of Michigan
in the United States Senate for 35 years
and will retire in 2015.
And I will have the honor of introducing him more fully
to you a little bit later.
Senator Levin, we're honored to have you here with us today.
[ Applause ]
Next on the platform are some of my distinguished colleagues each
of whom has served at least one stint as either dean or director
of our school over the past three decades.
We have Professors Don Chamberlain,
Paul Currant and Edi Goldenberg.
[ Applause ]
Next to Edi is Yazir [phonetic] Henry who has been elected
by our graduating students to deliver the faculty address
and finally elected by their respective classmates
to provide the student commencement addresses we have
soon to be Ford school MPP graduate Luis Contreras.
[ Applause ]
And BA graduate Brittney Jones.
[ Applause ]
Well, graduation day is always special
but this one is a century in the making.
We were named for Michigan's favorite son President Gerry
Ford in 1999.
But our program dates all the way back to 1914.
And so, let's start with a round of applause
for your Alma mater's birthday
and for our centennial graduates.
[ Applause ]
And I know that many of you like me were able to enjoy a piece
of the school's birthday cake yesterday
at our graduation open house.
And I really enjoyed seeing so many of our students
and their families there.
To mark the occasion for the first time we are actually live
streaming today's graduation ceremony.
And so, I'd also like to greet all of the family members
and friends who are watching online.
And graduates you might be particularly interested to know
that we have some faculty who are tuning remotely.
In fact, I've been informed
that Justin Wolfers is indeed watching [laughter]
and live tweeting today's ceremony.
Justin, please use the hashtag policy talks.
Well, let me start by telling you a little about the history
of our program and I will admit in advance for our students
that this might feel just a little bit
like a course lecture just
when you thought your classes were all done.
But we get exactly one chance to celebrate our cent-- our 100.
And a little history might also give the parents
and grandparents who are here with us a prospective
on that age old question of just what is a policy school anyway.
Well, the decades that preceded the schools founding brought
so many remarkable achievements in science,
technology and industry.
There was the telephone, the phonograph,
the incandescent light bulb.
All of those were invented in the last 1800's and early 1900's
so were hearing aids, electric fans, skyscrapers,
dish washers, escalators.
There was the gasoline powered automobile, the submarine,
air conditioning, the airplane.
Right here in Detroit in 1908 the model T
and the world's first assembly line.
Fenway Park and Tiger Stadium opened in 1912.
And the New York City Grand Central Terminal was constructed
in 1913.
But while there were
such exciting new horizons regularly opening in science,
engineering and industry the social challenges were
continuing to vex us.
Citizens wanted safer work conditions, shorter work days,
wages they could live on,
protection against monopolistic business practices.
And they looked to their elected officials for help.
But too many of those officials were either poorly trained
or corrupt or perhaps both.
And calls for reform
in government intervention were growing.
And it was in that climate that in 1913 Jesse Reeves
who was Chair of the University
of Michigan's Political Science Department proposed
to develop America's first graduate degree
in public administration.
He believed that the same kind of educational systems
and scientific methods that had driven
so much technological advancement could also
strengthen public administration and lead to smarter policies.
He wrote that the University Of Michigan
and I quote had a distinct opportunity not only
to office public service to the states citizens but also
to lead the way in training
and professionalizing public administrators.
Jesse Reeves was simply a visionary.
The university recognized that vision
and in 1914 our program was launched.
Many other colleges
and universities adopted similar methods and models
in the years that followed.
Its interesting that Reeves own research interest were primarily
an international law and the program second director Robert
Crane had served in the Foreign Service as consul
in Argentina and Guadeloupe.
And so, from the very beginning our program had global ties
and a kind of global reach.
And of course those global threads continue throughout the
decades and are very present in the school today.
From a start our faculty and our alumni were truly impressive.
Lent Upson, one of the first lecturers here would serve
as Founding Director of the Detroit Bureau
of Government Research.
And he said the right
to criticize government is also an obligation
to know what you're talking about.
Thomas Reed who directed our program for more
than a decade would lecture all across the country.
Democracy can achieve nothing good he would say unless a keen
sense of civic responsibility is part
of the moral equipment of its people.
Charlotte Mary Conover Jones class
of 1927 was our first female graduate.
She would coordinate citizenship schools for women
in the wake of women suffrage.
Rodolfo Hidalgo graduating that same year was the son
of a rice farmer and he would go on to represent his province
in the Philippine legislature.
Harold Smith would oversee the US budget from the end
of the great depression to the launch of the United Nations
and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
which is part of today's World Bank.
I could go on but ours was a small school then.
We graduated just three students on average during our--
per year on average during our first 25 years.
However, those graduates have you heard went
on to do great things just as you our centennial class will go
on to do great things.
In fact, you have something
that those early graduates did not have some very
important skills.
In 1968 Michigan Professor John Patrick Crecine pioneered a new
approach for training public servants,
the Public Policy Degree Program determining that many
of the practical skills that had formerly been taught
in public administration could actually be learned
as effectively on the job.
And he and his colleagues reshaped the curriculum
to take advantage of advances in social sciences.
John, Paul and Edi were among those pioneering colleagues
having joined the faculty respectively
in 1970, '73 and '74.
And the new Social Science focus
that they built emphasized economic
and statistical analysis the political environment
for policy making and the importance of organizations
to successful implementation.
It employed computing technologies to more quickly
and accurately evaluate data and assembled all sorts of data,
very important both quantitative and qualitative types
of information to more fully understand complex problems
and to pinpoint solutions.
And it inspired a new movement amongst schools
that train student for public service.
The University of Michigan curriculum again became the gold
standard for that approach around the nation.
The shift from administration to policy was a shift from focusing
on single problems as they arose to focusing
on systemic complex solutions.
How can we reduce unemployment and grow our economy
in struggling rustbelt cities like Detroit
and in developing economies all around the world?
How can we ensure human rights while preventing threats
to National Security?
The complexity of these and many,
many other challenges requires really talented,
bright and energetic doers who are prepared to move forward
to find creative and viable solutions.
The complexity of these and other challenges requires you,
our soon to be alumni to employ every skill you've developed,
every ounce of will, connection,
including especially your Ford School connections.
We believe we have helped prepare you to take
on those challenges, to take up the call to serve,
to contribute, to think, to speak and to act.
We've prepared you in part by our--
with our outstanding faculty.
And this year five of them including Yazir were nominated
by students for the university's most distinguish Golden Apple
Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Our faculty also conduct game changing research
and public service
around critically important policy challenges.
And let me just give a few examples from those who are
with me on the platform.
John Chachere is Senior Legal Adviser
to the Documentation Center of Cambodia helping bring
to justice perpetrators of atrocities committed by members
of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.
Paul Currant is the impetus behind the happy trust,
the world's largest digital library which contains more
than 10 million volumes accessible anytime,
anywhere there's an internet connection free of charge.
John Chamberlain behind me
over there is our longest serving faculty member.
And he has introduced countless number of policy students
to both statistics and ethics reminding them
to weigh society's never ending quest for efficiency
against humanities deepest held values.
And Edi Goldenberg is the Founding Director
of the Michigan in Washington Program
which provides opportunities for dozens of University
Of Michigan undergraduates to spend a semester learning
and serving in our nation's capital.
You've been prepared too by the work
of our terrific professional staff as you know a team
that keep the education, research, public service
and engagement missions of our school all moving forward.
And I'd like to ask now that all of the staff and faculty
who are here with us today would please rise
and I hope you'll join me
in thanking them for all that they do.
Please rise.
[ Applause ]
There's another very important set of thank you's.
Our graduates did not arrive at their accomplishments alone.
We're also joined by perhaps more
than 700 family members and friends tonight.
And it's wonderful to see our auditorium so full.
I know that all of our graduates value the love and the support
that so many of you have provided over the years.
And graduates whether your supporters are here with us
in person or only with us in spirit please take this chance
to join in thanking all of them
for everything that they have done.
[ Applause ]
And now I'd like to tell our audience a little bit
about you our graduates about what you've accomplished and all
that you've given back during your time at the Ford School.
Let me start with our newest PhD candidates Joshua Hyman
and Caroline Theoharides who earned joint Doctorate Degrees
in Economics and Public Policy and Jane Rochmes
who earned a Doctorate in Public Policy and Sociology.
Each of them has had a very successful job search.
Joshua will be an Assistant Professor in the Department
of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut.
Caroline will take a post as Assistant Professor
of Economics at Amherst College.
And Jane has won a post doctoral fellowship at the center
for education policy analysis at Stanford University.
Congratulations to each of you.
[ Applause ]
We have 82 students receiving a Masters Degree tonight.
These students are wonderfully diverse.
They speak 21 different languages
and they hail from 11 countries.
Earlier this week I heard a member of our staff asked
to characterize this year's Masters Class.
What was her immediate three word answer?
"I love them."
These students are engaged with each other, with the school
and with the boarder community.
Many of them have already finalized their immediate
employment plans despite what is a very challenging Federal
hiring climate.
To the parents in the room please accept my personal
reassurance that we will continue to work with
and offer support to our graduates and all
of them will find work in city, state or federal governments,
in the private sector, in think tanks, in NGO's whether
in the US or elsewhere abroad.
The 62 students who are graduating today
with a Bachelors Degree
in Public Policy have received much,
much more than your typical undergraduate.
As one faculty member wrote these young women
and men do not conform to any simplistic notion
of what undergraduate students are like.
They're serious students, hard working and very curious.
Our BAs boasts seven, five Beta Kappa's
and they are the ones wearing the gold chords tonight.
[ Applause ]
We also have 13 Angel Scholars and a number
who have been recognized in many other ways.
These students are truly the leaders and best
across a wide variety of campus activities.
In some, the classes of 2014 are close knit,
they're engaged and they're leaders.
Engaged? In January-- on January 2nd MPP student Hirokozu
Yamazaki and his wife Aya welcomed a new baby boy
in their family, a boy whose middle name is Gerald
which a wonderful tribute to our namesake President.
[ Applause ]
And when the mother of a University
of Michigan student died unexpectedly our BA students
held a book drive and ran a bake sale to help with expenses.
Student leadership?
How about public policy connects,
the US-Canada conference, the NPM social impact challenge,
two diversity summits and so, so much more.
Our students organized a charity auction featuring community
contributions like curling lessons, salsa lessons,
a pie every month for a year, faculty wine tasting
and even a calendar featuring 12 mostly tasteful photos
of the men of the Ford School.
Many of them are seated with us this evening a little bit more
fully attired.
[Laughter] That sense of fun coupled with a commitment
to making the community a better place brings me back
to the history, back to the people who built the Ford School
and the community that we all inherited.
John, Paul, Edi and their colleagues built a community
that we all can be proud of.
They built it with their can do glass half full attitude
with their enthusiasm for debate and discussion.
They built it with their ability to see past what's wrong
and who's to blame to what can be done to fix it.
They built it with their immense work ethic.
They built it with their sense of purpose and vision
and their willingness to spread the credit and take the blame.
And they built it with a tremendous sense
of humor and perspective.
Please join me in thanking John, Paul and Edi for their decades
of service to an investment in the Ford School Community.
[ Applause ]
And now, to our centennial graduates I say on behalf
of the Ford School thank you for all that you have contributed
to this shared community.
It has truly been a pleasure to work with you and to get
to know so many of you.
I know that most of you may have very mixed feelings
about what today represents.
You'll miss the many joys of life in Ann Arbor
and at the Ford School.
I suspect you won't miss all of the snow
that has been a relentless presence this winter.
But you will miss your classmates and your friends.
You'll miss holiday skits, the mason jars and sticky floors
of Dominic's, the naps in Towsley Reading Room
and we'll all miss the life and times of Justin Thomas.
But despite all you'll miss today also is a day
that is truly full of promise, the promise of new work,
new cities, new friends and new challenges.
Nelson Mandela who dies this year at the age of 95 once said
that "Education is the most powerful weapon
which you can use to change the world."
I believe that.
Use yours to be great and to do great things for our world.
And I truly know that each of you will.
And whenever your in town walk through those doors
on Staton Hill and share with us your lives
and your accomplishments and know
that you will always have a home here at the Ford School.
We're so proud of all that you are and all that you will do.
Congratulations and best wishes to the classes of 2014
and of course Go Blue.
[ Applause ]
And now, it is my honor
to introduce our centennial commencement speaker Senator
Carl Levin, a native-- a native of Detroit.
Senator Levin served as Assistant Attorney General
and General Counsel
of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in 1964.
He was elected to the Detroit City Counsel in 1969 and elected
to the US Senate in 1978 and of course many times since.
He is Chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee and one
of our nations most respected leaders on National Security.
He is also a powerful voice for a quality and justice
and a strong advocate for economic fairness.
Time Magazine has named him one of America's 10 Best Senators
and a Democrat who "gained respect from both parties
for his attention to detail and deep knowledge
of policy especially in his role as a vigilant monitor
of businesses and Federal Agencies."
We are honored and proud to welcome him back
to the Ford School to deliver our Centennial
Commencement Address.
Please join me in welcoming Senator Carl Levin
to the podium.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you.
[ Applause ]
Dean, thank you so much for your introduction, your invitation
to join with you today.
Thank you most importantly for the great leadership
that you've shown in this school.
I'm honored to be here with you and the graduates,
their families, their friends and the faculty and the staff
of a school that has for a century now work
to improve the lives of our people through education
and through the study of public policy.
It is also great to be here with my wife Barbara,
a true Blue Wolverine.
As a matter of fact of the class of-- oh, I better not go there.
[Laughter] Many factors have brought you graduates
to this moment.
First among them is your hard work and I know
that you're not going to forget the people
who have helped you achieve this moment.
And for those families who have helped finance your education.
They and the graduates who leave here carrying the burden
of student loans would have learned the hard way
but adds a special twist to the term higher education,
the higher cost of education.
And for your sakes and for the future well being
of our country I hope that
yet this year the United States Senate will adopt a bill
to make college and university more affordable
and to reduce the interest rate on existing loans.
As a matter of fact is that something we are trying to do.
You're not just graduates of a great university,
you are graduates of a school of public policy which implies
that you and your ideas and your passions, your hard work
and your drive and your grit can help shape the policies
that government adopts.
Whether an elected office or other forms
of government service at a nonprofit
or in the private sector seeking
to influence public policy is an awesome responsibility.
It is not easy work because of the diversity
of our great democracy.
But you put in the time and the effort the rewards you great
outside of being a husband and a father
and a grandfather nothing has brought me greater satisfaction
than the chance to contribute to solving the challenges
that our nation faces.
As you grapple with policy issues,
I hope that you will keep in your minds
and in your hearts the spirit
of the man whose name graces the school.
Gerald Ford was admirable for many reasons
but perhaps none is more important
than the difficult step that he took
in pardoning president Nixon in 1975 in doing so he give us one
of histories most poignant examples
of a politician doing what he felt was right
in the face of public opposition.
Pardoning Nixon may very well have caused Gerald Ford his
office but it was an essential step
in healing the wounds of Watergate.
History proved General Ford correct
and this nation will always be in his debt for that decision.
Now, I speak to you today is a policy maker nearing the end
of his career, many of you soon will begin public policy careers
of your own.
And just as much has change over my career
so you will see many changes during yours.
But if issues change principles do not.
There are ways of examining issues that apply regardless
of the specific challenges that we face.
And so, I want to share with you an approach
that I believe has served me well.
A little more than a week ago, I was in Kabul, Afghanistan,
I been to have Afghanistan a dozen times.
My first trip was with Republican Senator John Warner
of Virginia, one of best friends in the senate.
It was in the fall of 2001,
not long after our troops entered Afghanistan.
John Warner is a tall, silver haired
and impeccably tailored man was sort of an odd couple actually
since I've been describe as plump balding into shoveled.
[Laughter] Anyway, the society the Afghan society
that Senator Warner and I glimpsed
to the very heavy security has been transformed
in the last dozen years.
In 2001, roughly one million Afghan children were in schools.
Now, there are more than eight million, before we
and our allies came the Taliban allowed essentially no Afghan
girls to attend school.
Now, there are 2.6 million girls in classrooms.
In 2001, average life expectancy in Afghanistan was 45 years.
Now, it is 62 years.
Under the Taliban 18 percent of rural Afghans had access
to clean drinking water, by 2012 that had risen
to 56 percent and rising.
Gross domestic product has risen nearly 10 fold since 2001.
The first time that I flew over Kabul at night it reminded me
of those night time photos that you see of the Korean peninsula
with the North totally dark and the South ablaze with light.
In 2001, Kabul was like North Korea, it was dark.
Today, Kabul is dark no longer.
Once deserted streets are now bustling,
shattered store fronts are now open.
None of this has been cheaper easy.
But the Afghan people with out resistance had made
significant progress.
Tough challenges lie ahead
for them government corruption is still prevalent
and security though much improved remains a major issue
particularly in certain rural areas.
But our efforts have been a difference
for our nation's security and for Afghanistan.
Now, maybe you listen to this litany of progress and said
to yourself, "Wait a minute,
I thought Afghanistan was a failure."
These days if Americans think of Afghanistan
at all it is with a shutter.
In a poll last December two-thirds
of Americans set our involvement
in Afghanistan wasn't worth the effort.
In February, the Gallup Poll found
that for the first time a plurality
of the American people believe
that we made a mistake sending our troops there to root
out the terrorist who attacked us in 2001.
But while Paul show that most of Americans want
to end our involvement in Afghanistan most Africans
and every candidate for the Afghan presidency want us
to stay and to continue to help.
Now, why this disconnect?
Few Americans have had the opportunity to visit Afghanistan
or to study each changes most only read a few snippets
or see brave reports in television.
And those reports are almost unremittingly negative head
to the New York Times website and you'll find a recent story
of the grim trend of attacks on American civilians,
a trend that consisted of one attack.
I believe that the stream of negative coverage has combined
with Americans understandable war wariness
to shift public opinion decisively
against our involvement in Afghanistan.
The result is that the American people and the men and women
who have serve our nation in Afghanistan
and their families have been robbed of the sense
of accomplishment that they have earned through great sacrifice.
Now, it's not my goal to convince you that I'm right
about Afghanistan though if I do I'll take it.
But the African questioned aluminates some questions
about the role of those involved in public policy and how
to way issues and evidence and about how we elected officials,
balance our roles has representatives
of our constituents with the duty
to exercise our own judgment.
My opinions on Afghanistan have been formed in large part
by the fact that I've been there in ground truth matters.
Our Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates said something
memorable about Afghanistan a couple years ago.
"The closure you get to this fight" he said
"the better it looks."
He added "that that is not usually the case in war.
Usually it's much easier to convince yourself
that a conflict is going well if you don't have
to see the ugliness of war up close."
Now, from that fist visit onward I've learn things visiting
and studying about Afghanistan that have led me
to a different conclusion from that reach
by most of my constituents.
The details matter, when someone tells you
that you're getting too far into the weeds that's often a sign
to go deeper to get down to the roots.
Information is a shield against once own biases and the biases
of those around you, if you're an elected office the pursuit
of the details may lead you to an uncomfortable place,
a position that odds with public opinion.
But you must be prepared to follow the evidence
and your conscience where they lead even if
and perhaps especially if they lead somewhere
politically uncomfortable.
If you are in government service you will come
under great pressure to do it as popular.
And democratic governance ultimately does need
majority support.
But our system also requires independent judgment.
Public opinion is not fixed and the policy maker
who surrenders his or her judgment
to the polls will have a lot of flip flapping to explain.
To accept the responsibility of influencing public policy is
to accept the responsibility to advocate
for what maybe unpopular at the moment.
England's philosopher politician Edmund Burke once told his
constituents
"Your representative owes you not his industry only
but his judgment and he betrays instead of serving you
if he sacrifices that judgment to your opinion."
Now, Burke is rightly celebrated for that statement.
What is less often mentioned is that he lost the next election.
And that is a price policy makers must be willing to pay.
It's the price that Henry Bellmon paid.
Bellmon was a republican senator who cast a crucial vote in 1978
for President Carter's plan to return control
of the Panama Canal to Panama.
This was enormously unpopular in his state at the time.
And Bellmon under great pressure for his vote decided not even
to seek reelection but Bellmon was convinced it was the thing
to do and it fear that our keeping the Panama Canal would
create such resentment in Central America,
that it might spark violence
that could embroil American troops
and as a World War II veteran he knew that price of war.
Bellmon knew he might pay a heavy price for his vote
but he told an interviewer
that after he had wait the facts casting his vote
"really wasn't a hard decision."
Six years later by the way Oklahoma voters rewarded his
integrity when they elected him governor.
Democratic Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies pay the price
in 1994 after she cast the key vote
for President Clinton's unpopular deficit
reduction plan.
She knew, she knew at the time that it was a vote
which could cause her a reelection.
And just incase she was unaware, republicans on the house floor
as she was voting jeered "bye-bye Marjorie."
Her vote gave that bill the majority that it need
for passage and sure enough she lost the next election.
But years later when fellow democrats faced similar
pressures to vote against heath care reform
in 2009 here's what she wrote to those wavering democrats quote,
"I voted my conscience and it caused me,
I am your worst case scenario and I do it all over again."
She landed on her feet by the way,
she currently is campaigning to return to congress
and has a good chance to do so
and to show how history plays strong and strange tricks.
Her son, much later, married Bill
and Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea.
Now, advocating for unpopular position it means acknowledging
the real challenges we face whether it's Afghanistan
or heath care reform
or the budget hitting worth doing risks the possibility
of failure in the near certainty.
The progress will be slow and incomplete.
But as you way your approach
to issues do remember something President Ford said quote,
"Some tend to feel that if we do not succeed in everything,
everywhere then we have succeeded in nothing anywhere."
And he added, "I reject categorically
such polarized thinking."
That's why his advise whether you're an elected officer
in a corporate office, whether you're in government service
or working for a nonprofit, there's too much at stake for us
to surrender to superficial media narratives,
her vital opinion polls.
To do so in Afghanistan would be to leave million of Afghan girls
without an education or hope for the future.
Surrendering to the media-frenzy of the moment would have let us
to repeal the newly one heath insurance coverage for more
than 8 million Americans.
The fact that the war in Afghanistan or the fight
for universal health care have not always gone
as we had hoped is no reason to abandon those important causes.
And the same goes through the causes
that you will be fighting in the years ahead.
These are immensely important challenges whether it's
combating climate change, preserving privacy
and cyber security in the internet age,
whether it's closing the wide and the growing income gap
that threatens the link between hard work and prosperity that is
so fundamental to our national identity.
To meet those challenges in others, your generation
of policy makers will need to martial the facts,
to bring the barrier great education, your good judgment
and your conscience and to persevere in the face
of criticism and doubt.
I wish this graduating class nothing but success.
I congratulate you on the achievement
that you celebrate today
and on the greater achievements that lie ahead.
Thank you and Go Blue.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you very much Senator.
I am now delighted to welcome the members
of Amazing Blue to the stage.
Amazing Blue is the University
of Michigan's oldest coed a cappella ensemble
and they will perform two classics
from the Michigan song book.
[ Noise ]
[ Silence ]
Every year the four schools graduating students are asked
to elect people to play key roles at commencement
and one faculty member is chosen to speak to the class.
Both sets of graduating classes also chose a representatives
student speaker.
As the faculty speaker this year,
the centennial class has selected Yazir Henry.
Yazir was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa.
He first came to the Ford School in 2007
as our Tousley [phonetic] Foundation Policy Maker
in Residence.
Yazir's intellectual work focuses on the relationship
of political structure and violence
to civic indigenous and human rights.
Since 2008 he is taught courses
at the Ford school unprofessional
and political ethics on social movements
and democratic processes in the global south
and on transitional justice following political conflict.
As a young man in South Africa Yazir worked
in the political underground movement
that spearheaded the downfall of apartheid government.
And after the fall of apartheid he founded
and developed several programs in Cape Town,
that's not to continue that difficult work
of piece building inspired by his experience
with the South African truth and reconciliation commission.
He has written and lectured on issues related to peace making,
trauma and post conflict reintegration.
And it's a tribute to Yazir
that he's standing among the students led him to select them
to deliver this address.
And so, I'm delighted to welcome him to the podium.
[ Applause ]
>> Good afternoon all graduates, baccalaureates--
15 minutes I practiced that.
[Laughter] MPPs, Doctors, [inaudible] family,
and love ones, when I was informed
of this honor my initial thoughts were to decline.
[ Laughter ]
I told myself several stories justifying why I should not
accept this responsibility and privilege.
I justify to myself why I did not have
to stand here and face you all.
For the first time this winter I hope May 3rd would become a
snow day.
[Laughter] Now, I'm not usually very funny,
that was meant as a joke.
Truth be told, I do not wish to see another snow flake
for at least eight more months not even
on a post card or thank you note.
I caught myself rambling and I realize that I was really lying
to myself, I told myself I done this before,
I don't really have anything new to say.
And what does my opinion really matter.
There are many others more important than I
to stand here before you and address you.
But I was lying to myself
because it's pretty scary to stand up here.
I was also scared at the time it would take me
to write these words, I would have to be working
when you were celebrating with your family.
So, a cruel affirmation this was.
[ Laughter ]
Thank you for this.
[ Laughter ]
But as I sat thinking of you at the classes I've taught
and the human beings I've meet over the past two years,
the feeling of-- feeling sorry
for myself passed what initially felt is burden now I felt true
as honor as responsibility and as challenged.
And I become more and more determined
to stand here smiling.
[ Laughter ]
In appreciation of you and your achievements what you have given
me and so many of my colleagues when I was sharing
in your celebration and your humanity would be affirming my
own humanity through yours right now.
I smiled and I thought of life as beautiful,
very complex and never dull.
I thought you've given me--
I thought that I would be a policy professional
as I stand here a leader, strong, clear headed, resolute,
gracious in the face of the challenge that faces me.
I hope this for you too.
I said, "How can I offer so much advice when I myself am afraid
to live with it fully."
So, I emailed Lindsay and accepted my fear.
[ Laughter ]
I printed all my class rosters and I remembered you.
[ Laughter ]
So, on behalf of the fourth school faculty and staff,
I thank you for this honor and I accept the fact
that we live every moment with you here everyday
at this university as a privilege,
a privilege I celebrate with you today,
I recognize that we are all privileged people here
regardless of our class, our gender, our color, our religion,
our *** orientation, our age and our ability accept
and live this privilege as honor not as burden.
Know the word privilege as I use it here sounds the same
but will have changed in every context as I have shifted.
Baccalaureates, OK and that's suppose to be funny.
Thank you for laughing.
Masters, doctors-- as policy maker's experts
and thinkers every moment to live is a part of the conditions
which ensure that life and humanity has the state
to prosper and to thrive
as policy professionals this is our responsibility.
Attending commencement from me is always the most amazing
moment of the year, it is one the few times of the year
when we stand as an institution when we stand as one,
when we are not fighting over ideas of grades
over who knows more or who knows less,
over who is right and who is wrong.
Today, we are as one community gathering here
to celebrate the intellectual resources of our society
in the world, you, graduates, well done.
You are now qualified as leaders and thinkers as intellectuals
and no amount of lying to yourselves will change that.
It is fact and I repeat no amount
because I usually got lost this time, no amount of lying
to yourselves will change this.
All I need to do is pay the bills.
I could buy three to three homes of my student loans.
I have no power to afflict anything,
the world is a horrible place and other is not a reality.
I am not a leader.
So, take a moment as I conclude to celebrate with your family
and your loved ones for in the coming days and for the rest
of your lives you are going to have to face yourselves.
You are in this sense responsible
for being what you want to see in the world.
You are and will be expected to lead accept it well
and accept it with grace.
[ Noise ]
We are that coming people.
We are being called upon to be the difference to make
and to keep the peace.
Yeah, I don't mean
to be simplistically you are not police officers nor are you
walking around releasing doubts in to the air
with big smiles upon your faces.
You are being called upon to immediate to manage
and to imagine how such a peace may look,
such a peace maybe realized loved as normality everywhere
and sustained over many generations.
Social peace, political peace, economic peace, legal peace,
administrative peace, spiritual and in a peace,
those of you have not taken a class with me,
this is an inside joke.
[Laughter] As intellectuals and leaders, you will be called upon
to think about yourself beyond yourselves to practically
and constantly imagine the world you would like to live in
and to slowly and consistently go about creating that world.
I have worked a long beside you, I have seen your power
and your ability accept this power
and walk creatively with humility.
Congratulations.
Thank you and be as beautiful as you are.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you Yazir.
And now we will hear from the student elected to speak
from the bachelors, the baccalaureate,
centennial class, Britney Jones.
[ Applause ]
At the University of Michigan, Britney serves
as a diversity peer-educator.
She is also worked as a housing discrimination investigator
for the Ann Arbor Fair Housing Center.
And last summer, she interned
with the Detroit Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency.
She received the University of Michigan's MLK Spirit Award
for students who best exemplified the leadership
and extraordinary vision
of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
by pursuing equal rights through nonviolent means
and encouraging people of diverse cultures
to live together in a spirit of love and acceptance.
And now I invite Britney to the podium.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you Dean Collins for the introduction.
To the greater Ford school community
and to my fellow BA classmates,
thank you for granting me the honor to speak on behalf
of you all and to represent what is it meant
to be a fordie [phonetic] over this past two years.
And to Senator Levin and to all of our family and friends
who have gathered here
to celebrate this momentous occasion with us, good evening.
So, let's think back specifically to the day,
March 21st, 2012, when we all received our acceptance
to the Ford school of public policy.
From that day forward,
we officially embrace our new titles and become fordies.
With every memo and policy simulation ranging
from the one drugs to drowns, to frocking
and even the local politics in the Ann Arbor and Detroit,
we were challenged that the analyze our resources
and to consider the positions of all stakeholders regardless
of our own personal biases.
As we take in this time, this moment right now
that we are graduating from one of the greatest institutions
in the world at a time
when we're celebrating the Ford Centennial we cannot forget
that our personal backgrounds impact what we interpret
as problems, common knowledge and what we perceive
to be effective policy.
And this past year, the University
of Michigan Campus has been rocked
by students demanding policy change at all levels
of this is institution with the hash tag BBUM,
the launch of Mike in the Michigan daily,
Michigan in color, the protest for divestment,
and the recent supreme court rulings on affirmative action,
we cannot continue to deny the identity is core to the creation
and evaluation of effective policy.
Policy has the potential to limit or enhance an individuals
or an entire population's quality of life.
It would be-- oh, I'm sorry.
Whether you find yourself in the fields of education, finance,
law, or non-profit work, it would be a profound to service
to ourselves and to the future communities that we seek
to represent and serve, to dismiss
and write off these occurrences
as simple rants or waves of emotion.
In the midst of all of these events and all
that is happening beyond the bubble that is Ann Arbor
and the scope of United States,
we have enjoyed the distinct privilege of attending a school
that specifically promotes teaching
and analyzing institutional change, correlation building,
political processes, and of course, how to condense all
of our research and recommendations
down into succinct set of talking points.
Today, we are graduating with the skills necessary to manage
and influence meaningful policy change.
While the greater University
of Michigan Campus may find us self suffering
from it's brand burn of diversity, we must not forget
that we attended a school that equipped us
with the necessary critical thinking skills
about how we can modify policy
to be more inclusive and thus more humane.
With our attendance, we have inherited the duty
to transition beyond the status quo
of solely considering the opinions of the loudest
and most expensive voices as the only valid realities and needs.
As we pursue our respective niches and explore passions
in the real world, we must remain committed
to recalibrating what and who we consider worthy
of affirmative and effective policy.
Meeting this duty requires introspection.
We must not fear the responsibility
to continually check our assumptions and intentions.
Though exhausting and arduous at times,
this passes is not without aim.
And as we hold ourselves accountable,
we will eventually yield the inclusive and necessary outcomes
for which so many in this world desire.
We are graduating on the privilege platform
that is higher education.
And thus, we'll continue to possess the prerogative
of the Michigan difference.
We must use this wisely and ethically.
This past two years have been some of the most challenging
and yet, insightful times in my life.
We have come together, time and again
to the Ford school holiday parties
to awkwardly attend events dominated by master students,
and to occupy the best study spaces in the Ford school.
My fellow BA classmates, we didn't just make it, we excelled
and we leave behind us a legacy of ambition and grit
and wittiness to respond to the challenges
and journeys that await us.
Thank you and forever Go Blue.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you very much Britney.
The MPP, MPA Sentential Class has elected Luis Contreras
to speak on their behalf.
Louis earned an associate degree in business
from Cabrillo College in 2007 and a bachelors degree
in International Relations from the University
of California, Irvine in 2010.
He spent last summer interning as a policy specialist
at Silicon Valley extension of the University
of California Santa Cruz and he is also served
as a research intern with the Institute
for National Strategic Studies
of the National Defense University.
As I understand it, Louis ran a viral video campaign
to clench his votes
as graduation speaker [laughter] possibly honing political skills
for opportunities well beyond the Ford school.
And so, I'm delighted to invite Louis to the podium.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you Dean Collins for the introduction.
Senator, faculty and staff, friends and families,
fellow graduations, thank you all for being here
in this very special day.
Moms, dads, brothers, sisters and everybody else that believe
in us thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support
through all this incredible journey.
And congratulations to you all
for today we celebrate our hard work our passion
or dedication for public policy.
Today, we rise as masters for tomorrow we will lead the world.
[Laughter] And as this adventure comes to a close, I can help
but to reflect back-- back on it
and the reason why we chose the Ford school
of public policy among other institutions.
Rankings, research and faculty all matter even the Wolverines
beating Ohio matter.
But this incisive patrol was you, my fellow graduates.
Meeting most of you during spring preview weekend,
allow me to realize that I was no simply talking
to perspective students about future leaders,
people that deeply care about change in community impact,
people that cared about the development
in the poorest countries in the world
and the poorest neighborhoods in America.
I was speaking to people that were willing
to advance their education to raise their voice on behalf
of those who have no voice, people willing
to be empower to the powerless.
I was speaking to people who were happy with the world
that we were given and who aspired to a better one.
After that first day of spring preview, my choice was clear.
I wanted to study among the best and among the finest.
And so, I chose you, and I chose to be a Michigan Wolverine.
[ Applause ]
Two years have passed since we started this program
and we have accomplished so many things, statistics, economics,
calculus, and many more classes have all we encounter.
We have worked all over the world, from New York to Paris,
from contrast in South America, Asia, in the Middle East,
some of us want to alleviate poverty, some of us want
to in conflicts around the world.
Some of us, even dreaming of being president one day,
and I have no doubt that we will accomplish such endeavor
for in every student here today, I see outstanding leaders,
a strong, and will to strive, to seek, to find,
and willing to retreat in the moment of truth, friends
and families, be proud for what these students have done
together in what they must accomplish
in the coming year is as big.
Fellow graduate students, we have been giving an opportunity
to study one of the finest institutions in the world,
honor that opportunity by bringing
about positive change to our society.
Use the tools you learn to possibly impact the life
of people across America and beyond.
And never give up fighting for what is right and just.
President Gerald Ford once said, "In all my public
and private acts as president, I expect to follow my instinct
of openness and candor with full confidence
that honesty is always the best policy in the end."
Follow these words with your time comes to lead.
Always speak the truth.
Never stop serving and leading.
Never stop dreaming and doing.
Never forget your Ford School family.
And never forget that you're always
and forever a Michigan Wolverine, a victor, a Fordie,
and whatever you go, go big and Go Blue.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you Louis.
And now, the moment that our family, and families
and friends have all been looking forward to,
our graduates are ready to come to the stage
and receive official congratulations
on a job so well done.
This year, the names will be read by John Chachere.
John is the assistant professor of Public Policy.
He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses
on Politics, Political Institutions,
and Post-conflict Law and Transition.
John has undergraduate in Law degrees from Harvard capped
by a Master's degree in PhD in international relations
from the University of Oxford, and I'm very pleased
to be introducing John Chachere who will call the names
of our graduating students, John.
[ Applause ]
>> Good evening.
Shall we-- shall we welcome the party?
[ Noise ]
[ Applause ]
To begin, I'll call our graduates earning
Doctoral degrees.
I'd like to welcome Susan Dynarski
and Mary Corcoran to the stage.
They will be hooding our PD-- PhD graduates.
Susan is a professor of Public Policy Education and Economics.
Mary is a professor of Public Policy, Political Science,
Social Work and Women Studies.
And now, for our PhD graduates.
Joshua Hyman, Doctorate in Public Policy
in Economics hooded by Susan Dynarski.
Joshua's dissertation title is Three Essays
on the Economics of Education.
[ Applause ]
[ Laughter ]
[ Applause ]
Jane Rochmes, Doctorate in Public Policy and Sociology,
and hooded by Mary Corcoran.
Jane's dissertation is entitled Teacher's Beliefs
about Students Social Disadvantage,
Exploring High School Context and Teachers Influence
on the Achievement Gap.
[ Applause ]
[ Noise ]
[ Applause ]
Caroline Barkley Theoharides, Doctorate in Public Policy
in Economics, hooded by Susan Dynarski.
The title of Caroline's dissertation is Three Essays
on the Economics of International Migration.
[ Applause ]
[ Noise ]
Now, we'll welcome our graduates receiving a Master's Degree
in Public Policy or Public Administration.
Andrea Acevedo.
[ Applause ]
Luis Alvarez.
[ Applause ]
Mari Arakaki.
[ Applause ]
D'Wayne Bell.
[ Applause ]
Daniel Ben-Zadok.
[ Applause ]
Franklin Berman.
[ Applause ]
Jarron Bowman.
[ Applause ]
Sinan Bozkus.
[ Applause ]
Cassarah Brown.
[ Applause ]
Colleen Campbell.
[ Applause ]
Caitlin Carmedelle.
[ Applause ]
Rebecca Cassidy.
[ Applause ]
Anna Jin Chan.
[ Applause ]
Stephanie Chang.
[ Applause ]
Elizabeth Cochran.
[ Applause ]
Jessica Francis Compton.
[ Applause ]
Luis Contreras.
[ Applause ]
Shane Cooper.
[ Applause ]
Andrew DeLeeuw.
[ Applause ]
Michael Dobias.
[ Applause ]
Imah Eno Effiong.
[ Applause ]
Chris Falcone.
[ Applause ]
Carly Farver.
[ Applause ]
Brian Gileczek.
[ Applause ]
Caitie Goddard.
[ Applause ]
>> Congratulations.
>> Hillary Hampton.
[ Applause ]
Ronisha Harvey.
[ Applause ]
Claire Hutchinson.
[ Applause ]
Jacob Ignatoski.
[ Applause ]
Yang Jiao.
[ Applause ]
Aimee Jones.
[ Applause ]
Samuel Khan.
[ Applause ]
Gillean Kitchen.
[ Applause ]
Sophia Kittler.
[ Applause ]
Shigeki Kobayashi.
[ Applause ]
Mark-- Mark Koski.
[ Applause ]
Masayoshi Kurisu.
[ Applause ]
Megan Levanduski.
[ Applause ]
Nicole Love.
[ Applause ]
Ben Lusher.
[ Applause ]
Shirley Ma.
[ Applause ]
Katie Malkin.
[ Applause ]
Esperanza Martinez.
[ Applause ]
Kenneth Jay McFarlane.
[ Applause ]
Vibha Mehta.
[ Applause ]
Christopher Montgomery.
[ Applause ]
Alyssa Mouton.
[ Applause ]
Ram Narayanan.
[ Applause ]
Hidenori Nonaka.
[ Applause ]
Hiroyuki Ono.
[ Applause ]
Ryne Peterson.
[ Applause ]
Jordi Prat Tuca.
[ Applause & Laughter ]
Kumar Raj.
[ Applause ]
Katie Reeves.
[ Applause ]
Betsy Riley.
[ Applause ]
Pyoungseok Seo.
[ Applause ]
Matthew Schwab.
[ Applause ]
Nour Shammout.
[ Applause ]
Lauren Sheram.
[ Applause ]
Dana Sherry.
[ Applause ]
Samuel Stern.
[ Applause ]
Alison Stroud.
[ Applause ]
Erin Sullivan.
[ Applause ]
Benjamin Shubik Sweeney.
[ Applause ]
Ozkan Tekneci.
[ Applause ]
Jessica Teng.
[ Applause ]
Tian Tian.
[ Applause ]
Zachary Turk.
[ Applause ]
Gerardo Velazco del Angel.
[ Applause ]
Pablo Velazquez.
[ Applause ]
Alexandre Viard
[ Applause ]
Christine Wagner.
[ Applause ]
Katherine Wynne.
[ Applause ]
Hisako Yabuki.
[ Applause ]
Hirokazu Yamasaki.
[ Applause ]
Likangjin Zheng.
[ Applause ]
And now, we welcome to the stage students receiving a Bachelor
of Arts in Public Policy.
[ Applause ]
Sahar Adora.
[ Applause ]
Travis Albright.
[ Applause ]
Zouheir Al Ghreiwati.
[ Applause ]
Sasha Michelle Altschuler.
[ Applause ]
Matthew Andonian.
[ Applause ]
Caroline Andridge.
[ Applause ]
Jeremy Batt.
[ Applause ]
Kimberly Beck.
[ Applause ]
Chelsea Belanger.
[ Applause ]
Sidney Berger.
[ Applause ]
Danielle Hope Bernstein.
[ Applause ]
Kelsey Byrne.
[ Applause ]
Alex Coburn.
[ Applause ]
Fernando Coello.
[ Applause ]
Maria Dambriunas.
[ Applause ]
Adam Fisher.
[ Applause ]
Erin Kannar Freeman.
[ Applause ]
Evelyn Galvan.
[ Applause ]
Ben Gloger.
[ Applause ]
Tyler Goldberg.
[ Applause ]
Noah Halpern.
[ Applause ]
Joey Herman.
[ Applause ]
Hayley Hershman.
[ Applause ]
Noah Hoffman.
[ Applause ]
Caroline Holdren.
[ Applause ]
Leslie Horwitz.
[ Applause ]
Brittany Renee Jones.
[ Applause ]
Brandon Katz.
[ Applause ]
Caitlyn Knoerr.
[ Applause ]
Lauren Kobrick.
[ Applause ]
Sarah Koehn.
[ Applause ]
Talia Kula.
[ Applause ]
Alexander Lane.
[ Applause ]
Mitchell Lapoff.
[ Applause ]
Alex Leader.
[ Applause ]
Patrick Cornelius Maillet.
[ Applause ]
Emily Joraski Mannisto.
[ Applause ]
Madeline McIlhon.
[ Applause ]
Donavan McKinney.
[ Applause ]
Mackenzie Miller.
[ Applause ]
Hannah Moiseev.
[ Applause ]
Salma Moosa.
[ Applause ]
Harsha Nahata.
[ Applause ]
Sarah Pizer.
[ Applause ]
Erica Reich.
[ Applause ]
Kelsey Rhodes.
[ Applause ]
Abbey Roggenbuck.
[ Applause ]
Phoebe Rosenfeld.
[ Applause ]
Steven Rzeppa.
[ Applause ]
William Sanford.
[ Applause ]
David Seidman.
[ Applause ]
Brandon Shapiro.
[ Applause ]
Salam Sheikh-Khalil.
[ Applause ]
Matthew D. Skiba.
[ Applause ]
Gregory Terryn.
[ Applause ]
Olivia Thompson.
[ Applause ]
Emma Tinsley.
[ Applause ]
Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya.
[ Applause ]
Emily Vandusen.
[ Applause ]
Adam Watkins.
[ Applause ]
Andrew ***.
[ Applause ]
Samantha Yassine.
[ Applause ]
[ Noise ]
>> It is now my pleasure to invite all of our graduates
to stand and please face your guests in the audience.
[ Applause ]
And our RBA graduates.
[ Applause ]
At this time, RBA graduates please move your tassel
on your mortar board from the right to the left.
[ Applause ]
I present to you the Gerald R. Ford classes of 2014.
Congratulations to all of you.
[ Applause ]
It's been so wonderful to have all of you with us here today.
I'll ask you to take your seats
and remain seated while the platform party
and our graduates then exit, but I hope that you will stay
and join us for some light refreshments
in the area just outside of the doors
or if the weather permitting on the front steps.
Again, thank you so much for joining us
and to our centennial class of 2014,
we're so proud of you and Go Blue.
[ Applause ]
[ Music & Inaudible Discussions ]