Presidential Remarks

Presidential Remarks

The words of President Fran Fergusson have marked times of celebration, transition, loss, and reflection for the College community. Although a collection of Fergusson’s speeches has yet to be released, the following are moments from her tenure.

2002

The educated mind is knowledgeable of history but not mired in it. (Commencement)

Within Vassar, there should be no topic too controversial, too difficult, or too political that it cannot be discussed and evaluated objectively, and with respect for divergent opinions. (Fall Convocation)

2003

Part of being involved in any movement—indeed, any endeavor in life that means something to you—is the need to maintain hope at moments of failure, to recognize that being a presence and a voice for your beliefs remains of value. (Spring Convocation)

It is not tilting at windmills to hope that your world can be made better. In the face of adversity, work harder still, maintain your ideals and, above all, act. (Spring Convocation)

2004

We need only to look to the United States, where Congress gave away to the President its Constitutional power to declare war, and where the media was complicit in burying opposition and failing to print both facts and opinions that might have informed the public to a different set of truths. Those who did dissent were quickly labeled traitors, myself included. (Fall Convocation)

In fact, liberal or conservative, we only become strong in our beliefs when we are challenged, when we need to articulate what we believe and why we have developed the value systems we have. (Spring Convocation)

2005

In 1920, 85 years ago, it was written that “From Vassar come the adventurers, the pioneers in curious fields, the radicals.” That Vassar spirit has persisted over the ages, despite catastrophic historical events, and despite the economic, political, social and technological shifts that have moved us into a quite new world. Those Vassar traits of adventure, of curiosity, and of radically new thought have defined the nature of our graduates. (Commencement)

We cannot allow ourselves to forget the faceless, the refugees whose plights are only sporadically noticed by the media. They are us, in a different time and place, our ancestors, our descendents, people with fears and dreams, realities and hopes. We should, in our mind’s eye, give each of them their individuality, the sense of being that moves from the cumulative statistic to the personal human story. (Fall Convocation)

—Compiled by Sarah Palermo and Fabian Arzuaga, Sports Editor and Staff Writer