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[ Silence ]
>> Good afternoon, and welcome
to Dartmouth College's 11th Annual Social Justice Awards.
>> Thank you.
>> My name is Chris O'Connell and I am a member
of the Dartmouth College class of 2013, and it is my honor
and privilege today to serve as your master of ceremonies.
Established by the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration committee
in 2001, the Social Justice Awards recognizes alumni,
faculty, staff, and student groups' commitment
to many social issues.
Some of which we're going to learn about more today.
Today's ceremony is cosponsored by the Martin Luther King,
Jr. celebration committee,
the Office of Institutional Diversity & Equity,
The William Jewett Tucker Foundation
and Dartmouth Medical School.
We have a great program for you all this afternoon,
and to kick this off, I'm really excited
to introduce the Dartmouth Rockapellas.
The Rockapellas often known as the Rocks,
is an all-female acapella group that uses song
to raise awareness of social justice issues,
perfect fit for our ceremony today.
So, please join me at this time
in welcoming the Dartmouth Rockapellas.
[ Applause ]
[ Pause ]
[ Music ]
[ Singing ]
>> Can you hear the prayer of the children on bended knee,
in the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes with no more tears
to cry turning heavenward toward the light.
Crying, "Someone, help me to see the morning light
of one more day, but if I should die before I wake,
I pray my soul to take."
Can you feel the hearts of the children aching for home,
for something of their very own?
Reaching hands with nothing to hold onto but hope
for a better day, a better day.
Crying, "Someone, help me to feel the love again
in my own land, but if unknown roads lead away from home,
give me loving arms, away from harm."
Ooooooh, ooooooh, ooooooh, ooooooh, ooooooh.
Can you hear the voice of the children softly pleading
for silence in their shattered world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,
blood of the innocent on their hands.
Crying,"Someone, help me to feel the sun again upon my face?
For when darkness clears, I know you're near,
bringing peace again."
Dali cujete sve djecje molitve?
Can you hear the prayer of the children?
[ Applause ]
>> Oh, thank you so much for the Dartmouth Rockapellas,
the song that we just sang is called the Prayer
of the Children.
The next song that we'll be singing is also a
[inaudible] song.
It's called Ella's Song.
It's written by Sweet Honey in the Rock and it's based
in the life and writing
of the civil rights activist Ella Baker.
[ Pause ]
[ Music ]
[ Clapping ]
[ Singing ]
[ Applause ]
[ Pause]
>> Thank you again to the Rockapellas.
Well, I now have the privilege of introducing a man
who probably needs no introduction, particularly here
at the Social Justice Awards.
But I already wrote one, so here it is.
Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim,
may only be in his third year as a college president,
but his commitment to the ideals of access, inclusion
and justice have been clear throughout his entire
professional career.
As respected physician and cultural anthropologist,
he has worked to address injustices in the health system,
by providing medical treatment
to underserved populations around the world.
He's a cofounder of the global health group Partners In Health
and previously served as the director of the Department
of *** and AIDS at the World Health Organization.
His lifelong commitment to social justice
in the medical world is the source of inspiration
to the entire Dartmouth community.
So, without further ado, please join me
in welcoming President Jim Yong Kim.
[ Applause ]
>> Thanks very much, this is a very special day
and we always look forward to it 'cause we get
to spend a little bit of time with the award winners.
I just want to first
of all congratulate the different groups,
Student for Africa who are sitting here.
You know, it's wonderful that we have a forum now.
There's so many-- you know, when I was a student,
back in the dark ages, there was nobody who got to go to Africa,
there was nobody who--
a very few people who knew much about it.
And now that not only do we have so many students going there
but we have a forum where students can talk
about their work, it's wonderful.
Congratulations to you.
[ Applause ]
And I want to also congratulate individually our Emerging
Award-- Leadership Award Winner, Jessica Lawson is here
and thank-- [applause] Jessica told us in some detail
about her path to getting where she is now
with the Mariposa Foundation.
It's really wonderful 'cause you're deep--
you're working with 54 young girls.
And they're often in the places that I've worked,
places like Haiti, three countries in Africa and Peru.
It's the young girls who are often most neglected
and forgotten.
And I can't think of no more rewarding work
than actually knowing the names, the families and the life paths
of individual girls, and the fact that you've done
that makes us very proud, Jessica.
You are a consultant in San Francisco, right.
One of the most beautiful fun cities in the world
and you left it to go provide guidance and support
for 54 very poor children
in Dominican Republic and young girls.
It's just wonderful and congratulations.
Becca Heller has done really amazing work.
Her career path, she was summa *** laude here at Dartmouth
and then went on to Yale Law School.
And in telling her story, the thing that was most striking
to was to hear how unbelievably courageous you were
at every step of the process.
So here, with nothing better to do, she went to Israel
and with nothing better to do there, she went to Amman,
Jordan to talk to Iraqi refugees, right.
Now, I don't know where you got that courage, Becca,
but I have to say that the--
you know, of all the people I've met doing this kind of work,
the characteristics that always comes through is courage
in the face of people who tell you
that what you're trying to do is impossible.
I mean, it's always there.
And you took on a project
in which there wasn't an established community
that had been doing it.
You basically created the field.
But the fields that you go
into where the people are most pestiferous
in telling you can't do what you're setting
out to do are fields where there are already people working
in it.
Because at some level they're thinking, "Look,
if that was possible, we would have done it."
That's the most difficult thing to get by and you took
on such an impossible project.
It was so impossible, seemingly.
Nobody did, tried it before.
So the work you've been doing trying
to resettle Iraqi refugees as you pointed out.
We have quite a bit of responsibility
in creating those refugees and to know
that it's a Dartmouth grad who's doing it is--
makes us really, really proud.
And--
[ Applause ]
And Chidi Achebe, what a wonderful story.
And then so Chidi went to Bard College, a place that's
about as different from Dartmouth,
I guess [laughter] as one could imagine.
And then to medical school here.
But Chidi really, you know, I was just saying this to him.
He is one of the new cadre of physicians who are going to lead
and who are going to change the way we provide healthcare.
So, here's a man who-- whose family is from Nigeria.
Were you born in Nigeria?
>> Yes.
>> You were?
>> Yup.
>> And he came and went from a very comfortable
and wonderful medical school here at Dartmouth to work
in Houston, in some
of the poorest neighborhoods in Houston.
And he kept doing what was necessary to be most effective
in being able to provide effective services
to the poorest communities.
So at first, you went and got a degree in public health
but then you realized that in order to really run a clinic,
you needed training in business, and so you got an MBA from Yale.
And I would argue that today,
this path that you've taken is one that we now have to create
and make it a lot easier for people to do.
As I've said many, many times in health care,
it's not enough just to want to help poor people.
It's not enough just to have good intentions.
You've really got to humble yourself and go
through a process so that you acquire the skills you need
to actually be effective.
And the stories that you have-- that you've provided us,
you know most doctors would go in to a situation
and focus only on the patient care.
You focused on the quality of the programs.
You focused on whether
or not you should be doing the program at all.
You focused on retiring the debt.
All things that now that I've been in this job
for three years are critical for an institution to survive.
I think that you are going to be one of the great leaders
in this new field of health care delivery.
And the field of health care delivery is
very straightforward.
It's not about being better at spreadsheets,
it's about taking the vast resources that we have
and that we're already spending on health care
and actually making people healthier.
And not just a few people
who can afford insurance but everybody.
That's the result of your work and we couldn't be proud
of having you as part of the family.
[ Applause ]
Michael Mascari graduated in 1965 which was right
in the heart of the animal house period of Dartmouth College.
[Laughter] Michael came to Dartmouth from Indiana
and followed a path
that unfortunately a very few people thought of.
His lifelong commitment to providing care and services
for people with disabilities is truly humbling.
You just started at a time, Michael,
when it wasn't very fashionable to do so.
It was in the beginning of the deinstitutionalization movement
and we've all heard stories of-- Titicut Follies of course is one
of the movies that were just incredibly powerful in my life
in understanding the kinds of abuses that went
on in institutions that care for these people,
for people with developmental disabilities.
And so you've created homes and institutions
which provided the kind of love and care that, of course,
that they needed and helped us to rethink our relationship
to people with developmental disabilities.
We are so proud of you and the fact
that you have a son now who's in the great class
of 2013 closes the circle.
Congratulations, Michael.
[ Applause ]
Martin Luther King's celebration is a time for me every year
to reflect on where I am and where we are as an institution.
You know, Martin Luther King said that the arc
of history is long but it bends ever so slightly toward justice.
But I actually don't believe it.
I don't believe that it bends toward justice on its own.
You know, we've been having a lot of discussions
at this institution and the students here have heard me say
it so many times they're getting tired of hearing it,
but I came here with a specific purpose.
I told the board of trustees
that the reason I'm coming here is because I believe this notion
that the world's troubles are your troubles
and there's nothing wrong with the world
that better human beings cannot fix.
I believe that's the most powerful, inspiring
and a frankly insightful mission statement that an institution
like Dartmouth could ever have.
And I want you to know that I'm really serious about it
and I'm asking myself everyday, are we doing enough
to prepare our students to tackle the world's troubles
in a way that's as impressive and inspiring
as our honorees today?
And I'm not sure we are.
And I think we can get better.
We've-- we're having speakers over the next couple of months
who are at the bleeding cutting edge of how we learn--
the bleeding cutting edge of understanding how we learn,
how we get better, how we teach.
Just last night, we had a wonderful speaker from Duke
who tells us that educational institutions today are
structured in a way that has far outlived its purpose.
She told us that most educational institutions were
structured to bring people from the fields into the factories,
to make people more timely, more efficient, better at sitting
in a classroom as opposed to the kind of interaction
that they have before the industrial age.
Becca talked about this in terms of her own learning style
and she argues that what we see
on the internet today intensively interactive
where people published before they were on blogs,
where they published before they edit,
the kind of intensive interaction and collaboration
that we see today is in fact how our minds work.
Well, that's great news for anyone interested
in social justice, 'cause that's what we do too.
I want you to know that every year
on Martin Luther King's birthday,
I ask my self whether we're still on the right path,
whether we're still on the path
of unleashing every year a thousand plus undergrad-- grad--
recent graduates and graduate students who are both capable of
and have instilled in them the desire
to tackle the world's troubles.
And every year when we honor our alums who have done
such extraordinary work, I'm convinced that we're
on the right path and I'm rededicating, I always am able
to rededicate myself to this task of creating an institution
that will do what President Dickey charged us to do in 1946.
Congratulations everybody and thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you again, President Kim.
Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment
to recognize two individuals who really made this day possible.
So just for a moment as-- before we continue with our program,
please join me in thanking Gabrielle Lucke
and Christi Crabb [phonetic] who--
[ Applause ]
I was invited to service the master of ceremonies
for the Social Justice Awards last summer before the specific
date of the ceremony was [inaudible] out.
So, when I found out last term
that the ceremony would be today, January 27th,
I told Gabrielle I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it.
When she listened to my concern and reasoning,
she told me that I should reframe it.
Rather to think of the Social Justice Awards as an event
that I would be attending on my 21st birthday,
that instead I should consider it a giant college sponsored
birthday party, so [laughter] thank you so much
for attending what has now been the largest birthday party I've
ever had, so--
>> Happy birthday.
>> Thank you.
[ Applause ]
But in all seriousness, I am humble to be here today,
among not only several accomplished
and well deserving alumni and student groups but among others
who believe that social justice, equity, diversity
and equalities, some of the very same ideals that Dr. King stood
for are an integral part
of Dartmouth's institutional fabric.
This year, a number of nominees for these awards,
it's enough proof that members of the Dartmouth community,
substantial amount that is, share these values and act them
out in their everyday life.
And for that, I'm proud and inspired to be a part
of this great institution.
I was asked to speak today, just briefly, not to worry,
about what social justice means to me.
The term social justice in my mind immediately conjures
up images of volunteering in foreign countries, serving soup
to the hungry or set-- or sending medicine to the sick,
but after a few years at Dartmouth, I've come to realize
that there's more to the term social justice
than just volunteering or making a donation.
So what is it, as like what have it, this very question came
up in my sociology class last week and ladies
and gentlemen, I have the answer.
American philosopher John Rawls offered
up this explanation of social justice.
For a society to be socially just, imagine that the world
as we know it ended tomorrow, and that everyone
in this room was tasked with planning out a new society.
According to Rawls, for us to truly create social justice,
you and I, the planners of this new society,
would have to be blind to our own social standings,
so completely unaware of our own race, class, gender,
*** orientation, cultural background and ability.
As we sit together to plan out this new society,
we'd forced ourselves to create a world that is truly equal,
purely out of fear that we've end
up on the wrong side of inequality.
So, as Rawls believes, this hypothetical experiment reveals
that social justice put simply is offering a fair starting
place in life for people of all identities and backgrounds.
Our award recipients this evening have certainly been
working tirelessly to create that fair starting place,
in many different arenas within a society
that is becoming increasingly stratified.
And as I've learned more about their incre--
these incredible individuals here with us today,
one thing has become clear, working for a fair
and equitable starting place for all people irrespective
of their identity, takes more than just good intentions,
to overcome the seemingly insurmountable structural
barriers that slow the pace of equality, it takes courage.
President Kim mentioned this earlier.
Courage to question the norms, courage to use positions
of power to promote equity and the courage
to not just acknowledge and empathize
of inequality but to act upon it.
And while our honorees have done particularly exciting
and inspiring work all over the world,
social justice requires just as much courage, whether you are
across an ocean or down the street.
As students, it's easy, almost too easy sometimes, to step away
from certain injustices here at Dartmouth and accept it
as a part of the way of life, the way a society just is.
But if we are to eventually affect the same sort
of social change and promoted the same ideals of equity,
tolerance and freedom that our honorees have done
in their time away from Hanover, we must do more
than just recognize or empathize with inequality.
When injustice presents itself even here on our beloved campus,
we all have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other,
to not to say something,
to not just do the bare minimum required but to stand up
and relentlessly pursue the ideals we are celebrating
here today.
The courage act upon inequality is not just some magical power
that activates upon our graduation from Dartmouth.
The courage to promote social justice begins here
and it begins now.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
I'm not-- I'm not finished yet.
Before the award presentation begins, we like to take a moment
to recognize the many student groups that were nominated
for student group award this year.
They include, the Dartmouth newspaper, Dartmouth Habitat
for Humanity, Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering,
GlobeMed at Dartmouth, Mentors Against Violence,
OUTreach Peer Mentors, Occupy Dartmouth, Project Right Choice,
and of course Students for Africa.
You'll find a list of all of these nominee--
nominated groups toward the front of this evening's program.
All of these groups have done highly valuable work
for both the Dartmouth community
and the greater community at large.
So let's just take, let's get another moment to recognize all
of the great work done by these student groups.
[ Applause ]
Our first award this afternoon will be the student group award,
which is sponsored by the MLK Celebration Committee,
the Tucker Foundation, Dartmouth Medical School and the Office
of Institutional Diversity & Equity.
So this time, I would like to introduce dean
of the college, Charlotte Johnson.
Dean Johnson joined the Dartmouth community this past
summer and in her first few months has worked closely
with many students and student groups
to further promote the value of social justice in our campus.
She's excited to present her first student group Social
Justice Award, so please join me
in welcoming Dean Charlotte Johnson.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you, Chris, and happy birthday.
So it's my honor today to be here and present this award.
As Chris said, it's the Martin Luther King,
Jr. Social Justice Award.
And it's for student organization
and it honors the student group for its commitment
to promoting social justice in our community and beyond.
This year we are honoring the organization Students
for Africa.
Students for Africa was founded in 2006 in response
to the then nearly invisibility of African affairs
on the Dartmouth campus.
Since then, it has worked tirelessly
to remind the Dartmouth Community
of the continents diversity and complexity.
SFA does not content itself with simply raising awareness
about Africa's challenges, rather it seeks
to foster critical thinking
about how our everyday choices impacts those challenges.
It aims to foster dialog about the economic
and political issues, to tackle issues of social justice
and development and to showcase and share African culture.
To [inaudible] SFA has hosted roundtable discussions,
documentary film screenings, potlucks and performances.
These events have ranged from in-depth discussion
of Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic, to celebratory occasions
such as African night.
In terms of social justice and development, SFA has sought
to raise the level of discussion about what it means
to help Africa, calling
for greater humility among themselves
and their fellow students as well
as intensified coalition building
with African base partners.
Several SFA members translate their ideals into practice
through their efforts to promote and sustain educational
and health initiatives in their home countries.
Last fall, SFA took on the ambitious task of organizing
in Mbele Africa, a convention that brought students
from many colleges together to discuss ways
in which youth can contribute to African development.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
addressed the participants via video conferencing,
urging them to and I quote, "take advantage
of this opportunity to unfailingly seek knowledge,
inquire, question, dream, innovate, explore,
and more importantly, give back."
We believe that SFA has already begun
to answer Presidents Sirleaf's call to action
through its energetic and sustained efforts
to address Africa's challenges as well
as celebrate its richness.
For those reasons, we are proud to recognize and honor Students
for Africa with the Social Justice Award.
[ Applause ]
Would everyone present who has been involved with Students
for Africa please stand.
[ Applause ]
And I'd like to invite you up actually
so that I can present the award.
So come on up Stella Safari [phonetic], Mahmud Johnson,
and I'm missing one person here.
[Laughter] I'll let you introduce yourselves,
what about them.
>> Hi, my name is Stella Safari, and I'm the co-president of SFA.
>> Hi, I'm [inaudible] and I'm operations partner for SFA.
>> My name is Mahmud Johnson and I'm also co-president of SFA.
[ Pause ]
>> It's my pleasure to present you
with the Social Justice Award for student organization.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you.
[ Pause ]
>> At this time, I would like to welcome someone
who is very important to Dartmouth.
Her role in our community is a critically important one,
particularly as we discuss to hear more
about social justice issues this afternoon.
Vice president for Institutional Diversity & Equity Evelynn Ellis
is an individual who works tirelessly with students,
faculty, staff and senior administrators
to promote social justice throughout the college.
Here to present the alumni awards, please join me
in welcoming Vice President Evelynn Ellis.
[ Applause ]
[ Noise ]
>> First I should check-- can everyone can hear me?
I'm close enough to-- thank you Gabrielle.
Thank you for coming out.
As I told a-- someone who was interviewing a respective
faculty member today and I'm looking outside,
and he's looking outside and I said very quickly,
the weather is never like this.
[Laughter] But thank you.
Over the winter break in 2010,
Holly Sateia moved into full retirement.
Along with leaving memories and unlimited information and boxes
for the Dartmouth College.
Holly decided to also lean me three live plants.
That would be live plants.
Nothing in my past would have suggested to Holly
that I could keep plants survive.
[Laughter] Having killed the two I purchased when I moved
to my office at Dartmouth College.
I remember telling Holly that leaving them with me was risky
but I would love to keep them,
I would try my best to keep them alive.
With a little fanfare, Holly gave me some care instructions
about taking care of the plants and float it out of the office.
One of the plants was a particular concerned
for me what-- because it appeared
to be a favorite of Holly.
She liked it a lot.
It appeared to be a favorite of Holly, she liked it a lot.
It appeared as though she had put a lot of care
into taking care of it, keeping it alive.
I figured it would be my first failure
as Vice President-- dead plant.
I went through in advance in my mind, the worse I would use
when I called her at her home to tell her
that the dear thing was dead.
But then I remembered how little concerns she expressed
when she turned them over to me.
For some reasons, she believed that I could grow a green thumb.
I, too, could be the keeper of the plants.
As the weeks progressed, the plants
and I developed an understanding.
[Laughter] You tell me if you are dying
and I will try to save you.
[Laughter] They sent the messages
and I responded like a true gardener.
As time moved on, I grew move confident.
After a while, I could get ahead of them.
Putting in a bit of water before they send
out the stress signals.
I was rocking.
After a full year under my care, I have not yet, yet killed one.
I believed Holly knew, that when she left them with me,
hand me the responsibility,
despite my plant caring disability,
I would rise to the occasion.
So far I have.
I supposed that our awardees today were handed
for they reached and took responsibility,
and they have too, risen to the occasion.
And for that, we honor each of them.
I will begin the presentation
of the Individual Social Justice course.
To tell you about a bit about--
and the social justice awards were originally conceived
to honor members of our community and provide us
with a venue in which we may acknowledge and reflect
on their accomplishments.
They're presented tonight in three categories,
emerging leadership, ongoing commitment,
and the Lester B. Granger for a Lifetime Achievement.
Sounds like the Oscar's, doesn't it?
[Laughter] And they're just as that important
to us here at Dartmouth.
The honorees names had been engraved and added to the plaque
by the stage which is displayed throughout the year
on the wall outside of Collis cafe.
Each award recipient would be given a clock in stride with his
or her name and an engraving of Dartmouth Hall.
The gift of the clock was inspired by quote
from Martin Luther King, Jr's, Letter from a Birmingham Jail,
"We must use time creatively, in the knowledge
that the time is always ripe to do right."
The presentation of these awards will be followed
by a panel discussion with the honorees about the lives
and their careers in service.
I will start with the first 40.
Rebecca Heller.
Rebecca Heller is a member of the Dartmouth class of 2005.
She's a co-finder-- co-founder and Director
of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project
and is a visiting clinical lecturer at Yale College.
Rebecca is receiving the first,
the two merging leadership awards.
Today, she returns to this very stage,
8 years after having served as the emcee for this very event.
She was chosen for that role in 2004 due to her commitment
to issues of social justice which were evident
from the beginning of her Dartmouth career.
As a first year student,
she founded a mentoring project serving at-risk students
at an elementary school in Sharon, Vermont.
Continuing her commitment to youth, Rebecca interned
with the Children's Defense Fund where she briefed policy makers
on issues of child welfare and organized a child watch event
in which the U.S. senators worked directly
with at-risk youth.
Perhaps Rebecca's greatest achievement
as an undergraduate is the founding of Harvest for Hunger,
a project which had its roots in her academic research
on food security issues.
This project trained student and community volunteers
to harvest leftover fruits and vegetables
from the local fields.
With the help of professional kitchen, a chef,
and a nutritionist, they transformed the produce
into nutritious frozen meals and distributed them
to low income residence.
These efforts, Rebecca was awarded one
of the 6 National Howard R. Sweaver Student
Humanitarian Awards.
She was also awarded a Tugger Foundation Fellowship in study
and work in the area of food secured in New Zealand,
Nicaragua, and Grenada.
After graduating suma *** laude, she spent two years living
in Sub-Saharan Africa, one as a full bright scholar in Malawi.
After her first year at Yale Law School, Rebecca traveled
to Jordan, where she [inaudible] refugee families
who identified legal assistance as their most urgent need.
Becca has recently done as assigning work
with Yale's Immigration Legal Services Clinic and believed
that law students could assist refugees applying
for resettlement.
Returning to Yale,
she co-founded the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project,
IRAP in 2009.
Also doing law school, how could someone
so young have done so much?
Also doing law school, Rebecca participated
in several clinics focusing on worker and immigrant rights,
advocacy services and on international human rights.
She also served as an article editor for Yale Journal.
She received a JD, congratulations, in 2010.
Since then, she was helped IRAP expand to include chapters
at 20 law schools worldwide.
Her organization has helped hundreds of refugee families
through the resettlement progress to restart their lives
and save their countries.
What I also learned to day is that she received
from the Christian Science Monitor, and Rebecca,
tell me if I get this correct, one of the top 30 persons
who are considered change agents in this country.
>> Wow.
>> Under the age of 30.
>> Under the age of 30.
[Laughter]
>> Thank you.
>> I got it mostly right.
>> Yeah you did.
I don't want to kind of run in the [inaudible].
[Laughter]
>> Thank you, thank you for sharing.
For these reasons and many others, we are privileged
to honor Rebecca Heller with Dartmouth Social Justice Award
for Emerging Leadership.
Please help me welcome Rebecca to the stage.
[ Applause ]
>> The cue sheet says I have
under one minute to thank people.
So number one, thank you Dartmouth for this great honor
for being awesome for taking
such good care of me for so long.
I've-- I would love to make children go in here
but I would love more not to be a parent who forces their kids
to get their Ivy League school.
[Laughter] Thank you President Kim for your vision
for Dartmouth, which I think is needed.
And I specially want to thank the Tugger Foundation
where I basically lived while I was here.
And specifically Tracy [phonetic], Dustin [phonetic],
Isler [phonetic], and Jeane Targin [phonetic]
who exhibited many qualities with me including encouragement
and empowerment, but I would say most of all, patience.
So thank you so much.
[ Applause ]
[ Noise ]
>> Thank you.
Now, I will present the second Emerging Leadership Award,
and that award would go to Jessica Lawson.
Jessica is a member of the class of 2004, she's a co-founder
and assistant director of The Mariposa DR Foundation,
in Dominican Republican-- Republic.
As a special Language and Culture major at Dartmouth,
she studied to strive that the people
of the Dominican Republic suffered at the hands
of the dictator Trujillo and they--
he's been ensuing political discord.
Vacationing there in Cabarete in 2003, she fell in love
with the island but she was also--
saw first hand the severe disadvantages,
with extreme poverty its residents faced especially women
and girls who received minimum education
and had virtually no job opportunities.
Determined to help create a positive change,
Jessica returned to Cabarete after graduating,
there she begun her career and non-profit leadership
as a full time volunteer in a rural public school
where she ran a library
and created extra curricular programs at-- for at-risk youth.
She next spent several years in management consulting in the US,
working with several public sector clients
to have their leaders inspire passion
and performance in their people.
19-- 2008, Jessica returned full-time
to the Dominican Republic as a non-profit consultant.
In partnership with Patricia Suriel,
she developed the concept of Mariposa DR foundation
and had become-- has become an advocate
for girl's education and empowerment.
The Mariposa DR foundation is a community-run organization
that works to provide sustainable
and create a solutions to ending extreme poverty
in the Dominican Republic.
It focuses primarily on empowering girls
to achieve the full potential, their programs and education,
sports, health, and leadership as what well as partnership
with schools, community centers,
and early childhood development programs.
Why girls and women?
Women, as Jessica has explained, for the foundation
of a developing community.
To increase women's sense of self-worth
through education simultaneously creates a higher set
of expectation for those the women care for and this begins
to permeate to the entire community.
This is a change that Jessica's leadership is affecting.
As one of her 3 nominator's said, her commitment
to her foundation is best perceived
through the happy eyes, the eager mind, and full of stomachs
of the girls she works and there are more than a few.
She is probably the most popular woman in the Cabarete.
Another nominator said that Jessica dreams bigger than those
around her and works harder to make the impossible happen.
She's certainly done best
through the Mariposa DR foundation and for this work,
we are honored to present to her with the Social Justice award
for Emerging Leadership.
Please help me welcome Jessica to the stage.
[ Applause ]
>> Okay. Well, first of all, I'd like to thank Dartmouth,
I'd like to thank my incredible friends that I met here
who nominated me for this award and who also supported me
in every crazy idea that I ever had.
I'd like to thank Patricia Suriel, the other founder
and executive director of Mariposa foundation,
who inspired me to join the fight against social injustice.
And most of all, I'd like to thank my family who came here
from Chicago to be here with me tonight, without their support,
I never could do anything that I've been able
to do so, thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
[ Noise ]
>> And Jessica, before you get to settled,
I'm going to try it again, Cabarete-- Cabarete.
[Laughter] Okay, give me 16 more tries and-- .
[Laughter] Our next award is the ongoing Commitment Award
and our recipient today is Chidi Achebe.
Chidi is a member of the Dartmouth medical school class
in 1996, is the president and CEO
at the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center
of Dorchester, Massachusetts.
After graduating from Bard College,
he earned 3 graduate degrees,
an MPH at the Harvard School Republica,
an MBA at the Yale School of Management, and of course,
his MD at DMS, Department Medical School,
truly, an underachiever.
[Laughter] He completed residencies
in both internal medicine and pediatrics and has had position
as a medical director at the Whittier Street Health Center
in Roxbury, and an assistant professor
at the Tufts University School of Medicine.
Shortly before, Chidi took the helm at the Harvard Street,
the Dorchester Health Center had nearly been forced to close.
Its facilities were inadequate, its staff were demoralized,
and a consultant has stolen 3 quarters
of the million dollars, not good.
Even without the theft, its finances were
in terrible disarray, the place was even such a mess says Chidi,
"That the door was falling off of the hinges,
we had to put the door on the hinges and paint it."
His leadership turned the center around in record time,
bringing it from a bankrupted organization to one
that is now in the block.
All of this time, Chidi served as a tireless advocate
of healthcare quality both through his work
in these underserved Boston area communities,
and from publishing articles and serving on boards
and committees, dedicated to addressing issues
of health care disparity.
On the front lines, he has regularly made church calls,
spoken at youth summits, conventions, conferences,
schools, and barbershops, focused areas
where he could reach undeserved patients
and remind the community of the value of health
and of preventive care.
He lets them know how easily care is available at the center
and has made the center a welcoming place
where residents now feel comfortable going.
In recognition of his [inaudible] work on behalf
of healthcare equality, Dartmouth is deeply honored
to present Chidi with the Social Justice Award
for on-- ongoing commitment.
Please welcome Chidi Achebe.
[ Applause ]
>> The only thing I can say is wow.
I told a very short story earlier, we have the honor
of having lunch with President Kim who is one of my heroes--
oh, with Paul Farmer, I hope Sweden [phonetic] is listening
because we all know he deserves a Nobel.
This is a school that students may not realize how special
it is.
When I left Dartmouth, I knew while I was here
that it was a superb school.
I didn't know how superb until I left.
It prepares you for things that you may not be aware
of until you leave, and I think it's one
of those incredible gifts to have a world-class education
that then prepares you to give back to people
who may not have the same opportunities as you.
And I think the only thing I can take away or give
to the students who may be listening here is
to remember how privilege you are and to always remember
to give back to those who don't have as much
as you have because, boy, you have lot.
I'd like to also make sure that I thank those who nominated me
so I've had to see if she's still here.
Yes. Sean [phonetic], Dr. Donald [phonetic], a bunch of others--
people, I had a superb, superb education here.
President Kim, thank you.
The dean, thank you so much, the dean, [inaudible] deans.
I just want to say thank you for this honor.
It's deeply, deeply heartfelt.
I am always going to be very, very grateful.
[ Applause ]
[ Noise ]
>> Now, we have made our way to the Lester B. Granger Award
for Lifetime Achievement.
The Granger Award, was originated
by The William Jewett Tucker Foundation in 2002,
and was made a part of the Social Justice Awards Ceremony
for the first time in 2005.
It is named in honor of Lester B. Granger, class of 1918.
It is given each year to individuals whose commitment
to public service has been exemplary as Granger's own.
Further details on Granger's extraordinary life
and work can be found in this evening's printed program.
This years awardee, is Michael Mascari.
Michael is a member of the class of 1965,
he is Executive Director of AHRC Nassau and Affiliates.
AHRC Nassau is Long Island's largest nonprofit agency serving
children and adults with intellectual
and other developmental disabilities including autism.
After graduating from Dartmouth, Michael spent a year
in the VISTA program, the domestic Peace Corpse.
He went on to earn a master's degree
on social work administration
from Case Western Reserve University.
In 1969, he became the community resident's manager
in the first group home for adults
with developmental disabilities.
Michael's nominator, Howard Jurist, wrote that since time,
Michael has devoted his career to advancing the civil rights
and supporting human dignity of persons with intellectual
and other developmental disabilities.
When asked why he entered this field over 40 years ago,
Michael always answers that it was for him and continues
to be an issue of civil rights.
Michael entered public service as the Assistant Director--
and I'm going to use names of the organizations as they were
at that time, the Assistant Director
for the Mental Retardation Services for New York City.
He was next appointed Assistant Commissioner
for both the New York City Department of Mental Health,
Mental Retardation, and Alcoholism Services
in the New York state office
of mental retardation eventually becoming
as Associate Commissioner.
During this time, he led the initial phases
of the implementation
of the Willowbrook Consent Decree creating a
community-based system of supports for persons
with developmental disabilities who formally lived
in state institutions.
New York State is still regarded
as having the most ambitious plan on relocating individuals
from institutions to community-based programs.
Michael went on to successfully oppose citizen's group who tried
to prevent people with developmental disabilities
from moving into community-based housing.
Under Michael's leadership, AHRC Nassau has grown from serving
about 500 individuals to more than 4,000.
It has been designated a COMPASS Agency
by the New York State Office for people
with developmental disabilities, 1 of 8 out of nearly 750
to receive this destination which is given to organizations
that foster the empowerment
of the person receiving the services supporting their
choices and their preferences.
In sum, when Michael began his career on behalf the people
with developmental disabilities,
their future was limited throughout our society.
There was no right to education for children
with developmental disability and no legal protections
within the work force.
The changes Michael was able
to peck doing his service fathered this population's civil
rights and advanced the societal shift
and preconceptions many held about them.
Michael's ability to martial community resources
and his steadfast resolve to fight for the rights
of the disabled has supported a generation of people
with developmental disabilities on their continuing journey
to live fully free within our society.
For his unwavering dedication to advancing the rights of people
with developmental disabilities, we are honored indeed
to present Michael with the Lester B. Granger Award
for Lifetime Achievement.
Please help me welcome Michael to the stage.
[ Applause ]
>> I accept this award with a deep sense of gratitude
and humility as well as respect and admiration
for the other recipients whose accomplishments are being
recognized today.
I'm especially honored to accept an award that is named
for Lester B. Granger whose life is an example
for Dartmouth students and alumni of what it means
to make the world's troubles your own.
By learning about the life of Lester Granger, class of 1918,
we are reminded that there have always been graduates
of Dartmouth College who have pursued past that differ
from the majority of their classmates.
But we take great pride in our graduates
who have distinguished careers in finance, law,
business, and medicine.
We should take equal pride in those
who have chosen the profession of social work, teaching,
community organizing, and the ministry.
It is right that we celebrate those graduates,
such as those standing here with me
who have used their Dartmouth education to work
for governmental non-profit, and religious institutions on behalf
of people whose needs are to often unmet.
Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> Now we get to the fun part, we get to talk to them.
We now have a panel discussion where we will get to--
first of all here, the panelist address four questions
and then we have the opportunity to ask them questions.
And I-- each panelist will have about 5 minutes
to answer 4 questions, sorry about that [laughs],
talk really fast, [inaudible].
But 4 questions and I will tell you the questions now
and feel free to ask me if you don't remember them.
But question number 1, what have you most wanted to change
through you life's work?
Question number 2, did your passion
for social justice have roots in your Dartmouth experience?
Question number 3, what 1 lesson have you learned
about social change that you would like to share
with younger people and even older people like me.
And how do you sustain the passion
that you bring to your work?
We will go in this order, we will start with Rebecca,
we then go to Jessica, Chidi, and then Michael.
>> Okay. Thank you.
I'm going to stand kind of far from the mic
because I'm pretty loud.
So if people can't hear me, just say something.
I feel like it's impossible
to answer those four questions in 5 minutes.
And in deciding what I wanted to say, I had a choice
between presenting a coherent narrative and presenting a lot
of ideas and I go with the later.
So the title is, "Things I wish someone had told Becca
when she was a student at Dartmouth."
[Laughter] Becca, growing up is difficult because you realize
that you have to make choices.
I think that when you're a teenager and you think
about social change, it really seems possible
that you could change the whole world
because you haven't had to pick.
And a really difficult thing to do is that as you grow up,
you realize that your focus has to narrow.
And I remember, Tracy reminded me today
that when I was having this conversation with her
in her office, 'cause we had the same conversation,
you know, 17 hundred years ago.
When I realized that I couldn't end all world problems and I had
to settle for just like ending world hunger.
And ultimately, it's sort of gets narrower and narrower
and narrower, and what I want to say in response to the question
of what I once want to change with my life's work is
that it doesn't matter, that there's a lot of things
that need to change, that disability rights',
women's empowerment, access to public health, immigration law,
all off these things need people to take the lead
and to make them change.
And in the end, you'll stumble into something
or you'll pick something that's compelling for you
and that'll be your issue.
And also, that you won't be able to change all of it,
and that that will be a hard thing to come to grips
with Becca, that you'll need to sort of get over the role
of your own ego and the work and realize that life is short
and you're going to put in what you can
and then someone else is going to have to take over for you.
I think another important choice that you're going to have
to make is the choice about whether you want to work
from inside the system or from outside the system.
In going to law school, I feel like I made the choice to work
from inside the system.
I have like 6 lawsuits pending against the Department
of Homeland Security, but they're all
within a legal system that I'm not fighting in a broad sense.
However unjust, I personally may think that it is.
I remember when the U.S. invaded Iraq
and a billion people protested and it slowed the tanks none,
I spent a while, in fact 8 years,
kind of righteously proclaiming the death of the protest
as the traditional affective form of social movement.
You know, it's like it's the era of the professional activists.
We all will have many degrees, and protesting is dead,
which of course the fear proved me wrong
in like 80 thousand different ways.
And I ended up spending a fair amount of time
at Occupy Wall Street because my boyfriend is a lawyer
for the New York Civil Liberties Union
and it was really moving to me.
But at first, I sort of bucked the New York Times narrative
of Occupy as this like disembodied group of people
who were diseffective for different reasons,
sort of coming together and not really having a common message,
and then I read a column by Glenn Greenwald, I don't know
if people read him but you should.
But he was basically like look, anyone who said
that they don't know what the message
of Occupy is basically full of it.
The message of Occupy Wall Street is that the distribution
of wealth in this country is really messed up
and that something in the economic system needs to change,
and it's a really basic message
and I think it's actually been massively successful.
You heard Obama in the State of the Union,
talking about the 99 percent versus the 1 percent,
and the truth is that me
and Occupy Wall Street need each other.
There has to be someone outside the system fighting
against the justices and the system as a whole,
and then there has to be someone inside the system
that can implement the change that they have covered to do
from the people outside, and if you pick one or the other,
it doesn't mean that you're less rebellious or more responsible
because both are really equally necessary.
Becca, don't get intellectually lazy.
Whatever you are working on,
you need to constantly be reflecting on your own work.
You need to get up every morning and say, "Yes, I can do this,"
but you can't say, "Yes, I can do this.
I can do this."
I think a lot of efforts to make things better are not well
thought out enough or based too much on individual ego and end
up missing the boat or often I think making things worse.
I think you have to be adaptable that if you're really ambitious
in your social justice efforts, crazy stuff is going
to fly at you all the time.
Stuff like this is still really surreal to me and you have
to be flexible enough in your work and the way that you think
about your work and your approach to your work
that you can be responsive to changes that the earthquake
in Haiti can happen and you can adapt what you're doing to take
that into account or that if you make a mistake, you can learn
from the mistake to alter your work.
If you're trying to change something really big,
a lot of people are going to try
to convince you that you're wrong.
What the status quo wants more than anything is for me
in the status quo, and people will tell you that your idea
for change is unnecessary and that it's inefficient,
and that your naive, and back to the biggest thing that I want
to tell you, that you should keep on mind as you try
to do this work, is that you are right
and they are wrong [laughter].
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you, Rebecca.
And now, we will have Jessica.
>> Can you read the questions one more time?
[Laughter]
>>Yes I can, I have them right here.
What have you most wanted to change through your life's work?
Did your passion for social justice have roots
in the Dartmouth experience?
What lesson you've learned about social change that you would
like to share with younger people and older people?
How do you sustain the passion that you bring to your work?
>> Okay, well those are definitely difficult questions
to answer in five minutes.
I think, personally, would I like to see changes,
I think across the world, girls living
in poverty are often thought of as a problem.
They are the most undervalued, underserved,
neglected population on earth but they have the unique power
to change things because they're going to be the future mothers,
the future caretakers of the children, so investing
that time, that energy, that attention
in them is what I believe is really going to change things,
and I think what's very exciting about the work
that I'm doing is I get to see the results.
And things are changing.
I think, choosing this career in Social Justice was not something
that I planned, I took kind of a hard turn in my career path
but one thing that I did learn in Dartmouth was that,
this place is not necessarily about getting a good education
and going out there and getting yourself a great job,
what it taught me was how to prepare myself with the skills,
the knowledge , and the confidence
to recognize opportunity and seize it
and that's something invaluable and I think that's something
that is unique to this institution.
I'm sorry, what were the other two?
>> The last two, what lesson you've learned
about social change you would like share?
>> Okay, so one thing I learned about social change is
that anybody can do it.
And if-- if anybody-- if I can do it, anybody can do it.
When I first, I went down to the Dominican Republic,
I was horrified, I was scared,
I didn't know what I was going to do.
There were so many problems, but you start to notice that,
you just have to pick one thing and go with it, and never doubt
that that one thing can have a ripple effect,
it can make a big difference.
And what you will notice is that you start doing that one thing
and other people start noticing what you're doing before you
noticed you've mobilized an entire group of people
to join your cause and you'll have more support
than you ever imagined.
So I think that's probably the most important thing
that I've learned, it's to never think
that you can't change something because you can.
>> How you keep your passion or what?
>> Well, that's easy.
Definitely, you know, I have to say it's makes me really happy
to wake up every morning and never have that thought,
I don't want to go to work today.
I wake up every morning just thrilled to be able
to do what I'm doing and what keeps me passionate is
that there's just so much more to be done and there's just
so much more out there and like, right now I'm full-time
in the Dominican Republic but I'm like, "Man,
I don't have enough years to get, everywhere else
in the world that I want to go, there's just
so many girls out there."
So it's not hard to stay inspired at all, definitely,
waking up every morning and going to see those girls' faces
and know on a personal level what their dealing with
and visiting their homes and seeing them fighting
for their education and fighting for every little opportunity
and showing up, you know, no matter what's going on for them
in their home, in their school, in their family,
that's definitely what keeps me inspired.
>> I clearly understand [laughter].
[ Applause ]
You're up next.
>> Hello everyone.
I think what I'll do is--
I don't think I'll follow the format.
Forgive me for being a bit of a rebel here.
I think that what I'd like to see change is what I see
as a continuum.
The health care problem is not just a U.S. problem,
it's a worldwide problem.
And I think that-- two of my former professors
at the Harvard School of Public Health, were chatting
and [inaudible] were very clear about the link
between health care status
and economic viability of communities.
I think what is clear and should be clear to everyone--
and I said this to a group a couple years ago is--
you should care that 50 million Americans don't have insurance
because if they develop,
and President Kim knows this very well 'cause this is work.
If they develop multiresistant tuberculosis
that nothing can treat, it'll come to your doorstep.
It is in our vital interest that every American is healthy.
Not only because they are then able to be productive
and therefore help the economy,
everybody knows how things-- how hard things are.
The burden of disease
around chronic diseases is putting an unbearable weight
on our resources.
We need to make sure that our children are healthy
so that they don't develop chronic illnesses
that cost us our arm and a leg.
Most of these things are preventable and so I don't think
that there needs to be more and more billions spent
but that the money is spent in a very intelligent way.
So it's not really working harder, it's working smarter.
In terms of where my-- the buck for social justice started,
I think I would say that my dad has spent his entire life
fighting social injustice.
As of for me, that's where I got that.
I thought it was natural like ABC.
He hasn't always been popular.
Currently he's been blacklisted by the Nigerian Government
for making statements,
siding with the masses over subjugation.
He has been under a great detail of watches
and all sorts of things.
So it's not always sexy.
People remember, "Oh, your dad wrote this and he's famous."
Well that's only one part of the story.
The other part of the story is,
sometimes he's running for his life.
And so working at the arena
of social justice is not always very clean or comfortable.
And the introduction, I mentioned the fact that one
of the things that we did
at our house [inaudible] clean the place up.
I took a job to [inaudible]
around a hopelessly situated health center
that was bankrupt essentially.
And I was told by the Commission of Public Health, "Chidi,
with all your fancy degrees, I'm giving you 2 years."
You can't do this, we're closing it down.
And then the thing that kept me going everyday was I wake up
and think of 53 thousand people--
patient visits that we need,
patients who have no where else to go.
And then thinking of all the ammunition I've been given
by my teachers at three incredible
or four incredible institutions, and saying to myself,
"Let's gather the intellectual capital to make this work."
So the first thing we did was to gather some
of the smartest people that I could convince
to take a cut in their salaries.
I've come and worked for a community health center
because it was important to do.
Not because it was the-- you know, it was the best job
in the world, especially in Boston, that's very expensive.
We achieved that and I think that the board
that we have now is absolutely superb.
We have people who are--
that been recruited from every professional
on the planet serving service.
I think for me is the calling that I will try to continue
to remind myself that is my calling
on earth is to serve others.
And servant leadership as the CEO of the health center means
that you don't see yourself as the boss but the person
who can also help the janitor clean the toilet and then go
to the board room and talk to them
about the physical situation.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you.
Now Michael, are you going to be a rebel or are you going
to answer my questions?
[Laughter]
>> Alright, the answer to your question, now let me say,
for someone who has received a lifetime achievement award,
it's very tempting to sort of wander down memory lane here
and talk about what it was like 50 years ago at Dartmouth
or what I've been doing over the past 40 years.
Well, for your sake and for the sake of brevity,
I have put down some remarks and I do think it falls
within the 5 units so if you'll bear with me.
In commenting on my Dartmouth education led me
to work for social justice.
Let me begin by saying, I came to Dartmouth
from a small town in Indiana.
I was the first in my family to receive a college education.
And being at Dartmouth truly opened a new world of ideas
and opportunities that I never really knew existed.
Coming from a modest family background, I left Dartmouth
with the sense that I have been privileged
to receive an educational opportunity
that remained unavailable to the so many others
who are just as, just as deserving.
I graduated with the sense that a Dartmouth education does bring
within a sense of obligation and responsibility
to use one's education and talents, whatever they might be,
to make a difference in the lives of others.
Why regret that I didn't join the freedom fighters
from Dartmouth or attend the great march on Washington,
I was inspired by the old seminal events
that occurred during my college years.
Perhaps studying history at Dartmouth opened my eyes
to the unstoppable forces of change that were occurring
in this country in the 1960s.
The fight against ignorance and poverty and injustice led
by Dr. King, stimulated another group of people
to demand their civil rights.
When applying for my first job at a, at a graduate school,
I heard parents have children
with disabilities talking about their movement.
And that presented me with an opportunity to join the struggle
for social justice on behalf of their children
who were truly living in a segregated society.
And reflecting on what I've most wanted to change
in my life's work, I need
to describe perhaps what conditions were
like when I started in the field in the 1960s.
For example, children diagnosed
with severe mental retardation were not entitled
to public education in most states in this country.
Employment opportunities were almost non-existent.
Because they were left untreated, the life expectancy
for Americans with Down's syndrome was less than 50.
Parents had only 2 choices for residential placement,
to have their son or daughter stay at home with them
with no services or supports, or to place them in a horrific
and isolated state institution at Willowbrook,
the notorious state school in New York City
that I helped to close.
People were subjected to physical abuse and neglect,
were denied medical and dental care, and were human subjects
in medical experiments without their consent.
The social change that I saw was for society to view people
with development disabilities for who they are as people.
Well I consider myself fortunate 'till I played a part
in the transition from a segregated system of support
to a community based system.
It was a grassroots movement started by parents,
along with the help from sympathetic persons
in the media and the legislatures.
That was the real impetus
for the dramatic changes that occurred.
The organizations begun, then by parents
such as the ones I worked, for which I work now,
carry on the legacy of their founders and assuring
that high quality services and supports are in place
to prevent a return to the horrors of Willowbrook.
And a powerful self-advocacy movement to disable children
of those parents, have now taken up the banner and are marching
on state houses and serving on the boards
of those same organizations.
My lesson for those of you who are starting a field
of social justice is that lasting change is possible
when the people organize themselves.
Take a look at the American civil rights movement,
the disability rights movement, Arab Spring,
and Occupy Wall Street movement.
Professionals who work directly with persons who are affected
by an issue can never claim full credit
for affecting social change.
They-- there are potential leaders among those being served
who must be nurtured and heard.
Remember that ordinary people can often times accomplish
extraordinary things.
Funny, what sustains my passion is that everyday when I go
to work, I know that I'll have a chance
to make a difference in someone's life.
As wonderful as the Dartmouth experience is, I've learned
that some of life's most important lessons from people
who have limited capacity to read or write, or even to speak,
nonetheless, they have enormous ability to teach others how
to be compassionate, to appreciate one's friends
and families, to overcome challenges
and to live life in the moment.
I count as my partners those family members
who have devoted their lives
and sacrificed their careers not only to care for their own son
or daughter with a severe disability
but to make the world a better place for every parent
and person with a disability.
Then my in-- let me and my remarks with a few words
from a poem that Robert Frost delivered,
one cold winter's night
in Webster Hall during my freshman year,
"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference."
>> Wow.
[ Applause ]
>> Absolutely wonderful, I am honored to share the stage
with four of you, and before I turn you over to the audience
because they get to ask you questions,
I want to make you 2 promises.
The first one I'm less secure of, the first one is,
I will [inaudible] the plants alive.
The second one is we will work as hard as we can
at Dartmouth College to make you as proud as you make us.
Now we will turn the floor, there are mics [inaudible],
you get to ask questions, make your questions free--
be nicer to our speakers than we were,
don't ask them four questions, and we can get started now.
Don't be shy.
>> Hello.
>> Hi.
>> [Inaudible].
>> Not really--
>> One more time, there we go.
Thank you all for being here, a--
really an honor and a pleasure, the word tireless came
up a number of times from our presenter
or from our introducers, and I have this guess that none
of you are actually tireless in your work,
and I'm wondering what you do to bring balance to your life,
or what you do when do get tired to take care of yourselves,
to sustain yourself for the good work that you're doing.
>> For me, whatever, I've had myself getting tired
or frustrated, or oh my gosh I don't want to do this anymore,
I have too much, I take a day off and I go
and I spend some time with some of the families
in the community that I lived.
And that's what gives me energy, is because I go in there
and they invite into their home, and they have nothing
and they'll give you everything that they have
and you see what they're dealing with,
and you know it could be raining and their roof's broken
and there's 10 people sleeping in the same bed,
and they have no food and no running water and no bathroom,
and it's the most destitute and dire and horrible situation,
yet they have a smile on their face and they're thrilled to see
that you came and visit their family.
And I always leave there going no matter how tired and annoyed
and frustrated I am, I'll never have to deal with that.
So that kind of-- that what gives me my energy.
>> I've have an excellent therapist--
[ Laughter ]
[ Applause ]
>> Well, I sort of have an excellent therapist too,
it's my wife who makes sure that--
that not all my spent doing work.
But one other thing I could say, you know,
we can have to just happen to be quakers and one of the forms
of quaker worship and it can be used by anybody is silence,
and I think, you know you're learning to respect silence
in taking time to be silent, is also another way to at least
to clear your thoughts.
>> My wife is here so I have to--
I think I need to be nice to her,
but she's always been a reminder about getting a life,
outside work, so I think that her presence, her wisdom,
she's a physician, she's like 10 times smarter than I am.
And I think going back to her
with ideas is always been something
that has helped me go keep going,
but also we have three little boys, and there's nothing
that brings down your blood pressure by 20 points
than having somebody run down the hall yelling daddy,
so I think for me, it's the family
that I go home to with great joy.
[ Pause ]
>> I thank you guys for everything you've done,
I'm very, very impressed and really appreciative.
My question revolves isn't to find no easy answer to this,
which-- no easy answer to any of these questions but,
I and my wife graduated from Dartmouth
and my wife is a social worker and I'm a photographer
as stated you know, she can, she deals with our [inaudible] side
so I can go take go take pictures but one of the issues
that we've had and specially both
of us having attended Dartmouth is--
as you guys mention there is a lot of responsibility that comes
with an education like this.
And there's also a lot of financial consideration
that it's very expensive to go to a school like this
and to follow it on so, you know, I really respect people
who decide to take a path for the social good,
foregoing possible higher income
but I'm wondering how it is possible?
This is not for anyone in particular but how it's possible
to balance the needs to, you know, pay back your loans
and buy a house and have a life
and still do you know, good things.
And really out our education to good use
and I know it's a very difficult thing because it's a big balance
and I'm wondering, have you found ways
where people can you know, live a comfortable life you know,
financially without those pressures and still be able
to provide good for the public.
>> I see an answer.
>> Yeah. Go to medical school [laughter].
Let me tell you why.
I'm not kidding.
One of the health centers,
the health center movement is plugged
in to the National Health Service Corps.
The National Health Service Corps
as you may know is a movement that was started in the 60s,
which precisely because we needed
to distribute the positions and the areas of need.
What they do is, while you're working in undeserved areas
to pay off your loans.
So I said to a medical student, he thought I was crazy, I said,
borrow until you can breathe and go and work,
and while you're working,
apply to the National Health Service Corps, go to the Delta,
Mississippi, go to Louisiana, don't--
you're not going to New York okay?
You're going to places that where, once you arrived,
they have a festival, because there's a doctor in town
and we've had friends who've been there,
who don't ever want to leave.
So I think that the-- the reason this country remains the
greatest nation on earth is that it has--
it's had a history of incredibly smart people who think of ways
to solve problems and I think that if we stop bickering
with each other, then use that incredible gift
that we've been given over the years from providence.
We will be able to solve a number
of the problems you're saying, and this is one example.
>> I have 2 thoughts.
One is that, you can go to Law school.
[Laughter] And then especially, I'll challenge you
on this, President Kim.
Most of the top law schools
in the country now have loan repayment programs
where if you go into public service following law school,
the school will pay up your loans.
And the purpose that is behind that is not just
to encourage more people to do public service but so
that not only rich people can go into public service careers.
So, I think one awesome way to encourage people to come
out of Dartmouth and not take the hedge fund consulting jobs
would be to come up with some kind of loan forgiveness problem
for students on need based aid who desire
to go into public service.
[ Applause ]
I'm sorry, and number 2 is actually, advice that I got
from Sarah Silverman, not personally, she was talking
to an audience that I was in [laughter] and so--
and she isn't, you usually don't hear her talk, she's sick.
Someone asked her a question like, doesn't it feel awesome
to be like living out your dream, like how did you end
up in this place where, where you can live up--
where you can like do whatever you want and like,
still get paid for it and she--
and I will carry this with me forever.
She says, "If you keep your cost really low, you can live
out whatever dream you want."
And I think like you know, fund raising obviously is the like,
a [inaudible] of all the work that we're doing and I took
that as a good lesson.
That like, there is always ways to sort of get your cost
down low enough that you can make what you want
to happen within your budget.
>> I would just like to say that social work is a good profession
in the life we've chosen.
And I agree with all these-- all the other recommendations
that the speakers have just commented on.
But again, yeah, there are career opportunities
for people who's starting in the field and there's ways
in which there are career paths in these areas and fields
and certainly non profit.
The world of nonprofit organizations is a you know,
it's a very large part of our society and your--
and many opportunities depend on what the person's interest are
to see other career paths beside the ones
that they start with so-- hopefully--
>> And we're closing on the end of our probes,
so you get one last shot here.
This must be a brilliant question
that brings the house down.
No pressure.
>> No deal?
[Laughter] Your work reminds me of a quote
by a woman named Margaret Friley [phonetics] who said "The story
of any one life can be told in terms of commitments
and your commitment is palpable,
and as I always tell our students,
it's a future that's bigger than you are,
and that's why it works.
Where I've seen people get into trouble is when they lose sight
of the fact that their titles, their positions becomes part
of their identity as opposed
to their stand being part of their identity.
And in other words, you know I can feel in your presentation
that the positions that each
of you have is merely a platform upon which you live
out your commitment,
and I wonder how do you not collapse those two?
How do you keep them distinctive and separate for one another?
[ Pause]
>> We got to re-save it and-- [simultaneous talking]
>> I can do this.
>> Oh exactly
>> I guess what you're asking is how do you balance between--
how do you strike a balance between the meaning
of a position and your commitment under work
around the definition of that position.
I think for me, it's very difficult
when your cash dropped, okay?
So you have no money.
Two, you-- because your cash dropped, you tend to do nothing
but recruit people who work as team members,
and your role becomes less a definition than a need
for your organization.
So you find for instance, I keep saying this, as a CEO,
I'm in clinic half the time, so I don't-- 50 percent of my time,
I spend seeing patients, and then I'm
on the finals committee, and I'm serious, and I help the janitor
over the leaking you know, bathroom, and then I roll
up my sleeves and you know, help do some paintings,
so all of that for me is nothing difficult because you know,
I really don't take the position that seriously.
For me it's just-- it is a need, and that need was filled
by a person who has certain qualifications, but when you're
in social-- when you're working as a servant leader,
this is why I use the term servant leader,
you're a servant, you're serving, it's not about oh,
I'm a CEO, nobody cares.
You know there's a broken toilet, Doctor Chadi,
what do we do about it?
Oops, okay, plug that wall and called the janitor,
you know what I'm saying?
So for me it's not very difficult,
I think it's also unique in medicine, I'm not--
my other, the other honorees have I think far more
challenging, I guess, mine is pretty straightforward.
>> I think everybody up here would agree with me
that fund raising keeps you humble.
And that is definitely a huge part of taking a leadership role
in any organization, I also think, like Chidi was saying,
nonprofit and social service organizations tend to be small
and we don't have a lot of the resources and talented money
that for profit organizations have, so we find ourselves kind
of doing a lot of the jobs within the organizations
that within the organization, that keep it very real for us,
you know, 2 days ago, I was in the middle of the street,
arguing with a man with no teeth who couldn't read over the price
of chicken out of the back of truck and today I'm sitting
up here with these amazing people accepting this award,
so [laughs] like I said, those are the things that kind
of keep it all in perspective.
>> I think often people have the opposite problem,
I feel like I am sort of the opposite problem where you're--
you've taken on something that's like so large that you kind
of feel like you're, you know, part of you might feel
like you're always failing, and that you know,
it's less that like, oh yeah I'm the director but like sure,
I started an organization.
I get to, you know, when we first started our
like student organization at Yale Law School,
my literal title was Chancellor of the Exchequer
and my cofounder was Secretary General 'cause we were like,
titles, whatever, but I think it's like,
I think it's even harder than sort of keeping your own ego
out of it, it's sort of keeping your own ego in it
and like realizing that you know, even though you're
like sticking you finger in a waterfall,
that like you're doing something you know,
that what you're getting up and doing everyday
like if it's making something go somewhere and I think
that it's okay to take time to say and like to try to feel good
about that 'cause that I think,
you know beside my flippant answer about my therapist
which is totally true [laughter], I think it's
like the small victories really that they keep you going.
>> I have to say I like this concept of a servant leader.
I think that the more time you are working a nonprofit,
the more that is, that concept of a--
imagine, I haven't run a very large organization
but I think it's true if it's large or small,
that that role will always remind in yourself
that you really are there as one
of the people whose providing a service perhaps
in a different way, and an-- in the case of my organization,
you know, I have a great deal of respect on half of the people
who deal with directly day in and day
out with the people with disabilities.
These are often people that don't have advanced degrees,
but have this really wonderful capacity to be compassionate
and to relate to people,
and we make a real [inaudible] organization
to honor those people, and tell them
that they are really the mechanism
through which the service is provided--
it really translates that into human terms, so,
you always do have to remind yourself what is the mission
of the organization?
Who are the people that really make that mission possible?
>> So I would like to thank all of you
who shared these evening-- afternoon and evening with us,
and do know that we are extremely,
extremely proud of you.
Now I think Chris is going to come back.
[ Applause ]
>> Great. Thank you again for all of--
for sharing and for all those insights, so Dean Johnson,
Vice President Ellis, and all of you all.
Thank you so much for your participation
and involvement in today's event.
There is tremendous value
in our community coming together each year to celebrate,
recognize, and learn from those who are making a difference
around the world with their Dartmouth education.
So a special thank you to everyone again for attending.
I encourage you to seek around and meet back at Common Ground
for reception with all of the award recipients,
and once again thank you for coming and enjoy your day.
[ Applause ]
[ Silence ]