President Bottoms Welcomes Class of 2005

August 18, 2001

August 18, 2001, Greencastle, Ind. - A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education suggests very few people can remember anything that was said at the assembly that welcomed them to college as first-year students. DePauw University President Robert G. Bottoms had some fun with that notion as he welcomed DePauw's new 642 students at the opening convocation this afternoon in Kresge Auditorium.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "Remembering" 356KB] "If you don't remember what I say, which is entirely possible, you might just remember having come to this place," Bottoms said to laughter. "After a day of unpacking and meeting new people, that at least on the first day you came and you saw the faculty in their academic regalia and you were reminded, even for a brief moment, of what we hope your education will be about." 

In his sixteenth address to incoming students, DePauw's president offered the promise of a conversation, [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "The Conversation" 1061KB]  [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "The Conversation" 73KB] "not just idle talk," but an active dialogue involving the voices of students, faculty and the voices of the history.  [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "Endless & Unrehearsed" 269KB] "It will be endless, and it will be unrehearsed," Dr. Bottoms said. "It will be endless because you can never learn from us all there is to know. And unrehearsed, because of the 640 or so of you [entering DePauw], you are very different and you bring different things to our conversations. Every class you attend will be somewhat different. Our conversations are unrehearsed because we don't yet know what it is that you bring, and what new insights might come of our talks together."

Other, newer voices are also important to the conversation, Bottoms told the new collegians, the voices of women and cultures that often were not heard or considered by past generations. [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "Richness in Diversity" 238KB] They include "voices of women who have called attention to the historical dominance of male voices ... (and) the voices of the Asian culture, the Hispanic and Latino culture, the African culture. At DePauw, we finally have enough diversity to work together and involve all of these voices, and all these insights in our conversation. So there's a certain richness of speech that has the potential to take place on our campus, and in this richness we can learn to grow."

Over the summer, President Bottoms attended a conference on the peace process in Belfast, Ireland. Sponsored by the International Association of Methodist Colleges, Schools and Universities, conferees spent the day talking, thinking and hearing about how to make the world a more peaceful place. But each night, Bottoms recalls sitting in his hotel room and hearing gunfire, pipe bombs and police helicopters in the distance. The doorman at his hotel even warned Dr. Bottoms to avoid traveling to Dublin by train, because of the threat of terrorist attack. DePauw's chief executive remembers asking the doorman how he dealt with the violence and mayhem around him, and he replied, "You get used to it." 

Bottoms says he spent the summer being "haunted" by those words, and told DePauw's new students, [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "One Hope" 320KB] "We do get used to a lot of things, don't we? On a personal level, you get used to habits that thwart our growth; on a social level sometimes we get used to evil that contributes to an unjust society. And so, if I had one hope for you as you begin your DePauw education," Bottoms continued, "it would be that here in our conversations over the next four years there would be some things in life that you would agree you would never get used to. [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "The List" 1885KB] [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "The List" 100KB] That you would never get used to being mediocre; that you would never get used to being silent in the face of evil; that you would overcome any timidity or shyness that might hold you back from trying new things."

Bottoms urged students to have the courage to speak out for what they believe to be right, even when it may not reflect what others around them are thinking and saying. [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "Speaking Out" 2376KB]  [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "Speaking Out" 163KB] "Education is a call to commit yourself to something," Bottoms offered, "to care for others even if it does not come natural, to have courage even if it doesn't come natural, and to speak out for what we believe. For history does show the more we speak out, the more we encourage others to do the same."

 Before sending the new students back to their dorms to finish unpacking and the eventual farewells with parents, President Bottoms said, [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "Becoming You" 1352KB]  [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "Becoming You" 94KB] "we'll be in a lot of conversations together. Out of those conversations you'll have the opportunity to decide who you are and what you stand for. What you believe does matter."

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