KU News Release

May 20, 2007
Contact: Lynn Bretz , University Communications, (785) 864-7100.

Prepared remarks by Chancellor Hemenway at 2007 commencement

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas Chancellor Robert Hemenway's prepared remarks for KU's 135th Commencement ceremony held today in Memorial Stadium:

COMMENCEMENT
May 20, 2007

We return for the 135th time to celebrate, by walking down a Kansas hill, the graduation of a special class of people. You identify yourself today as one who has both chosen, and earned, a life-long identity as a University of Kansas graduate.   

You are someone willing to explain for the rest of your life, to hotel registration clerks across the globe, that “No, that bird with the yellow beak on my credit card is not a cute little chicken.  It is a glorious and proud mythical bird called a Jayhawk.  Be forewarned, it has the potential to soar whenever its wings flap.”

It is worth dwelling for a moment on the identity that comes with this stroll down the hill.  It is clear cut and unambiguous.  Forevermore, you are a Jayhawk.  

Other universities have pondered their chances for such a clear and unequivocal identity for their graduates, but let’s be honest: They have failed.  Compare the Jayhawk to other identities.  Who are the real wildcats?  Do they come from Kentucky, Northwestern, Arizona, or could it be some place called, Kansas State?

How do you distinguish between a Clemson Tiger and a Missouri Tiger?  Would Clemson want to be associated with Quantrill’s Raiders?  Eleven universities want their students to be known as Bear Cats, 23 as Bears, 14 as Bobcats, and 12 as Broncos.  What confusion!  How unimaginative.  Other universities apparently lack the creativity and innovation that gives us possession of a whole animal.  They settle for part of a bird, like a Hawk’s eye, or the mere long horns of a Texas steer, or sometimes only part of a human body, like a heel covered by tar.

You get the point.

Jayhawks are unique.  They are totally owned and operated by the graduates of the University of Kansas.  No one will be able to compare you with a zoological version. 

Walking down the hill also means that you have lifetime access to the Jayhawk mutual protection society.  You can be in Beijing or Heathrow or Tokyo or Melbourne and if you hear the shout “Rock Chalk,” you immediately reply, “Jayhawk,” before you even know if the person reaching out to shake your hand wants to sell you a watch or offer directions to a hotel.

This universal Jayhawk identity demonstrates why this walk down the hill is so important.  As we say every year, “THE WALK IS THE CEREMONY.” 

A Jayhawk graduation walk empowers you to look both ways at once, savoring the past and your Mount Oread memories, while simultaneously looking to the horizon and the special opportunities you see in your future.

In Roman mythology there was a special god which captured this duality.  Janus was the Roman god of beginnings.  He was the guardian deity of gates and doors.  Artistically Janus is represented with two opposite facing heads, placed back to back so Janus could look in two directions at once, one side looking forward, the other side looking back.

You are at that Janus intersection in your life.  You are going forward, but you know that you did not arrive at this gate on your own.  No one walked the hill today by themselves.  Parents, family, friends, and teachers all walked with you.

You know the investments that have been made in you.  Your family has cared about you to a greater extent than you fully realize. 

Even though it seemed like your mother kept the cell phone humming, you have no idea how many times she wanted to call, but knew that you had to deal with this by yourself.  Those seemingly inane calls your freshman year?  Mom was just checking the depression levels now that you and your high school sweetheart agreed to be “just good friends.”  You probably don’t know that she asked the Dean to look after you, too.

Although it may have seemed to some of you that there was a faculty conspiracy to keep you here longer than you intended, know how proud of your achievement the faculty is, and how they will brag in reference letters about your dedication and intelligence, conveniently forgetting the droopy lids and the obvious somnambulism of that 8:00 class.

More than anything else, this walk down the hill is a kind of jumping off day for Jayhawk flight. Know that you are part of something much bigger than your personal story.  190,000 Jayhawks have preceded you, and have shown you how the gates of the future are yours to open. 

The best way to think about this jumping off day comes from a popular TV ad which many of you have seen.  It is an ad for a Suzuki Vitara.

The commercial opens in the living room of a suburban home with a husband kissing his wife goodbye as he sets off for work.  He nonchalantly walks out the front door and down the sidewalk as the camera follows him on his way to work.  As he gets to his home’s front gate, the camera dramatically pulls back to reveal him stepping off the edge of a cliff in a free-falling parachute jump, which lands him next to his Suzuki Grand Vitara.  He gets in the car and demonstrates its off-road capabilities.  The car finally accelerates through an intersection and disappears into the distance.  A final voiceover asks, “You want more out of life?  We’re giving you the green light. . . Go.”

So let me identify some Jayhawks who have the green light, with the understanding that by naming them, I am naming you also, because we are all in this Jayhawk adventure together.

We congratulate and celebrate Jayhawk Jon Dennis from Hutchinson who graduates with degrees in religious studies and a minor in peace and conflict studies.  We need more peace and less conflict, so we are counting on you, Jon.

Jayhawk Talia Martin, from Fort Hall, Idaho, on the Soshone-Bannock Reservation, is ready to soar as a pharmaceutical chemist.  She went to Haskell first, then KU.  She is ready to prepare the way for other Native Americans to study science.

Jayhawk Neil Melton walked the hill today.  When he was a sophomore Neil was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq.  We are especially thankful that you are here today, Neil.

Jayhawk Jesse Haug from Atchison walked the hill today because he is receiving three degrees, in Economics, French, and Mathematics.  He’ll be studying at the Sorbonne in Paris and Bielefeld in Germany, getting his Masters in Models and Methods of Quantitative Economics.  He is a Jayhawk Erasmus Scholar ready to show Europe how high an unfettered Jayhawk can fly.

Jayhawk Jennifer Vo steps through a doorway today.  She’s headed for a small town named San Marcos, in Honduras, where she will teach English.  Jennifer’s students have a great opportunity to learn from her, just as she does from them.  You honor all of us, Jennifer, by caring about others.

And that is where I leave you today, in the midst of this Jayhawk joy.

As you pass through the gate on the way to your future, take a moment and think about how we are going to preserve this green space we share.

If we don’t put a price on the carbon dioxide we’re building up, or on our addiction to oil, we’ll never nurture the innovation we need to survive.

Think about it.  What will be the future we create?  You’ve got the green light.  Go Jayhawks. . .Flap your wings!

 

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