2018 UCLA College Commencement

Speech

Hello! To all of our friends and families: Welcome! And to the class of 2018: CONGRATULATIONS!

I am glad we are all here to celebrate this joyous occasion. But before we go further, I wanted to acknowledge some of the labor issues that have impacted our campus and today’s ceremony.

I want to be clear that members of the union contribute greatly to the life of our campus and to our students. Hopefully UC and the union can reach an agreement soon.

And now, to our graduates: I hope you are proud to have reached this milestone!

I know your professors, families and friends are proud of you.

Next year, UCLA will be 100 years old. And, since UCLA keeps getting better and more selective, our students keep getting better and more impressive. Therefore, I think I can safely say that the class of 2018 is the best class ever to graduate from UCLA!

Now, time for a confession: It’s tough to write even a short commencement address — and I promise you, this one will be mercifully brief!

I want to say something helpful, but I recognize that it is hard to give memorable advice on a day filled with excitement and emotion.

So, I asked for help. We went out across campus. We asked members of your class what was on their minds and what they’d want to hear from me. Your questions were as intelligent and thoughtful as I would expect from UCLA students.

Some of your questions were philosophical, like “How do we approach uncertainty?” Wow!

My short answer: Many people approach uncertainty through their personal faith and through science.  A tantalizing and challenging thought paraphrased from the writings of philosopher Erich Fromm is:

“The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition that impels us to unfold our powers. “

Some were more personal: “How do we make an impact?” “What advice would you give your younger self?” More about this later.

Some questions were practical: “How do I begin my career and start my future? How can we remain engaged with UCLA as alumni?”

My short answers to both questions: Network aggressively – you all know how to do this – and stay connected with the Alumni Association.

Some of your questions were almost too practical, like how to do your taxes. For the answer to that, I’m going to refer you to the other Block … H and R! Unfortunately, not a relative. The real truth is Carol and I are cheap and use TurboTax!

And my favorite question: “UCLA’s motto is Fiat Lux — Let there be Light. How can we bring more light into the world after we graduate?” My answer is:  I have confidence that you are now fully prepared to do just that. You will radiate both light and warmth and make the world a better place.

I was deeply impressed by the openness and generosity of spirit your questions conveyed.

In 1927, valedictorian Ralph Bunche spoke at his UCLA graduation. He counseled a version of this generosity and openness. I think it’s excellent advice for bringing more light into the world. He told his classmates to “expand, up and out, from our narrow, immediate world.” He urged them to cultivate the “soulfulness, spirituality, imagination, altruism [and] vision … which enable [us] to understand and to love [our] fellow human beings…”

After UCLA, Bunche put those words into action, and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, I don’t have a Nobel, but I have thought a lot about the need for openness — and the need to avoid getting trapped by our own assumptions about people, careers, politics or the world in general.

Much of the divisiveness in our country and in the world today is a result of facts being discarded or twisted through a narrow perceptual funnel.

Almost a century ago, the same year UCLA was founded, the mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead urged scientists to avoid the error of what he called “misplaced concreteness.”

Scientists use data to construct abstract models, which are conceptual schemes that help them better understand the meaning of that data. But the conceptual model is not the data, and however useful these abstract models are, there should always be a healthy dose of skepticism about their validity.

Indeed, good science must be self-correcting — we always have to be open to revising our conclusions based on new facts.

Sometimes that means letting go of cherished ideas. Scientists think about fundamental issues like gravity or the structure of matter very differently than 400 years ago.

Whitehead’s warning has relevance beyond how we understand the physical world.

Every day, we are flooded by simplistic ideological views on a variety of issues. And the assault on what constitutes a fact  seems unrelenting. This is all deeply concerning — especially at an institution like UCLA, where we thrive on evidence-based reasoning.

As you move forward in life, you will need the intellectual flexibility to adjust your thinking to new facts, to respond to what is, even as you dream of what could be.

Remain open to views that may be radically different from your own. Don’t let abstract ideology rob you of the valuable insights of others. This is probably the advice I would have given to my younger self.

One more piece of advice: Do good while you are doing well. Take the opportunity to make a difference.

The problems we face — from homelessness to gun violence to climate change — are the challenges of your generation. I am confident that you have the tools and commitment to meet these challenges.

And as you do, remember that you are not alone. The people who share your values and hold you accountable to your best selves, the people with whom you’ve created bonds, those people are your community.

But beyond that: The people who don’t look like you, who don’t share your worldview, who seem to have different values: They are your community, too. Your destiny is also bound to their destiny.

I certainly hope you have found a community here at UCLA. And I hope you know that those connections will not end when you leave campus. As a graduate of UCLA, you are automatically a member our Alumni Association, along with more than a half-million Bruins around the world.

You can turn to other alumni for support, camaraderie and advice. You can help empower other alumni or students as a mentor, a career advisor, an employer, a scholarship provider or a volunteer. (And to the student who asked for help with your taxes, I’ll bet you can find an alumnus or two who are accountants!)

There is one other thing Ralph Bunche told his classmates over 90 years ago.  Looking out at them, just as I am looking at you now, he said, simply: “As we go, so goes the world.” And it’s still true. As you go, so will go the world!

Congratulations Class of 2018 and Go Bruins!