Ian Bickford, provost and vice president, welcomed graduates, friends, and family to the Bard College at Simon’s Rock Commencement of 2016. Below is the full text of the Commencement speech.
“The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and providence their guide:
They hand in hand with wand’ring steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.”
These final lines of Paradise Lost capture something of the complexities and apparent contradictions of a day like this: hand in hand and solitary, a Commencement is both a celebration of community and family, and a moment of individual achievement and departure. And the departure, as in Milton’s narrative, is an unavoidable contingency of knowledge. Once you know, you have to go.
But going in this case doesn’t mean you can’t come back. Many of you earning associate degrees today are continuing into the Upper College: your wandering steps will lead you straight to Pibly. Others of you are continuing your undergraduate studies at remarkable institutions around the country and around the world, advancing to graduate school, or finding other places and ways to exercise and extend your education, which will always be ongoing. For you, while coming back doesn’t need to be as dramatic or as extreme as the way I did it, I want you to know that Simon’s Rock is still your place, and I look forward to greeting you on the far end of this ceremony as fellow alumni of the College. It is simply another way of being part of the community here.
This is an especially meaningful Commencement, as it is the 40th anniversary of the first conferred bachelor’s degree at Simon’s Rock, which coincides with the beginning of our 50th anniversary year as an institution of higher learning, and our 15th year since members of the Simon’s Rock faculty and administration, with President Botstein, founded the first of the now national network of Bard High School Early Colleges. Our founding; the institution of the B.A.; and the expansion of the Early College network—these constitute the arc of a remarkable legacy, which we celebrate in celebrating you.
The world is all before you, and we are all behind you, and with you, and for you. Or, to quote my favorite Miltonic pop virtuoso, Lorde, “We’re on each other’s team.”
Welcome, graduates, friends, and family, to the Bard College at Simon’s Rock Commencement of 2016.
I am pleased now to welcome Stuart Breslow, father of a Simon’s Rock graduate, and chair of the Board of Overseers at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.