We experienced audio issues during President Judd's speech; closed captions are available by hitting the CC button on the video player above.
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 as we gather for our 95th Commencement. Without doubt, this is the most exciting and important event to take place on this lawn this year. That is saying something in a year that included a visit from the President of the United States in this very spot—he’s quite a warm up act for me to follow! To quote an opening line from POTUS: “Hello Sarah Lawrence College, one of the great liberal arts colleges in America!”
As we begin, I’d like to continue a tradition that I started at my first Sarah Lawrence commencement, taking a moment to express gratitude; to honor and to thank those who helped guide our graduates to this moment. Graduates of the Class of 2023, please stand. Now: please turn to face your parents, family, and friends—those who have supported and nurtured you—and thank them with a hearty and heart-felt round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
Graduates, please continue to stand.
Our staff, today as every other day, are working with unmatched dedication, many behind the scenes, to help keep you fed and safe and healthy, to make sure the lights turn on, that the tent is up, that the AV is working. Their tireless efforts make the campus what it is and ensure that a day like today is a seamless success. Please thank them as you see them over the course of the day and please honor them now with your applause.
[APPLAUSE]
And last but not least, I invite you to honor a group of people who have been extraordinarily and singularly committed to your pursuit of learning and to your success for these past years and to whom you will continue to be connected long into the future: the Sarah Lawrence faculty!
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, please sit.
I would like to add my thanks to the parents and families and friends in attendance today, and to 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.
***
Today is indeed a long-awaited celebratory occasion, but one that comes with many and varied emotions given our experiences across these last years. Class of 2023, you have had quite the trajectory at Sarah Lawrence—some might say it was “unprecedented”. The arrival of the pandemic forced us to remote learning just as you, graduating seniors, were midway through the second semester of your first year. When you left campus that spring break, you all embarked on different paths. Indeed, some of you did not return to campus until this past fall—the world’s longest spring break. For our graduate students, while it’s not unusual for individuals studying such vastly different disciplines to have widely varied paths through grad school, it most certainly was unusual to begin your time at Sarah Lawrence in masks and in outdoor, makeshift classrooms—that is, when you weren’t in class online. Different paths, different challenges, and yet here you are, under the same tent, at the same commencement, graduating together.
Staying connected. Sticking together. Despite the challenges you have faced, that’s been something you’ve excelled at, Class of 2023. Undergraduates, I remember welcoming you and your families to Sarah Lawrence on the day you moved in, the first class to be welcomed in the brand new Barbara Walters Campus Center. I remember feeling a sense of confidence as we prepared to open that new building to welcome you and as I entered my third year as a college president, no longer a new-comer. And I remember the optimism, the excitement, the nervous buzz that swirled around as I declared the College open at the end of your orientation week. What I saw in you then was a group of individuals like-minded in your pursuit of broad, boundless knowledge, in your eagerness to connect, your eagerness to create – to create work, to create community, to create bonds, to create you.
None of us then could have imagined the script that was ahead (and, if we had, we would have thought that it stretched the bounds of credibility). Yet, when we gathered for a class toast at the start of this year as you returned to campus as seniors, your collective desire to come back together, to make this year vibrant, meaningful, and memorable, was palpable. I remain so impressed by—and so grateful for—your desire to make this work, together, and the many ways you put that into action. You have much to be proud of from your time at Sarah Lawrence, Class of 2023; for me, at least, your commitment to each other and your extraordinary efforts at building community are right at the top of the list. When I asked members of your class what I should say in this address, one of you—you know who you are!—told me to use the longest string of adjectives I could to describe you, and you have earned it. Together you are the indefatigable, irrepressible, compassionate, empathetic, creative, food-truck loving, generous, passionate, justice seeking, just-plain-smart class of 2023. The arc of our particular time together is etched in my memory for reasons both deeply personal and professional. I thank you for all that you have done together with everyone else under this tent to get to this moment.
In the fall, in anticipation of our 100th anniversary in 2026, we introduced the “Centennial Gryphon”, a new visual representation of our longstanding mascot. You, Class of 2023, are the first graduates going out from this place with that version of the gryphon, which is fitting because it embodies you well. The gryphon, symbolizing intelligence and strength, joins the power and majesty of a lion with the wisdom and tenacity of an eagle to create an entirely new creature that exceeds the sum of its parts. The Centennial Gryphon brings its own particular blend of balance, wisdom, and creative energy. Wielding a quill—a nod to how writing has been embedded in Sarah Lawrence curricula from the start—its pose is graceful, intentional, and a little playful, evocative of dance and all the ways SLC students express themselves. It glances to the past to honor what came before while striding boldly toward the future. Class of 2023, I hope and trust you will do the same.
The future is no doubt on all our minds on a day like today. So indulge me as I reference our mission statement, something I’ve done a time or two or twenty over your years at the College. Here we go, one last time! 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. 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 forget what it means to earn your degree from Sarah Lawrence College, to be united with more than 20,000 alumni in the privilege and pleasure, yes, but also the obligation of this education.
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 a world full of uncertainties, be certain of one thing: those 20,000 like-minded 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 few 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