Nannerl O. Keohane - Opening Convocation (August 29, 1996)

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	(congregation chatting)	0:00
	(gentle organ music)	10:00
	(vibrant organ music)	10:47
	(joyous organ music)	14:22
	♪ Oh say can you see ♪	14:33
	♪ By the dawn's early light ♪	14:37
	♪ What so proudly we hailed ♪	14:42
	♪ At the twilight's last gleaming ♪	14:46
	♪ Who's broad stripes and bright stars ♪	14:51
	♪ Through the perilous fight ♪	14:55
	♪ O'er the ramparts which watched ♪	15:01
	♪ Were so gallantly streaming ♪	15:05
	♪ And the rockets red glare ♪	15:10
	♪ The bombs bursting in air ♪	15:14
	♪ Gave proof through the night ♪	15:19
	♪ That our flag was still there ♪	15:23
	♪ Oh say does that star-spangled ♪	15:28
	♪ Banner yet wave ♪	15:33
	♪ O'er the land of the free ♪	15:39
	♪ And the home ♪	15:47
	♪ Of the brave ♪	15:49
-	Let us pray.	15:56
	Gracious God, source of life and light,	15:58
	we give you thanks that you have brought	16:03
	these new students here to Duke.	16:05
	That you have put in their minds	16:08
	a thirst for knowledge, a desire to grow and to achieve.	16:09
	Grant them, we pray, a sense of their own gifts.	16:14
	A spirit of responsibility to use their gifts	16:19
	in service to others.	16:21
	And appropriate humility before the wonder of your world.	16:23
	Bless the class of 2000, in their endeavors here,	16:29
	and make us faculty and administrators in our teaching	16:34
	and in our care for them, worthy of their trust,	16:37
	as we endeavor together to grow in wisdom and truth.	16:43
	Amen.	16:48
	(peaceful organ music)	16:53
	♪ Praise to the Lord, the Almighty ♪	17:37
	♪ The King of creation ♪	17:42
	♪ Oh my soul praise Him ♪	17:49
	♪ For He is thy health ♪	17:53
	♪ And salvation ♪	17:57
	♪ All ye who hear ♪	18:02
	♪ Now to His temple draw near ♪	18:06
	♪ Join me in glad adoration ♪	18:12
	♪ Praise to the Lord, over all things ♪	18:22
	♪ He so wondrously reigneth ♪	18:27
	♪ As who on eagles wings ♪	18:34
	♪ Hath landed safely ♪	18:38
	♪ His Saints ♪	18:42
	♪ Hast thou not known ♪	18:46
	♪ How does your beauty yet grow ♪	18:50
	♪ Hast thou now ♪	18:57
	♪ Who sustaineth ♪	19:00
	♪ Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper ♪	19:07
	♪ Thy way and defend thee ♪	19:13
	♪ Surely his goodness and mercy ♪	19:20
	♪ Shall ever attend thee ♪	19:25
	♪ Ponder anew ♪	19:33
	♪ What the Almighty can do ♪	19:37
	♪ Who with his love doth ♪	19:43
	♪ Befriend thee ♪	19:47
	♪ Praise to the Lord ♪	19:53
	♪ Who hath so fearfully ♪	19:56
	♪ Wondrously made thee ♪	19:59
	♪ Praise he who hath for us ♪	20:06
	♪ Vouched safe and ♪	20:10
	♪ Heaven restored thee ♪	20:12
	♪ What need or grief ♪	20:18
	♪ Ever a moment failed thee ♪	20:22
	♪ Wings of His mercy ♪	20:29
	♪ Restore thee ♪	20:33
	♪ Praise to the Lord ♪	20:40
	♪ Oh let all that is in me ♪	20:43
	♪ Adore Him ♪	20:48
	♪ All that hath life and breath ♪	20:53
	♪ Come now with praises ♪	20:57
	♪ Before Him ♪	21:01
	♪ Let the Amen ♪	21:05
	♪ Sound from His People again ♪	21:10
	♪ Gladly for aye ♪	21:17
	♪ We adore Him ♪	21:20
-	Please be seated.	21:29
	(pews creaking)	21:31
	I'm sorry that doesn't mean quite everyone.	21:34
	I'm sorry there are not enough seats.	21:36
	There are a few more down in front.	21:37
	It's truly my privilege to welcome all of you to Duke.	21:40
	I extend a special welcome to the parents	21:44
	and families who are with us electronically	21:47
	in Page Auditorium and Reynolds Theater.	21:50
	I'm also glad to great transfer students	21:52
	and those who are here in exchange	21:55
	from other universities around the world.	21:57
	And a welcome back to returning students,	22:00
	FACS, staff, faculty members, who are here	22:03
	as part of this historic convocation.	22:06
	And most of all, a heartfelt welcome	22:09
	to the members of the class of 2000.	22:12
	What a historic ring that has.	22:15
	In speaking of your class it is easy	22:18
	to lapse into florid rhetoric about the close	22:20
	of a century and the beginning of a new millennium,	22:23
	as though you had the weight of the whole world	22:26
	on your shoulders.	22:28
	I shall try, for the most part, to resist that temptation.	22:30
	I'm sure you feel, and rightly so,	22:34
	that the fact of your being in the class of '00	22:35
	is just an accident of your parents' timing,	22:38
	and you personally have plenty to do to get ready for Duke,	22:41
	without being responsible for the next 1000 years.	22:44
	But I would like to use this accidental fact,	22:48
	that your birth has placed you in a class	22:51
	that looks mighty special on those banners,	22:53
	as an occasion to think together about time,	22:56
	which is a precious resource on a university campus.	22:59
	And it will be important to you at Duke in many ways.	23:02
	As human beings, we are clearly a species saturated in time.	23:06
	As Stephen J. Gould says in his wonderful book,	23:10
	called "Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle,"	23:13
	"We live embedded in the passage of time,	23:15
	"a matrix marked by all possible standards of judgment.	23:19
	"By imminent things that do not appear to change.	23:23
	"By cosmic recurrences of days and seasons.	23:26
	"By unique events of battles and natural disasters.	23:29
	"By the apparent directionality of life,	23:33
	"from birth and growth, to decrepitude, death, and decay."	23:35
	Now, I would note that we cannot be sure	23:40
	that this is the way the world really is,	23:42
	but it is so deeply embedded in our psyches	23:46
	that it is virtually impossible to imagine	23:48
	a world without time.	23:51
	All the cultures we know, as soon as they leave marks	23:53
	of their existence for archeologists to discover, mark time.	23:57
	With standing stones like Stone Henge,	24:01
	or water clocks or carvings on tablets,	24:03
	think of all the different kinds of clocks	24:07
	and calendars and sun dials and digital readouts,	24:08
	and other ways of measuring time	24:12
	that you have already experienced.	24:14
	And imagine how many more our inventive species	24:16
	has produced; try to think about what it would be like	24:20
	to live in a world without time.	24:23
	It is disorienting in the extreme.	24:26
	The most creative science fiction writers	24:29
	have reveled in unsettling our notions about space	24:32
	and species, and they've also written a lot about time;	24:35
	about time travel, either mentally or in machines.	24:38
	Twisting time around, playing off the Theory of Relativity.	24:42
	Modern physics has developed ways of theorizing	24:46
	about time that make most science fiction stories	24:49
	of the past seem tame.	24:52
	Just read Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time".	24:54
	But so far as I know, no one has constructed a persuasive	24:58
	story about a world organized	25:01
	in a completely timeless fashion.	25:03
	The second law of thermodynamics,	25:06
	which posits increasing entropy, has not been repealed.	25:08
	And even in the most far-out sci-fi story,	25:11
	some notion of sequence, of temporal order,	25:14
	however bizarre, is always there.	25:17
	And there, by the way, is your first challenge	25:20
	as Duke undergraduates.	25:23
	Those of you who are sci-fi fans are no doubt	25:25
	now searching your mental computer files	25:27
	to recall a story built around the absence of time.	25:30
	And if you think of one, please let me know	25:33
	at the reception after the speech.	25:35
	Or you may be trying to think about what it would be like	25:37
	to write such a story, and if so,	25:39
	I hope you'll let me read it,	25:41
	and send it to the university's science fiction magazine.	25:42
	Others of you may be thinking	25:46
	about different kinds of creativity.	25:47
	Okay, so it would be devilishly difficult	25:49
	to write a story with no time,	25:51
	and almost impossible to compose a piece of music	25:54
	that doesn't use time.	25:57
	Or to play any game, any sport, that doesn't depend	25:59
	on some kind of time.	26:02
	But what about an abstract painting?	26:04
	And aren't there some memories or spiritual experiences	26:06
	that seem to us, beyond time?	26:09
	Now, if you were thinking along these lines,	26:12
	I congratulate you for your creativity.	26:13
	And if you're wondering where on Earth I'm going	26:16
	with this speech, I congratulate you	26:17
	on your skeptical pragmatism.	26:19
	And in either case, I'd now like to call you back	26:21
	to the present, and make a few more down-to-earth points	26:24
	about time: Given that our lives are so time-embedded,	26:27
	it is not surprising that many of the ways	26:31
	of talking about what we do, make reference to time.	26:34
	We speak of something that happens	26:38
	in a fortuitous way as 'timely',	26:39
	and something that is really important as 'momentous'.	26:42
	I would like to suggest that some other common expressions	26:45
	are good maxims to keep in mind at Duke,	26:48
	as you figure out how to make the best use of your time.	26:50
	First of all, think about how you spend your time.	26:55
	It's interesting that we do refer to time as a resource,	26:59
	something we can use and manage and spend,	27:02
	even though we also think of it as something	27:05
	that moves us along inexorably beyond our control.	27:06
	It is not a resource that we can hoard,	27:10
	but it's certainly one that we can waste	27:13
	or use or squander.	27:15
	There will be many hours of many days in the years ahead	27:17
	available to you as Duke undergraduates.	27:21
	But they are not infinite,	27:24
	and if you are not careful, it will be easy	27:26
	to let too many of those hours and days slip by	27:29
	without taking advantage of all the wonderful things	27:31
	Duke has to offer, which you are just beginning to explore.	27:34
	To risk feeling, when we're all back here	27:38
	in four years for your baccalaureate,	27:41
	that there are many things you wish	27:43
	you could've done or done differently at Duke.	27:44
	Now, by this piece of advice, to think about how you spend	27:48
	your time, I don't mean you should organize every day	27:51
	in a regimented fashion, making notes on yellow stickies	27:54
	on your mirror every morning to remind you	27:57
	to use it constructively.	27:59
	Spending your time well will sometimes mean	28:02
	just being playful, hanging out on your house bench,	28:04
	ordering in pizza to continue a conversation	28:07
	instead of getting back to work.	28:09
	Walking in Duke Gardens with a friend.	28:11
	Spending your time should mean doing something	28:14
	entirely different, something that might not	28:16
	at first seem rational.	28:18
	You should do some things, in other words,	28:20
	that a harsh critic might call 'wasting time',	28:22
	in order to spend your Duke time wisely.	28:25
	But it does mean that you sometimes ought to think	28:28
	about how you organize your life;	28:31
	how you choose your courses and your extracurricular	28:32
	activities and your friends, and what happens	28:35
	during your days to make sure that you're not letting	28:38
	this wonderful campus pass you by.	28:42
	It means taking time to think about what you are learning	28:45
	rather than always breathlessly getting to it	28:49
	at the last possible minute, even if you are confident	28:51
	that you can do this and still get a good grade.	28:54
	Because getting a good grade is not, of course,	28:58
	the only point of a good education,	29:00
	and if you sometimes act that way,	29:02
	you will miss a great deal about Duke.	29:05
	A really good education, which is what we propose	29:09
	to offer you, requires spending some time	29:12
	to think about what you are learning,	29:15
	and how all of it might fit together.	29:17
	Those of you who are Lewis Carol fans will recall	29:19
	that Alice's adventures in Wonderland	29:22
	began on a perfectly ordinary-seeming day.	29:24
	When a white rabbit ran past her.	29:26
	Carol writes, "There was nothing very remarkable in that,	29:29
	"nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way	29:32
	"to hear the rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear, oh dear!	29:35
	"'I shall be too late!'	29:37
	"When she thought it over afterward,	29:39
	"it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered	29:40
	"at this, but at the time it seemed quite natural.	29:42
	"But when the rabbit actually took a watch	29:45
	"out of its waistcoat pocket, and looked at it	29:47
	"and hurried on, Alice started to her feet,	29:49
	"because it flashed across her mind that she had never	29:52
	"before seen a rabbit with either a pocket or a watch	29:54
	"to take it out of.	29:57
	"And burning with curiosity, she ran across the field	29:59
	"after it; was just in time to see it pop down	30:01
	"a large rabbit hole, and in a moment,	30:03
	"down she went after it," and the rest is history.	30:06
	Or as they say, one of the best stories we've ever written.	30:09
	Now, this whole place we call the gothic wonderland	30:12
	can sometimes seem too much like that other Wonderland	30:15
	Alice dived into down that rabbit hole.	30:18
	And sometimes in the next few weeks	30:21
	you may find yourself feeling very much that way.	30:22
	I doubt that you'll encounter a rabbit with a pocket watch,	30:26
	but some of the people you run into	30:29
	will behave surprisingly like the white rabbit,	30:31
	running incessantly in no particular direction,	30:34
	and bemoaning how very late they are	30:37
	for some undefined, crucial appointment somewhere else.	30:39
	Or like the Red Queen in "Through the Looking Glass",	30:42
	who responded, to Alice's surprise, at remaining so long	30:46
	in the same place, even though they'd been running	30:49
	very fast, by saying, "Now here you see,	30:51
	"it takes all the running you can do	30:55
	"to stay in the same place.	30:56
	"If you wanna get somewhere else,	30:58
	"you must run at least twice as fast."	30:59
	Duke may sometimes feel like that.	31:02
	But don't feel you have to emulate either	31:05
	the white rabbit or the Red Queen.	31:07
	The only way to spend your time wisely at Duke	31:09
	is not to prove how very busy you always are.	31:13
	So, maybe the best way to put this piece of advice,	31:17
	is to move into a different metaphor,	31:19
	and advise you to take your time.	31:21
	Taking your time means doing something deliberately,	31:24
	and that's good advice for all of us at Duke.	31:27
	Remember that you do have some power over time,	31:30
	some ability to manage it; not to make the clock run	31:33
	slower or to create 120 minutes in an hour.	31:36
	Although sometimes you will dearly wish	31:39
	that you could do that,	31:41
	but to fill the time in different ways.	31:42
	One of the most profound statements I've ever read	31:46
	about time comes from an essay by Jorge Luis Borges,	31:48
	who was a great Argentinian author,	31:51
	called "A New Refutation of Time" in which he said:	31:54
	"Time is the substance I'm made of.	31:59
	"Time is a river that sweeps me along,	32:02
	"but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me.	32:05
	"But I am the tiger.	32:09
	"It is a fire that consumes me; but I am the fire."	32:11
	So remember Borges' words, time is not just something	32:16
	outside of you pushing you along, it's also what you are	32:18
	made of and you can make it serve your own purposes.	32:21
	Most of your time at Duke will be spent with other people.	32:25
	Sharing time with your friends and classmates	32:29
	will come very naturally; it's part of what makes	32:31
	this place so rewarding, along with the occasional	32:33
	solitary moment, when I hope you will take time	32:36
	to think about your life.	32:38
	But I advise you to remember that one	32:40
	of the most important things you can do with your time	32:41
	is to give it away occasionally.	32:45
	You will have a much richer Duke experience	32:48
	if you sometimes give time to someone else who needs it.	32:51
	I think first of the importance of being attentive	32:55
	to the needs of the people around you,	32:57
	especially in this very novel moment at Duke.	32:59
	To listen sympathetically to a friend	33:02
	in trouble or confusion.	33:04
	But I'm also thinking of the importance of community service	33:06
	especially in the city of Durham.	33:09
	Of helping people who really need your help.	33:11
	If you follow the pattern of past classes at Duke,	33:14
	more than three-quarters of you will volunteer	33:17
	in the community during your time at Duke.	33:19
	That is a wonderful statistic,	33:21
	but it covers a lot of different things.	33:24
	For some people, volunteering may be no more	33:26
	than a casual way to fulfill a requirement	33:29
	of a religious club, of a fraternity, of a sorority,	33:31
	that they don't really think about.	33:34
	For others, volunteer service becomes a deep commitment,	33:37
	a crucial part of their education through courses	33:40
	that include service learning.	33:43
	Even for some, it becomes a way of life.	33:45
	I urge all of you to give some of your time to service	33:48
	in a meaningful fashion, and I intend by that,	33:51
	meaningful both for you and for the people	33:53
	that you're helping.	33:56
	Stop and think about what you're doing.	33:58
	Pay attention to the peoples whose lives	34:00
	you are touching with your own,	34:02
	through tutoring or house building, or visiting the elderly.	34:04
	And in truly giving of your time and therefore of yourself,	34:08
	you are making a difference to someone,	34:12
	and this makes a difference in your own life, as well.	34:14
	That's a good deal of fairly serious advice	34:19
	that I've just unloaded on you,	34:20
	so I need to be sure to say that, in another great metaphor,	34:22
	while you're doing all this, don't forget	34:25
	that one of the best things about Duke	34:27
	is having a good time!	34:29
	This is a great place to play, to make friends,	34:32
	to enjoy life, to relish the extraordinary beauty	34:35
	of this place, its excitement, its fun.	34:38
	Don't get so worried that you forget	34:41
	that having fun is part of Duke, as well.	34:43
	Most of you do not need that advice.	34:46
	You're quite ready to do this on your own	34:48
	without my encouragement, but some of you	34:50
	may sometimes be tempted to take Duke so seriously	34:52
	that you forget to enjoy it, as well.	34:55
	Let me pull these meditations on time together	34:58
	by remembering that time feels different at different times.	35:00
	And by that, I mean time has a different substance	35:06
	or texture to it, depending for example,	35:08
	on whether you are in the last stages of a road race,	35:11
	trying to catch the person in front of you;	35:13
	trying to bestir yourself to get out	35:16
	of bed on a Monday morning;	35:18
	deeply absorbed in an engrossing experiment in the lab;	35:20
	watching a video; wolfing down your food to get to class;	35:24
	or lingering over ice cream with friends.	35:28
	Time feels quite different in Cameron Indoor Stadium	35:31
	in the final two minutes of a close game against Carolina.	35:34
	In which Coach K divides up time, calls time,	35:38
	stops the clock, to prolong those precious seconds	35:41
	to the best advantage for Duke.	35:44
	And 15 minutes in the last quarter at Wallace Wade	35:46
	can actually take more than 45.	35:49
	So, thinking about how time can feel different	35:53
	at different times, reminds us there are different ways	35:55
	to use time well, and maybe the best words	35:58
	for this are the classic ones of Ecclesiastes,	36:00
	which your parents may remember as the lyrics	36:03
	of a Byrds song, when they were in college.	36:06
	And here's part of that lovely passage:	36:08
	To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose	36:11
	under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die;	36:15
	a time to plant and a time to pluck up	36:19
	that which is planted;	36:22
	a time to weep and a time to laugh;	36:23
	a time to mourn and a time to dance;	36:26
	a time to cast away stones and a time	36:30
	to gather stones together;	36:32
	a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;	36:34
	a time to keep silence and a time to speak;	36:39
	a time to love and a time to hate;	36:43
	a time of war and a time of peace.	36:46
	In the last part of my talk today,	36:51
	I want to introduce one more theme,	36:52
	suggested by your status as members	36:54
	of this class of the year 2000.	36:56
	I want to ask you to think with me about time	36:59
	possibly having a particular direction.	37:01
	A sense of movement and cumulative change.	37:03
	This concept is relevant to your class,	37:06
	because people have historically been moved	37:09
	to think about where time is going.	37:11
	When they bump up against one of its crucial markers,	37:14
	a new year, a new century, a new millennium.	37:17
	A narrow reading of history might suggest	37:21
	that only once before in history	37:23
	have we confronted a new millennium, in the late '900s,	37:25
	1000 years ago, but one of the things	37:29
	that you should learn quickly at Duke,	37:31
	if you do not already know it, is to be skeptical	37:33
	about bold, unqualified statements	37:36
	about history or human culture.	37:39
	The statement that I just made is only true	37:41
	if you are looking at history through the lens	37:44
	of Christianity, which dates times from before	37:46
	and after the birth of Christ.	37:49
	But if you look at things from the point of view	37:51
	of the Muslim calendar, you are actually members	37:53
	of the class of 1420.	37:55
	In the ancient Chinese calendar,	37:58
	the class of 4698, the Year of the Dragon.	38:00
	And as the Jewish religion measures time,	38:05
	you are in the class of 5761.	38:08
	Try that one on the next person who says something	38:12
	about your being in the historic class of 2000.	38:14
	But in the culture rooted in Christianity	38:18
	that has shaped so much of our literature	38:19
	and history and consciousness, there has been	38:21
	only one previous millennium.	38:24
	And it evoked incredible emotions	38:26
	in the people who were alive at that time.	38:30
	Many of them rejoiced or shuddered, depending on whether	38:32
	they thought they were saved or damned,	38:35
	to think that the end of history had come.	38:37
	It seemed so logical, somehow,	38:39
	that the apocalyptic moment of the Last Judgment,	38:41
	and the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven	38:44
	should coincide with the turning of the year 1000.	38:46
	And so people were puzzled or disappointed or relieved,	38:49
	when the year 1000 dawned, and after the debris	38:53
	from the New Year's Eve parties had all been swept away,	38:56
	if they had New Year's Eve parties at that time,	38:59
	there they still were; and life went on as usual.	39:01
	Now, most of us expect that the same will be true	39:05
	on January 1st, 2000, or 1999,	39:07
	or 2001, since there are even arguments	39:11
	about when the millennium starts.	39:13
	But we could be wrong.	39:15
	Some folks today believe that the propitious moment	39:17
	for the end of history is the year 2000.	39:19
	And there've been some dicey moments	39:23
	in the past few decades when other folks wondered	39:24
	whether we would ever get there at all.	39:26
	In the meantime, before we get there, while you are at Duke,	39:30
	there will be a great many special editions of magazines	39:32
	and newspapers and TV shows, which will look back	39:35
	at the past decade, the past century, the past millennium,	39:38
	talking about the best movies, the biggest sports events,	39:42
	the worst wars and natural disasters,	39:45
	the top celebrities, and so forth,	39:47
	because that's the way that human beings	39:49
	seem to find it easiest to organize our time	39:51
	when we look back.	39:54
	But in addition to identifying the first	39:56
	and the biggest and the worst things	39:58
	that have ever happened, Western culture also organizes time	39:59
	through the idea of 'progress'.	40:03
	The idea that things are actually getting better over time,	40:05
	that we are more fortunate than our ancestors.	40:08
	Now, recalling my earlier warning, I hasten to note	40:11
	this is not a universally held opinion.	40:14
	Quite a few people have thought of human history	40:16
	as an endless set of cycles, that feeds back on itself	40:19
	without going anywhere.	40:22
	Or perhaps a record of serious decline	40:24
	from some past 'golden age', or maybe that history	40:27
	has no pattern at all.	40:30
	But this notion of progress is deep in our consciousness,	40:32
	and in the Western culture that has shaped many	40:36
	of us in this gathering.	40:38
	Many of our greatest philosophers and historians,	40:40
	even if they were not religious, have assumed that history	40:42
	does have a direction, a movement;	40:45
	that it's going somewhere,	40:46
	not just ambling along irrationally.	40:48
	And we are accustomed to seeing some evidence	40:51
	of this in the developments that improve our lives.	40:53
	For example, in the discovery of Polio vaccine,	40:57
	or the drugs that delay the onset of Alzheimer's.	41:00
	Or the invention of the jet airplane or the laser.	41:03
	And at Duke, you will have the opportunity	41:06
	to study with some of the scientists who have been	41:08
	instrumental in several of these discoveries,	41:10
	and even more exciting ones to come.	41:13
	Only the most curmudgeonly observer could deny	41:16
	that we are better off because small pox has been conquered.	41:19
	Or that we can talk to people we love thousands	41:23
	of miles away by the miracle	41:25
	of the telephone or the computer.	41:27
	But even in the realm of scientific discovery	41:29
	and technology, there are serious questions	41:31
	about whether we are actually better off overall.	41:33
	Some people, and you've probably heard them,	41:37
	think TV is a mixed blessing at best,	41:38
	because it leads people into the 'coach potato' mode,	41:40
	instead of other, presumably more worthwhile activities.	41:43
	And it's becoming frighteningly apparent	41:47
	that some forms of progress that we took for granted	41:49
	only a few years ago, are illusory.	41:51
	For example, in fighting insects by chemical sprays,	41:55
	we upset the environment, and we threatened	41:57
	many species of birds.	42:00
	Viruses of all kinds adapt very quickly	42:02
	to our herbicides and vaccines.	42:05
	Horrific new viruses develop, such as AIDS.	42:08
	Old diseases, like tuberculous,	42:12
	that we thought we had conquered, take on new life.	42:14
	And factories that make all those wonderful objects	42:17
	that we take for granted, can destroy our streams	42:20
	and pollute our air.	42:23
	And if you ask whether there's been anything like progress	42:25
	in morals or the arts or politics?	42:27
	The answer is surely far from obvious.	42:30
	And these questions will be posed with new vigor	42:33
	as we approach the millennium.	42:35
	However, at the outset of my talk,	42:38
	you may recall that I referred to some bold new concepts	42:41
	of time in modern physics.	42:43
	Biologists, and geologists, and astronomers	42:45
	are developing equally bold theories of development,	42:47
	in the universe, in the Earth.	42:50
	There are major disagreements about how	42:52
	to talk about these things.	42:54
	Such disagreements make modern science quite exciting,	42:56
	and you can look forward to learning science at Duke,	42:59
	even if now you think you do not like it.	43:02
	But all these questions about how we think about time,	43:04
	about whether there's really anything such as 'progress',	43:07
	cannot distract from one clear form of progress.	43:10
	The one closest to every one of you,	43:14
	the individual growth and development of each human being.	43:17
	Since your earliest months and years	43:21
	you have been making progress.	43:23
	In incredibly rapid learning as a toddler,	43:25
	then in the development of your strengths,	43:27
	mental and physical, and in the flowering	43:30
	of your capacities; that development will continue	43:32
	in some measure throughout your lives,	43:35
	even those of us in middle age, your parents	43:36
	and your professors, can continue to make some progress,	43:39
	at least mentally.	43:42
	But you as Duke students now have the gift of time,	43:44
	in which you can make very rapid progress	43:47
	in your understanding of the world.	43:49
	This gift has been provided to you by your parents,	43:52
	and by others who have cared about you	43:55
	and about a Duke education.	43:56
	And our job at Duke is to provide the best possible	43:58
	environment for this learning, this progress,	44:01
	in all its dimensions.	44:04
	We will provide you with some rich opportunities,	44:06
	with some good companions.	44:08
	We will suggest some directions, we'll set some boundaries	44:10
	and some requirements, we will make your surroundings	44:13
	as safe and healthy and pleasant as we can,	44:16
	and then we will encourage each one of you	44:19
	to set out on the next phase of this journey	44:20
	we call education.	44:24
	You can expect at Duke to be mentally stretched,	44:26
	unbent, challenged, transformed.	44:28
	You can expect deep emotional and spiritual experiences	44:31
	as well, and we're confident, on the basis	44:35
	of good experience that this will be profoundly rewarding	44:37
	for you and you will emerge well-prepared	44:40
	for the next stage of your life.	44:43
	Duke is now your university.	44:46
	Each of you belongs in this community,	44:49
	however strange and new it feels today.	44:51
	You have a chance to help shape it for good,	44:54
	as it shapes you.	44:56
	You will find many different people here as companions	44:58
	for your journey; seek them out in conversations	45:00
	and encounters both playful and serious.	45:03
	Don't react to novelty by remaining closed in	45:07
	to the things that may first seem strange	45:10
	and lingering with those which are most familiar.	45:13
	You'll make a lot less progress if you think that way,	45:15
	whether it's in the courses you choose,	45:20
	or the friends you spend time with.	45:21
	Over the years to come, there will be some hard times.	45:24
	There will be disappointments and frustrations.	45:27
	But there will also be many joyous times	45:30
	and times of great accomplishment.	45:32
	And by joining this university, you bring to it	45:34
	enrichments of your own: gifts of curiosity,	45:38
	imagination, energy, and devotion.	45:41
	I hope that your time at Duke will be full and fruitful	45:44
	as you make progress to adjoining the company	45:48
	of educated men and women.	45:51
	We look forward to spending that time with you.	45:53
	Good luck!	45:57
	(congregation applauding)	45:59
	Thank you!	46:13
	And now it's my pleasure to introduce to you	46:17
	a few of the people you'll be getting to know	46:19
	in the faculty and the administration,	46:21
	who are here in the Chapel.	46:22
	The Provost, the Executive Vice President,	46:24
	others who are listed in your program.	46:26
	I will ask each one to stand while I introduce them.	46:28
	And I would ask you to hold your applause	46:31
	until all the introductions are complete.	46:33
	Doctor John Strohbehn begins his third year	46:36
	as Provost and professor of biomedical engineering.	46:38
	He is the Chief Academic Officer of the university.	46:42
	A native of California with three degrees from Stanford.	46:45
	He came to us after 30 years at Dartmouth,	46:48
	where he was also Provost.	46:50
	His principal research interest is hypothermia oncology.	46:52
	John Strohbehn.	46:56
	Tallman Trask, Executive Vice President,	46:58
	is the university's Chief Financial	47:00
	and Administrative Officer.	47:02
	He assumed these responsibilities last August,	47:04
	after eight years in the same post	47:06
	at the University of Washington-Seattle.	47:08
	Doctor Trask earned his undergraduate degree	47:11
	from Occidental College, and his graduate degrees	47:13
	from Northwestern University and UCLA.	47:15
	He also is professor of the practice of education.	47:18
	Doctor Trask.	47:21
	Appointed just last year as Dean of the Faculty	47:23
	of Arts and Sciences, Professor William Chafe	47:25
	joined the Duke faculty in 1971.	47:28
	He's a graduate of Harvard and Columbia,	47:31
	and he holds the Alice M. Baldwin Chair	47:33
	in the Department of History.	47:35
	He's published extensively on women's studies	47:37
	and on the history of the Civil Rights Movement	47:40
	and race relations in the United States.	47:42
	Richard White, Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education	47:45
	begins his 11th year this year as Dean of Trinity College,	47:49
	the oldest and largest of the units of Duke University.	47:52
	A native of Pennsylvania, a graduate of the University	47:56
	of Michigan, and a member of the Duke faculty	47:58
	for more than 29 years, Dean White is University	48:00
	Distinguished Service Professor of Botany,	48:04
	with a well-deserved reputation as a classroom instructor.	48:06
	His area of research is in the comparative anatomy	48:09
	of vascular plants.	48:12
	For the past 12 years, Earl Dowell has served	48:14
	as Dean of the School of Engineering.	48:16
	Dean Dowell holds degrees from the University of Illinois	48:18
	and MIT, and is James A. Jones Professor	48:21
	of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science	48:24
	in the School of Engineering.	48:27
	He has published extensively in his specialty	48:28
	of aerospace engineering, including solid/fluid interactions	48:31
	and aerial elasticity.	48:35
	Since 1991, Janet Smith Dickerson has been Vice President	48:38
	for Student Affairs at Duke.	48:41
	She's a graduate of Western College for Women	48:43
	and Xavier University.	48:45
	Vice President Dickerson came to us	48:47
	after 15 years at Swarthmore College,	48:49
	where she served as Dean and Chief Student Affairs Officer.	48:51
	Her principal research interests are:	48:55
	Student life and counseling psychology.	48:57
	And I would also like to recognize	49:00
	the President of Duke Student Government, Taccus C. Nesbitt.	49:01
	A senior from Lexington, North Carolina,	49:05
	Taccus is majoring in political science.	49:07
	And you will be hearing more from Taccus	49:10
	in his official capacity during the orientation period,	49:12
	and throughout the year; and that's the lineup. (applauds)	49:14
	(audience applauding)	49:19
	And now it's my pleasure to introduce to you also,	49:30
	Fouad Bashour, a junior from Dallas, Texas,	49:32
	who is majoring in economics.	49:35
	As Chair of the University Honor Council,	49:37
	Fouad will speak to you briefly today	49:39
	about the Duke Honor Code.	49:41
-	Good morning!	49:48
	On behalf of the Duke University Honor Council,	49:50
	I would like to extend a warm and sincere, welcome to Duke!	49:52
	I can't think of a better way to start off this year,	49:56
	my third year here at Duke, than to have this exciting	49:59
	opportunity to speak to you this morning.	50:01
	It is truly an honor.	50:03
	I can remember just two years ago being in the same place	50:06
	that you are today.	50:09
	Sitting in this beautiful chapel, with the members	50:10
	of my class for the very first time.	50:13
	Admiring the pageantry of the procession,	50:16
	taking in the powerful sound of the organ,	50:19
	listening to the President of the University	50:21
	address my class.	50:23
	I especially remember the many thoughts	50:26
	that were racing through my head at the time:	50:28
	I can't believe I'm starting college.	50:31
	I need to get my schedule straightened out	50:33
	and buy my books soon.	50:35
	I hope my roommate and I will get along.	50:37
	What am I going to major in?	50:39
	I already miss my family and friends back home.	50:42
	With so many things on your mind this morning,	50:46
	I just wanna take a brief moment to remind you	50:48
	of a very important thing:	50:50
	Make sure, please make sure, that before your parents	50:53
	leave today, you tell them those three special words	50:56
	that bring tears to their eyes: Please send money.	50:59
	(congregation laughing)	51:03
	In the four years that most of you will spend	51:08
	as a Duke undergraduate, I encourage you	51:10
	to take hold of all that Duke has to offer,	51:12
	as you develop both personally and academically.	51:15
	However, as you leave this chapel today,	51:18
	and head forth to seize this campus by storm,	51:21
	I want to make a challenge to you.	51:24
	This challenge is not to make a 4.0	51:27
	or to graduate with honors.	51:30
	Or even to work hard and play hard.	51:31
	It is the challenge to never compromise	51:34
	your integrity along the way.	51:36
	I firmly believe that this challenge	51:39
	is one we will face not only in school,	51:41
	but in our careers, as well.	51:44
	The challenge to conduct ourselves with honor,	51:47
	with uncompromised character, with integrity.	51:49
	It isn't always easy, but our university community	51:54
	has made this challenge to you.	51:57
	And by signing the Duke University Honor Code,	51:59
	each one of you has boldly accepted.	52:01
	I wish I could stand before you today	52:05
	and tell you that the world does not measure	52:08
	one's success by his material wealth,	52:10
	or by the influence and power he holds.	52:13
	I wish I could tell you that the world measures a man	52:16
	by his character, by the honor and integrity	52:19
	with which he lives his life.	52:22
	But as you well know, this is not always the case.	52:25
	I also wish I could tell you that every instance	52:29
	of academic dishonesty at Duke is reported and duly punished	52:31
	but that too is not always the case.	52:36
	In many ways, our external environment allows us,	52:39
	even persuades us to behave in an unethical manner.	52:43
	Each one of you will face great pressure	52:47
	to compromise your integrity.	52:49
	The fear of failure, the prospect of future success,	52:51
	and the powerful desire to succeed,	52:55
	can lead us all to turn our backs on honesty and integrity.	52:58
	This is why the challenge set forth in the Honor Code	53:03
	is such a difficult one.	53:06
	This is also why the Honor Code is so valuable	53:07
	to this community.	53:09
	Signing the Honor Code does not magically change who we are	53:12
	but it does clearly remind us of our commitment	53:15
	to honesty and integrity,	53:18
	and it can help shape the decisions we make.	53:20
	Soon you will be graduating as the Duke University	53:25
	class of 2000; that day, each one of you	53:28
	will stand to receive your diploma.	53:31
	And at that very moment, I sincerely hope	53:33
	you can look back on your time at Duke with pride,	53:36
	and with a sense of accomplishment,	53:39
	not for the academic achievements, or for the honors	53:41
	you attained, but more importantly,	53:44
	because you conducted yourself with honor	53:47
	and integrity along the way.	53:49
	Finally, I just wanna urge you again	53:52
	to wholeheartedly embrace the challenge	53:54
	set forth in the Honor Code.	53:56
	Go forward today with energy, with excitement,	53:59
	and with conviction, and really enjoy your time	54:02
	at this unique place.	54:05
	Best wishes for continued success in all that you do.	54:07
	And again, welcome to Duke!	54:10
	(congregation applauding)	54:13
-	Thank you, Fouad.	54:24
	Now it is my pleasure to recognize the University Marshal,	54:26
	who carries the mace, a member of the Duke faculty	54:29
	for 47 years, Doctor Pelham Wilder Junior	54:31
	is University Distinguished Service Professor	54:34
	of Chemistry Emeritus, and Professor of Pharmacology.	54:37
	And Doctor Wilder has a few announcement	54:41
	before we sing the Alma Mater.	54:43
-	This month Duke University begins its 159th year	54:56
	of continuous service to the region, the state,	55:01
	the nation, and beyond.	55:04
	From log cabin school in 1838,	55:07
	to Institute, to Normal School, to College in 1859,	55:10
	to University in 1924, to its present status	55:16
	of internationally-recognized research university,	55:20
	all within a period of one and a half centuries.	55:23
	I too welcome you to Duke University,	55:27
	and to this community of scholars,	55:30
	and invite you to join us in our never-ending search	55:32
	for truth and beauty, and whatsoever other things	55:35
	are of good report.	55:38
	Now, with Doctor Robert Parkins at the console	55:40
	of the great Flentrop organ, Jason Ecstutes,	55:43
	a senior in Trinity College, and a member of the Duke Choral	55:47
	and the Duke Chapel Choir, will sing for us the Alma Mater	55:50
	and then lead us in the singing of the Alma Mater	55:54
	for the first time as Duke students.	55:58
	Words and music are provided in your printed programs.	56:01
	Will you please stand?	56:04
	(peaceful organ music)	56:22
	♪ Dear old Duke thy name we'll sing ♪	56:34
	♪ To thee our voices raise ♪	56:41
	♪ We'll raise ♪	56:46
	♪ To thee our anthems ring ♪	56:50
	♪ In everlasting ♪	56:57
	♪ Praise ♪	57:01
	♪ And though on life's broad sea ♪	57:05
	♪ Our fates may ♪	57:12
	♪ Far us bear ♪	57:15
	♪ We'll ever turn ♪	57:21
	♪ To thee ♪	57:25
	♪ Our Alma Mater ♪	57:29
	♪ Dear ♪	57:34
	♪ Dear old Duke, thy name we'll sing ♪	57:38
	♪ To thee our voices raise ♪	57:44
	♪ We'll raise ♪	57:49
	♪ To thee our anthems ring ♪	57:52
	♪ In everlasting ♪	57:59
	♪ Praise ♪	58:03
	♪ And though ♪	58:06
	♪ On life's broad sea ♪	58:09
	♪ Our fates may far us bear ♪	58:13
	♪ We'll ever turn ♪	58:21
	♪ To thee ♪	58:25
	♪ Our Alma Mater ♪	58:28
	♪ Dear ♪	58:33
	(vibrant organ music)	58:43

Item Info

Title:

Nannerl O. Keohane - Opening Convocation (August 29, 1996)

Description:

Sermon start time: 21:29. Sermon end time: 45:58.
Human beings are saturated with time; it is an inescapable element of our lives and our understanding of the world. One predominant way we speak/think about time is as a resource. In this light, the speaker exhorts the in coming class to use their time wisely, to remember to take their time––i.e., to think and act deliberately, not rushing from one thing to the next––and to learn to be generous with their time, giving it to those who are in need. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “You as Duke students now have the gift of time, in which you can make very rapid progress in your understanding of the world.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4dv1d38z

Date:

August 29, 1996

Speaker:

Keohane, Nannerl O.

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0491
ref9787_lgf
uachapelsermaud
duke:321330
dcrmv001466
ark:/87924/r4dv1d38z
837427b5-4cb0-4145-8383-0e14bae518cd

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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