Rights of education carry responsibilities to do good
Hennessy, above, praised Jane Stanford’s commitment to keeping the university open after her husband’s death.
This is the text of prepared remarks by university President John Hennessy delivered at the conclusion of Commencement ceremonies on June 12, 2005.
Graduates of Stanford University, on behalf of all members of the Stanford family, I congratulate and commend you. You also have my deep thanks for the contributions you have made to our community of scholars during your time at Stanford.
I would like to reflect for a few minutes on a phrase that has been repeated several times since this ceremony began. As each group of graduates was presented to me, I responded by conferring your degrees and admitting you to the "rights, responsibilities and privileges" that are associated with a degree granted by this university.
You have worked extraordinarily hard to earn this degree and accomplished much in your time here, and you certainly deserve this day of celebration.
But at Stanford, we believe the rights and privileges of an education also bring a responsibility to make good use of your knowledge, to change the world for the better and to help ensure that succeeding generations have the same opportunities you have had here at Stanford.
In recent years, I have made it a Commencement tradition to talk about alumni who made good use of their knowledge, who demonstrated great personal vision and who took their responsibilities as educated citizens very seriously. This year, I want to talk about someone who, like our Commencement speaker, was a visionary with a Stanford connection, but not an alumnus. This person died 100 years ago, but the mark that Jane Stanford left on this university remains indelible.
Jane Lathrop was born in Albany, New York. The daughter of a successful merchant who established the Albany Orphan Asylum, she learned at an early age the importance of service to others.
After courtship and a simple announcement in the local paper, she married Leland Stanford in Albany in 1850. After a few years in Wisconsin, they eventually made their way to California to join Leland's brothers.
Their only child, Leland Jr., was born after 18 years of marriage. Jane was 39; Leland was 44. They doted on their son and encouraged young Leland's curiosity in other cultures, as well as his interests in history, mathematics and engineering. Tragically, he contracted typhoid fever during a trip to Europe and died before his 16th birthday.
In their grief, Jane and Leland Stanford committed themselves to "educating other people's children" and dedicated their wealth to establish this university. Many ridiculed their decision, but it was neither folly nor egotism. The Stanfords believed that, despite their grief, they still had much to be thankful for and that it was their duty to share their gifts.
Nearly 500 students, men and women, attended the opening day ceremonies in 1891. Sen. Stanford asked his wife to address them. She agreed, but when the time came, she was overcome by the emotion of the day. Six years later, she sent President David Starr Jordan a copy of the remarks she was unable to read. To those first Stanford students, she had written:
Our hearts have been more deeply interested in this work than you can conceive. It was born in sorrow but has now become a great joy … I desire to impress upon the minds of each one … male and female, that we have at heart … that you will resolve to go forth from these classrooms determined in the future to be leaders with high aims and standards … I think we both feel a personal and individual interest in each one of you … It seems to me you have become a part of our lives …
The new university was everything she had hoped, but it was not long before Jane Stanford was dealt another terrible blow. Sen. Stanford died in his sleep on June 21, 1893.
The university was just two years old. It was managed as though it was part of Leland Stanford's estate; when the estate went into probate, the assets were frozen. No one expected the university to remain open. But Jane Stanford was a strong-willed woman. After two weeks of reflection, she declared that Stanford University would not close its doors.
She took control. University expenses were cut. After the probate court set aside an allowance for her, she slashed her own expenses. She released most of her personal staff and took only a small amount for her needs; the rest she channeled to the university to meet its expenses. Then she learned that the federal government was suing the estate for loans made to the Central Pacific Railroad. The Supreme Court eventually rejected the government's claims, and in 1898, the estate was released from probate. Jane Stanford had guided the university through five very long and tough years, and by her tenacity and willingness to sacrifice had ensured that Stanford University would endure for generations to come.
In 1904, a year before her death, she turned control of the university over to its trustees, with the following message:
Through all these years I have kept a mental picture before me. I could see a hundred years ahead when all the present trials were forgotten, and all of the present active parties gone, and nothing remaining but the institution. I could see beyond all this the children's children's children coming here from the East, the West, the North, and the South.
It is not over-reaching to say that our graduates here today are the Stanfords' "children's children's children." You represent the fruition of this bold vision, the vindication of a risky investment fueled by a deep belief that there are fewer higher purposes than the pursuit of learning in the service of a greater good. That is the legacy you inherit as you prepare to leave the university—a remarkable story of personal vision and deep commitment, of dedication and service to the highest purposes—everything we know today to be the Stanford spirit.
Stanford is committed to keeping the spirit envisioned by Jane and Leland alive, and instilling it in the generations of students who pass this way. And so, I hope that you leave this campus with a strong reservoir of the Stanford spirit, a reservoir that will grow over the years. I hope this spirit inspires you as you make your contributions to the world, and I hope it brings you back often to this special place where the Stanford spirit was born in you.
Thank you and congratulations!
