May 25, 2005

Diver '65: "I feel sorry for you"

While Amherst has, in our memory, not lacked for presidents capable of delivering a good Commencement address, we’re becoming fans of Colin S. Diver ‘65, president of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, whose annual “remarks” introduce Reed’s primary speaker. Diver’s May 16, 2005 remarks include gems like these:

At Commencement exercises, college presidents and faculty look out on a sea of expectant graduates and feel that familiar mixture of emotions—pride, relief, sorrow, exhaustion, incredulity.

I do feel all of those emotions this morning. But at the moment—I have to admit—I am mostly just feeling sorry for you. Yes, truly. I am feeling sorry, because I know what you are facing. You are about to go out into a world which you will find alien and strange. It is a world that will not understand you. No one will be impressed at how many term papers you wrote last night. No one will care about your latest interpretation of some obscure Coptic text. People will walk away from you when you try to strike up a conversation at a bar about the sex life of salamanders.

Parker Morse '96 | May 25, 2005 09:59 PM | Alumni

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