At a pair of welcoming ceremonies tinged with tradition and the buoyancy of beginnings, university leaders on Monday greeted Yale’s newest undergraduate and graduate students with words of encouragement — and a challenge to revel in the uncertainty that comes with every worthwhile endeavor.
As students and their families sat in the morning sunshine of Cross Campus for the Yale College Class of 2030 Opening Assembly, President Maurie McInnis noted the extraordinary opportunities for academic accomplishment and personal growth that go with a Yale education — as well as the disconcerting nature of the unknown.
“What will define your Yale education is freedom,” McInnis said. “The freedom of intellectual exploration. We want all of you to commit yourselves to a kind of egalitarian curiosity, one that embraces every variety of knowledge, and debates even the most agreeable assumptions.”
For 1,650 members of Yale College’s entering Class of 2030, representing 52 U.S. states and territories and 67 countries, the annual Opening Assembly marked the formal beginning of their Yale experience. Hundreds of guests, including family members, friends, and other members of the Yale community, also attended the ceremony.
Video by Allie Barton
At the ceremony, McInnis ’96 Ph.D. shared her own experiences as an art history graduate student at Yale, where she arrived in 1989 without any certainty about how the future would unfold.
The university’s art museums were some of her favorite places on campus back then, she said, adding that today’s students, from all academic disciplines, can find similar inspiration there. She even had an example to share.
“On the third floor of the Yale University Art Gallery, there’s a painting that might help you to welcome uncertainty,” the president said.
The painting — Ed Ruscha’s “Level” — features a jagged, snow-capped mountain rising majestically behind the single word “Level.” To many observers, the pairing of a word that implies flatness and evenness with an image that implies soaring heights and unevenness might seem paradoxical. But perhaps there is value in not lunging for an immediate understanding, McInnis said.
“What if we gave ourselves the freedom to explore the contradiction?” she asked. “We could begin by considering our own personal associations. Humans have long turned mountains into metaphors for our challenges and our accomplishments. And for many of you, the peak on this canvas might remind you of your journey here.”
McInnis had some advice for those moments when students might wonder if they’ve “leveled off,” flattened out, or plateaued during their academic mountain climb:
“I hope when you meet such paradoxes, you’ll remember that Yale admitted you for a reason,” she said. “But I also hope that you’ll revel in your uncertainty, because it’s a quintessential human emotion and a definitive part of the human condition.
“Machines don’t feel uncertain, but humans do,” she said. “And though humans can now ask machines for answers, no machine will ever replace human questioning. I hope, too, that you’ll find, in your uncertainty, inspiration and wonder and perhaps, sometimes, even a little fear. Those are the contradictory emotions that sit at the heart of awe.”
In his own remarks to the Class of 2030, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis spoke about character, virtue, and the role of the university and its faculty in helping students in their personal ethical development.
“Our job is not just to be role models,” Lewis said. “We must model moral inquiry for you.”
He urged the students to apply the same grit and determination that got them into Yale to an exploration of values such as generosity, fairness, community, and wisdom. Citing a range of exceptional thinkers from Confucius to Aristotle to Nelson Mandela, Lewis said it is incumbent upon every student to learn how to lead an intentional life and take ownership of one’s choices.
“The effort is essential,” Lewis said. “The effort is everything.”
Earlier in the day, McInnis and Lynn Cooley, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), welcomed newly arrived graduate students and visiting scholars at the annual GSAS matriculation ceremony, also on Cross Campus.
The incoming group of 736 graduate students (which includes Master of Arts, Master of Science, and Ph.D. students) comes to Yale from 40 U.S. states, in addition to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico; 65 countries, and 374 undergraduate institutions. They are joining a graduate school community of some 3,000 other students and more than 1,000 faculty members, across 70 departments and programs in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, and humanities.
“You are here because our faculty recognized your intellectual curiosity and creativity, your academic drive and rigor, your passion for discovery, and your potential for leadership,” Cooley said. “You are here because we believe you can make valuable contributions to both Yale and the world, and because we know Yale can help you on your path to intellectual growth. We are delighted that you have chosen to join us.
“Trust that you belong here,” she added. “Trust that bringing your whole self will make you a better scholar. Trust that you will contribute positively to the people around you based on your experience and perspectives. Yale is fortunate to gather the best students from across the globe, which means you come from all walks of life, backgrounds, and identities.”
Cooley also presented the students with a pair of challenges: to learn how to effectively communicate their discoveries with the world and to embrace the uncertainties they face along the way.
It was a message McInnis returned to in her remarks to Yale’s newest undergraduate students when she mentioned a second mountain — K2, in Kashmir, the world’s second tallest mountain.
That’s where, in 1938, a 25-year-old Yale alumnus named Bill House free-climbed a 100-foot crevice (now called “House’s Chimney”) during a historic American expedition that had to turn back less than half a mile below the peak. The expedition’s path would later prove to be the preferred route for generations of climbers.
House is just one of the thousands of “courageous thinkers” from Yale who responded to uncertainty with a bold spirit.
“Uncertainty ties you to the generations of exceptional students who’ve preceded you here, who’ve scratched their heads over the same questions, though they may have offered different answers,” McInnis said. “And uncertainty ties you to the students who’ll come after you, who will inherit your answers and ask their own questions.
“This abiding lineage of knowing and not knowing should provoke awe. The awe of joining a community that spans centuries,” she said.
