Good morning!
I am Cristle Collins Judd, the President of Sarah Lawrence, and I am delighted to welcome you to this beautiful campus and this celebratory occasion – this exceptionally celebratory occasion – as we gather together for our 94th Commencement and our first in-person Commencement since 2019. Being here… In person… Together! … is something we’ve longed for and long awaited.
As we begin this ceremony, I want to acknowledge the many and varied emotions we are all feeling at this moment. It’s been building these last few days and was palpable as we processed in. This is a moment of great joy, of course, but joy that for many is tempered by a sense of profound grief and loss. And I want to pause to acknowledge that grief and loss, to acknowledge the challenges of these past two years, and the impact those challenges have had on all present here today, most especially you, our graduates. Yet at this moment, even knowing that grief and loss, as I stand before you, looking out to all of you under this tent, and knowing that hundreds – even thousands – of others are watching via Livestream, I am overwhelmed above all by a sense of gratitude. Deep, profound gratitude for everything that all of you have done to bring us to this moment.
Everyone here – every single person here – has had to do something they never thought they would or could do to get to this point. To each of you – to our graduates, our faculty, our staff, our families and friends – thank you. I don’t normally offer a preamble to my Commencement address, and we are determined to give you, our graduates, the celebratory occasion and remarks you have more than earned, but again, I want to acknowledge the challenges we’ve faced and the gratitude I have for how we have overcome them – together.
Together. Sarah Lawrence Together. This has been our refrain since March 2020 when the pandemic upended our lives, forcing a shift to remote operations. We tagged posts on social media and even painted the speech board with this hashtag, reminding ourselves that we were not alone, that even as we dealt with the challenges of isolation and separation, we were part of a bold and vibrant community. And through creative, collaborative, and collective efforts we continually found new ways to build and sustain that community. And now here we are – Sarah Lawrence Together – celebrating and conferring degrees on our undergraduate and graduate classes of 2022, and welcoming back graduates – now seasoned alumni! – from the classes of 2021 and 2020, for that very special walk across Westlands Terrace.
As we mark this experience of Sarah Lawrence Together, I am delighted to continue a tradition that I began when I arrived at the College. I would like to ask the graduating class of 2022, along with our graduates from 2021 and 2020, to please stand. Now: turn to face your parents, friends, and family—those who have supported and nurtured you—and thank them with a hearty and heart-felt round of applause and a much-deserved standing ovation.
Please continue to stand. I ask you to acknowledge the Sarah Lawrence faculty who have been so steadfastly dedicated – despite whatever the pandemic threw our way – to your pursuit of learning and to your success at Sarah Lawrence. These are people to whom you will continue to be connected long into the future. Please offer your thanks in a round of applause.
(Thank you, please sit.)
I also want to add my recognition and thanks to the parents and families and friends in attendance today, and all those watching and sending good wishes from around the world via Livestream. We are so grateful for your commitment to Sarah Lawrence and for your support of our students. Today we mark a rite of passage not only for them, but for you as well. Please know that we consider you, too, to be a part of the Sarah Lawrence community not only now, but into the future, and we hope that you will stay connected with us.
Finally, at this commencement particularly, I want to offer a heartfelt and special shoutout to the Sarah Lawrence staff. Every day, these dedicated members of our community do whatever it takes to keep our students healthy and well-cared for, our campus environment conducive to learning, and to pull off massively complicated events like today’s. From every office and all corners of this campus, they do so, often out of the line of sight, with an unmatched dedication and commitment. Please join me in thanking the Sarah Lawrence staff.
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One of my greatest pleasures as president is getting to know Sarah Lawrence students. To share passing “hellos” around campus, to be humored in my requests for selfies and tutored in the fine art of Instagram, to take in the sights and sounds of this very lawn, from stage combat, to drumming, to ultimate frisbee, to impromptu performances. Most of all, to experience the richness of your work, your performances, your art, your clubs, your writing, your science posters, your sports, your activism … the richness of you. Individually. And together.
You have all heard me reference our mission statement a time or two over your years at the College – ok, maybe more than a time or two. It begins:
Sarah Lawrence seeks to graduate world citizens
And it concludes:
who are prepared to tackle the problems of, and thrive in, a complex and rapidly evolving world.
There you have it in a nutshell and I’d like you to hold tight to this thought: You are world citizens and your education has prepared you. Prepared world citizens have never been in greater demand nor more urgently needed; it’s an understatement to say that we have all gained a renewed appreciation for just how complex and rapidly evolving our world can be. Never – never – forget what it means to graduate from Sarah Lawrence, to be united with 20,000 alumni in the privilege and pleasure, yes, but also the obligation of this education.
Given these last two years, at times your experience was different – vastly different – from those who came before you, but your commonalities with other Sarah Lawrence graduates are far greater than those differences. You’ve worked hard, really hard, but you’ve also laughed and delighted in those who surrounded you. You’ve done conference project after conference project. You’ve read, you’ve written, you’ve filmed, you’ve danced. Then you’ve read and written and filmed and danced some more. You have nurtured your love of learning, honed your ability to ask questions, cultivated empathy and the ability to listen to competing views, striven to find answers, and developed your voice and critical abilities. You’ve collaborated with professors and peers, interned and networked, all the while laying the groundwork for professional relationships to come. Through all of this you became Sarah Lawrence.
When I meet with our alumni, what they tell me as they look back on their time at the College is this: that Sarah Lawrence was transformative, that it was life-changing. They tell me they didn’t necessarily realize that immediately after graduation. (So, graduates, you’re probably not going to wake up tomorrow and suddenly feel transformed!) But over time, this is what they recognize as the most valuable aspect of their Sarah Lawrence experience.
So as you go out into this world full of uncertainties, be certain of one thing: the concept of Sarah Lawrence Together does not end here today. Those 20,000 alumni across the globe are waiting to welcome and support you, to make space for you, to help you forge your path. As you move about the world, you will encounter them in all sorts of unusual and unexpected ways. It will happen gradually and sometimes catch you by surprise as you meet someone who asks penetrating questions, who thinks about problems from many angles and in new ways, who connects disparate interests and a passion for knowledge, who has a way of seeing, and who is just … interesting. You’ll recognize something familiar about these people, and they about you. You’ll recognize each other as Sarah Lawrence. Count on this network. Connect with each other. And stay connected to your College. As we learned over these last couple of years, you don’t have to be at Sarah Lawrence to be part of Sarah Lawrence. Always remember that.
I’ll end by offering a simple charge to our graduates:
First: as a world citizen, live into the promise of your Sarah Lawrence education. Continue to embrace intellectual and creative risks, to cross disciplinary boundaries with curiosity and confidence, but also with humility, with humanity, with concern and compassion for others.
And then: use your Sarah Lawrence education and the way it has prepared you to tackle the problems of, and thrive in, a complex and rapidly evolving world. Do so not only so that you yourself may thrive, but in order to lead the way so that all can thrive in this world that needs everything you are so uniquely prepared to bring to it, now more than ever.
Congratulations, Sarah Lawrence College graduates!
Remarks as prepared for delivery