Category: Speeches & Writings Page 4 of 6

Good afternoon. As President, I am thrilled to welcome you as the newest members of the Duke University community.

Though I am coming to you today from Duke Chapel on the heart of our campus, you are part of the most global incoming class in our university’s history. Many of you are watching this opening ceremony from your new dorm rooms; some of you are connected to us virtually from places around the world. A few of you are even starting your Duke careers on our sister campus at Duke Kunshan University—a truly unprecedented feat.

As members of the graduating class of 2020 and the incoming Duke class of 2024, I suspect that you’re getting tired of that word, unprecedented. You will be glad to hear, then, that today is a moment with a great many precedents. 

We have been gathering for an opening ceremony since long before Duke was a university—all the way back in 1906, the Chronicle reported that the forty-eighth academic year of what was then Trinity College began formally with the President, in academic regalia, hoisting the American flag above East Campus while the students gave out a cheer. Things have evolved a bit since then.

This isn’t even the first opening celebration during a pandemic.  A century ago, Spanish flu raged through 1918 and 1919, and was still very much a presence when Trinity College welcomed the incoming class of 1924. It must have been an unsettling time—just as I know this is—the excitement of a new start tinged with apprehension about the world around us. 

Even then, though, students were focused on the important priorities: The Chronicle editorial board wrote with relief that in response to the epidemic, the manager of the basketball team had rearranged the scheduled contests against Carolina and State so that the Trinity team could still compete for the state championship—which, I should note, they went on to win.

For those basketball fans among you: while the state championship title exists today only in spirit, we still regularly win it over our foes at N.C. State and UNC.

Now, if you ask anyone who attended our opening celebrations between 1990 and 2014, I suspect they would tell you that what they remember is hearing from the late poet Maya Angelou, who spoke to incoming first-year students for 24 years. You may be familiar her extraordinary work, or read her memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

In an interview toward the end of her life, Professor Angelou was asked what advice she might give for living fully. Her answer reflected both her humor and her generosity of spirit. 

“Every day I awaken, I am grateful,” she said. “My intent is to be totally present in that day. And to laugh as much as possible.”

To be grateful. To be present. And to laugh. 

It occurs to me that these three guiding principles might be helpful for all of us as we begin the next academic year at Duke.

First comes gratitude. Amidst the uncertainty and frustration that many of us have been experiencing, it can be difficult to remember that we have so much to be thankful for—and this is a vitally important starting point as we set off on this year together.

We at Duke are certainly grateful that you are here. As Dean Guttentag described just a few moments ago, yours is a tremendously accomplished class. Each of you bring something distinct to the Duke community—a unique perspective, a life-changing experience, a talent that sets you apart. 

To borrow from another poet, Walt Whitman, you have come here to contribute your verses to Duke’s powerful play, to forever change the course of our university’s history for the better. We are so thankful for that.

But as remarkable as you all are individually, we know that none of you arrived here on your own. The support, love, and guidance of the people in your life—your parents, families, friends, and teachers, many who may be watching today—has fostered your extraordinary talents, has allowed you to grow into the accomplished people assembled here today. 

I hope that you will take a moment in the coming days to thank them—to let them know that you are truly grateful for all of the ways that have helped bring you to this moment.

In that spirit, let us awaken each day of this new academic year with gratitude. 

Next comes Angelou’s charge to be present. This has perhaps taken on new meaning in the age of social distancing. But what I think she was getting at was not so much physical presence, but rather being present in the mind and spirit. 

In a world filled with distractions, it takes conscious effort to remind ourselves to pause and pay attention. To slow down and really appreciate the opportunities and experiences before us. You have likely come to Duke, at least in part, to prepare for the lifetime that comes after graduation. But I can assure you, those days are coming soon enough. While you’re here, I hope you will take the time to be really present—in your friendships and in the Duke community.

Some of the most remarkable things that you will learn at Duke will be from one another, not in the classroom or lab but in conversations among friends on Zoom and in explorations in your free time.  It may be harder in the age of COVID, but you’ll have the rare opportunity to connect with classmates and colleagues from many different backgrounds and perspectives. 

We at Duke have made new commitments to equity, inclusion, and racial justice for all students—efforts that you will be hearing more about in the coming weeks. We invite you to join in building this richer, more inclusive Duke community. If you are willing to connect with your classmates, they will have a great deal to teach you about how to live in and experience the world.

Also, all of us—you, me, indeed every member of the Duke community—must be present to our obligations to do frankly unnatural things we must all do in this pandemic to keep each other and our Durham community safe and healthy.  We can’t let down our guard or give in to those understandable temptations to get back to our “normal” lives.  You and all of your classmates will have to steel yourselves against the inclinations to get on with typical Duke traditions and Duke social life.  

Not now.  Eventually, but not now. 

Instead you will build this semester new traditions. 

Those connections we make will have to be made from at least six feet away.  We’ll have to learn to back away if we are crowded; we’ll have to simply say no to misguided party invitations; we’ll have to make our face masks badges of Duke pride and wear them everywhere we go. 

To do this for an entire day can be trying; for a week, truly challenging; for an entire semester, achievable only if we maintain our focus and help each other through.  Only if we remain fully present to each other. 

And at the same time, be present to your own needs. The transition to college can be jarring under any circumstances—and you may find it particularly so today. That’s okay—in fact, it’s to be expected. This moment will require great flexibility and resilience, and Duke has robust advisory and mental health resources to support you both as your get your footing here, and as you continue throughout your Duke career. I encourage you to take full advantage.  

And get some sleep.  Without it, none of us can be at our best.  A sleepy brain is not fully present.

So, with a good night’s rest behind us, let us next awake to this new academic year with presence. 

Finally, there is Angelou’s last piece of advice—to awake each day with laughter. 

One of Angelou’s great friends, the writer and theologian Frederick Buechner (BEEKner), told a story that they were both at a very formal ceremony in a cathedral in New York—a place at moment not unlike this one. Buechner noted that the assembled dignitaries were wearing “robes and tassels” and looking very serious.

Angelou smiled and explained to Buechner that enslaved people were not allowed to laugh, as their masters feared it was directed toward them. So they kept an empty barrel—and if any of them felt an urge to laugh, they would act like they were getting something from the barrel and let forth a laugh into it.

When Angelou saw all of these men in robes marching somberly into the cathedral that day, she said, her impulse was to run and find an empty barrel or an empty room and burst into laughter.

The point of the story is that laughter is a critical part of our humanity. And a healthy aspect of our lives: It can be a tremendously powerful antidote to uncertainty and tension. I encourage you, especially in these complicated times, to look for the daily moments of humor and joy that will offer themselves to you in your time here. 

You will undoubtedly experience stress at Duke—it’s a fact of life, and I’ll bet it’s been stressful already just to get here.  But you’ll also have a chance to watch a classmate do stand up in the Bryan Center, to laugh with friends on a suitably distanced walk in Duke Gardens, or to watch with awe as the sun comes up over this Duke Chapel. Such moments of joy are everywhere at Duke, and I hope you will take the time to find them.

In that spirit, let us also awake to this new academic year with laughter and joy. 

Class of 2024, once again, welcome to Duke. You have arrived at a time when things look very different than they ever have before. But in this unprecedented moment, there are great opportunities to be a Duke united in building an even brighter future for our university, the nation, and the world.

In that spirit, and with the words of Maya Angelou echoing in this Chapel where she spoke so many times, I encourage you to awake to this moment of profound opportunity. 

Awake each day with gratitude.

Awake and be present. 

And above all, awake to find the joy in your life as part of this academic community.

Cheers and congratulations.

To the Duke Community,

On Friday, we celebrate Juneteenth, the day when enslaved people in Texas learned of the Emancipation Proclamation that had been issued by President Lincoln more than two years earlier. We do so at a somber and sobering moment in our history, as our nation confronts the horror of police violence against Black people, amidst the backdrop of systemic racial inequities and injustices that have been laid bare by the pandemic.

In recognition of Juneteenth’s message of liberation from oppression, and out of respect for the anger, sadness, exhaustion, and courage of our Black friends and neighbors, this Friday, June 19, will be a day of reflection for the entire Duke University community. I encourage you to pause from your regular work and reflect both on the ongoing history of systemic racial injustice and how it manifests in our neighborhoods, our places of work, our families, our faith communities, and at Duke.  To the extent possible, managers should provide employees with time to take part in programs and observances for this day of memory and contemplation.

I hope that this opportunity for reflection will prove valuable for you, as I know it will for me. I cannot as a white person begin to fully understand the daily fear and pain and oppression that is endemic to the Black experience. Instead, I have been seeking to listen, and to learn. I’ve been meeting with my colleagues and reading Black authors and theorists, some here at Duke. And I’ve been reflecting on our national, and regional, and institutional history. 

Those of us who are not subject to the daily oppression of racism must engage deeply, and with humility, with humanity, and with honesty. We must commit to do doing so in a sustained way and not only in response to a moment of national crisis. We live with overwhelming evidence of systematic differences in life chances. They are there to be seen. And yet ​too often those of us not burdened by racism choose not to see, or we choose to explain away these disparities rather than move to correct them.

Here at Duke, we aspire to be agents of progress in advancing racial equity and justice; but it would be more than fair to say that we have often not fully embraced that mission.  Our history makes that clear. We have accomplished so much in which we take pride, and yet we have often been slow to do the right things, the hard things, the transformative things. 

We must take transformative action now toward eliminating the systems of racism and inequality that have shaped the lived experiences of too many members of the Duke community. That starts with a personal transformation, and I’m prepared to do that work. It must end in institutional transformation, and that is the hard work before all of us. And that is my responsibility: to put my full energy as president behind that effort.

That work begins today. I commit the university to the following actions, which, in recognition of anti-racism’s vital importance to every level of institutional activity, are embedded within all five core aspects of Duke’s strategic framework, Toward our Second Century.

First, as we commit to empowering our people, we will

• significantly and measurably expand the diversity of our faculty, staff, and students, with particular focus on Black, Indigenous and people of color;
• expand our need-based student financial aid, at all levels, and increase faculty support for Black, Indigenous and people of color, through chairs and other means;
• seek and support a diverse community of staff, through robust workforce development and pipeline programs for underrepresented populations; and
• ensure salary equity and promote excellence by increasing diverse leadership opportunities at every level of our organization.

As we commit to transforming teaching and learning, we will

• incorporate anti-racism into our curricula and programs across the university, requiring that every Duke student—in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs—learns of the nature of structural racism and inequity, with special focus on our own regional and institutional legacies;
• assess and remediate systemic biases in the design of our curricula;
• amplify our student success resources to ensure that all students are able to take full advantage of Duke;
• fully mobilize and expand Duke’s research capacity to address and help overturn racism and reduce racial disparities and inequities in policing, justice, health, housing, education, labor and other domains of life, including new avenues of support for scholars who examine these issues; and
• establish and support Duke as a global educational and research leader in anti-racism.

As we commit to building a renewed campus community, we will

• require anti-racism and anti-bias training for every member of our faculty, student body, and staff in an effort to foster a more inclusive environment for all members of the Duke community;
• enhance support for our students, faculty, and staff who are experiencing pain or trauma related to racial injustice;
• establish a program of coordinated surveys of our faculty, students and staff to assess and inform our progress in addressing bias and promoting respect, meaningful inclusion, and true equity in our community;
• highlight Black excellence throughout the campus community and increase the visibility of Black scholars, students, staff, and alumni; and
• hold leadership accountable through the annual review process for promoting a more inclusive, equitable Duke.

As we commit to forging purposeful partnerships in our city and region, we will 

• strengthen relationships with the City of Durham and support the empowerment of underrepresented communities;
• create internships for local students, expand local workforce-development programs, and elevate mission-consistent employment and engagement opportunities throughout the community; 
• deepen our engagement with North Carolina Central University and Durham Technical Community College, as well as Johnson C. Smith University, with whom we share a historic relationship through The Duke Endowment; and
• support an expanded pipeline for transfer, graduate, and professional applications from students at community colleges and HBCUs.

Finally, as we commit to activating our global network, we will 

• redouble our efforts to support our alumni who are Black, Indigenous and people of color, including expanded opportunities for networking and professional mentorship;
• provide opportunities for alumni who are Black, Indigenous and people of color to connect with students on campus;
• reach out with educational programs for our alumni on racial inequities and injustices; and 
• assist in mobilizing Duke alumni to be agents of positive change in their communities.

These actions are only a starting point. Righting the wrongs of history will take time, and our efforts will need to be focused and sustained. We must also be far clearer about our goals and transparent as we work toward them. 

To that end, I have charged our executive leadership—our Provost, Executive Vice President, and Chancellor for Health Affairs—to develop and implement a structure for rigorous assessment, accountability and reporting on our progress. I have also asked for a preliminary implementation proposal from the university’s senior leaders and the deans of each school by September 1; I will update the university community on our progress by October 15.

Ultimately, real progress will require an embrace of both personal and institutional humility, admitting to our blindness, our lack of understanding, and confusion.

Real progress will require an abiding commitment to humanity, to actually and deeply caring about each other’s life chances—enough to change them for the better.

Real progress will require both personal and institutional honesty, as change will only come if we seek, confront and own our truth.

As a Duke community, we want to lead the way: on a campus that has had its share of painful moments, and here in the American South, with its legacies of enslaving Black people, undermining Reconstruction, enforcing segregation and resisting integration through Massive Resistance and other means, and brutally suppressing and even to this day frustrating at so many turns the life chances of our Black neighbors and colleagues. We want to lead because when we commit to an anti-racist mission and truly lift up, and support, and celebrate Black lives and Black excellence, we will become a better and more perfect version of the great institution I believe we are.

We cannot, on this Juneteenth, bring news of true freedom—freedom from oppression, violence, and systemic racism. In many ways, even after a century and a half, that goal sadly remains elusive. But today, we can bring news of Duke’s commitment to be partners on the path to achieving it, and to resolutely turn our attention toward the mission of anti-racism.

Sincerely,

Vince

Dear Colleagues, Students, and Friends,

This week, as the United States passed the grim milestone of 100,000 lives lost to the coronavirus, the horrifying death of George Floyd has drawn national attention to fundamental and systematic disparities of justice in our nation. The events in Minneapolis have occurred on the heels of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, the shooting of Breonna Taylor and in the context of the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color, including here in Durham. For many people at Duke and elsewhere, the pain, trauma and sense of hopelessness is overwhelming.

Every day, throughout our country, African American and other marginalized communities have their safety and dignity threatened—in their places of work, in public spaces, and in their homes and neighborhoods. This ongoing history of structural and sustained racism is a fundamental and deeply distressing injustice, here as elsewhere.

But we as a university must do more than recognize and grieve these circumstances; we must work together to change them.  In our Duke statement of values, we affirm our commitment to trust, respect, and inclusion. In that spirit, Duke University will continue the work of addressing generations of racism and injustice, of seeking ways to approach one another with respect, and of building communities that are truly safe, supportive, and inclusive for all.

My very best wishes to the entire Duke family in this troubling time.

Sincerely,

Vincent E. Price

President

Dear Duke Students and Families,

I hope this note finds you and your family well despite the complications to life caused by COVID-19. The past few months have brought us many new challenges, but also daily reminders of why we are all so proud to be members of the Duke University community. 

I write today because I know the question on everyone’s mind: what will happen with the fall semester?

There’s a lot we still don’t know.  Like every family, community and business, we are trying to make the best decisions with only partial information that changes by the day.  A month ago, we established several planning teams to prepare for the next academic year.  These teams have worked closely with our faculty, our physicians and public health experts to develop a range of options that start with protecting the health and safety of the Duke community and focus intensely on ensuring the continued excellence of our education, research, public service and patient-care missions.

That work continues, but here’s what we do know right now:  

First, Duke University will be open in the fall, with the specific details of attendance and schedule to be determined soon. Throughout the pandemic, our education and research programs continued, so in a sense we’ve never closed.  We completed the spring semester, awarding almost 6,000 degrees earlier this month to the extraordinary Class of 2020.  We started a virtual Duke Summer Session with five times as many students as last year.  Our hospitals and clinics continue to care for patients, and research on COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics has only expanded.  And we’ve now begun the very careful process of reopening our facilities in phases. This week, hundreds of additional Duke researchers and scientists are returning to campus to continue their vital research with new protocols for social distancing, daily monitoring, and testing, contact tracing and medical supervision.

Second, we expect to make decisions about the structure of the coming academic year by the end of June.  Why not decide now?  We are committed to getting this right, and responsible decision making must be based on a clearer understanding of public health and safety issues than is now available. Our decisions also have to be informed by our experience from these early campus restarts. Making choices now in the absence of this vital information would jeopardize safety of our students, faculty, staff and the wider community, even if it seems to provide the certainty so many of us desire. 

Consider for a moment where we were as a country just six weeks ago: you can see how quickly medical guidance has evolved, how rapidly legal and regulatory guidance developed, particularly around matters like testing and tracing, and how much local conditions have changed.   The next six weeks should give us far more reliable information upon which we will base our decisions.

And finally, we know enough to say that next academic year will not look anything like the past.  As we work toward coming back to school safely in the fall, we are innovating every part of the Duke experience—from the academic calendar to residential living—to provide students the best and safest possible configuration of on-campus and high-quality remote teaching.  We are dedicated to adapting the life-changing experiences that make the Duke experience so special, and to creating new ones in areas like career planning.

To be sure, there will be necessary changes in how our spaces are configured and classes are delivered, as well as in the many campus activities that make Duke so enriching and exhilarating; but, like every other part of society, we will be resilient and adapt to the new reality.

Looking beyond next academic year, we are building the Duke of the future. This too will take time, but will only be improved by the knowledge we all gain as we move through the months ahead.  Our present circumstances may be daunting; but they call upon us to determine, together, how we empower the finest scholars, redefine teaching and learning for the 21st century, deepen our commitments to community, strengthen our partnerships in the region, and engage as never before our global network of Duke alumni, families, and friends. 

So, while I may disappoint those of you who are looking for certainty now, this is where we stand today. We’ll be in touch with you directly as soon as we have more specific information about our programs, and the actions you can take to prepare for the fall semester. 

In the meantime, I can tell you that the Duke you know and love is alive and well.  The education you receive at Duke will prepare you for lives and careers of meaning and fulfilment.  Whether you are a first-year or a senior, your Duke experience will be memorable for life. And wherever you are, near or far, you can follow what is happening through The Duke Daily, our daily e-mail newsletter.  Our students receive it each weekday, and parents and families can sign up here. 

I offer my best wishes to you and your family, my deepest thanks for your commitment to Duke, and my appreciation of your confidence in the enduring value and promise of our great university. 

Sincerely,

Vincent E. Price
President

Dear Colleagues,

Over these past few months, the world has seen the best of Duke. Every member of our community has risen to meet extraordinary difficulties that none of us expected when the academic year began with such promise last August. For all that, and on behalf of your colleagues around the world, I thank you. I have never been prouder to be a Blue Devil.

Even as we rise to meet the public health challenges and navigate this new world of social distancing and working from home, we must also rise to meet the financial headwinds now confronting us, both individually and collectively. As I noted last month, the fallout from the pandemic has had a significant negative effect on almost every aspect of our operations. Indeed, as predicted, every one of our sources of revenue—tuition, research grants, clinical and patient care services, private philanthropy and income from our investments and endowment—has already suffered large reductions or is expected to be quite substantially diminished in the months ahead. 

At the same time, many of our costs continue to rise as we grapple with expanded needs precipitated by the pandemic. The full impact will not be known for several months, but we can estimate that the total decline in revenues will be somewhere in the range of $250 million to $350 million next fiscal year and could range as high as 15% of our annual operating budget. 

In anticipation of this downturn, we implemented last month a series of steps to mitigate our worsening financial circumstances, which—except for the Duke University Health System (DUHS)—apply to all of Duke University:

Reducing expenditures: All schools, units, departments and programs have suspended all new non-salary expenditures, with any ongoing expenditures greater than $2,500 requiring pre-approval by the Executive Vice President, Provost or Chancellor for Health Affairs or their designees.

Hiring freeze: All staff hiring has been paused until further notice, except for those positions deemed essential and approved by the Executive Vice President, Provost or Chancellor for Health Affairs, or their designees. 

Suspending salary increases: For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020, there will be no salary increase for university employees making more than $50,000 per year. Employees earning up to $50,000 who earn satisfactory performance evaluations will receive a one-time, $1,000 payment. The only exceptions to this policy will be certain academic promotions and positions governed by the terms of contracts with collective bargaining units.

Holding construction: All new university construction projects are on indefinite hold, except those related to safety, repairs, infrastructure, virus research and a small number of obligations to new faculty. 

These cost-saving measures are helping to meet part of our shortfall. However, since salaries and benefits for our employees represent about two-thirds of our overall operating budget, a deficit of the magnitude we are anticipating cannot be addressed without curtailing some of these costs. We continue to believe that our health insurance programs must remain intact, especially at this time. However, we have reluctantly determined we must also reduce our salary and benefit expenses in order to weather successfully the financial storm. 

Duke is only as great as our people, and as we adapt to this new reality, we must never lose sight of our commitments to our people and our purpose. Every university employee continues to be in a fully paid status regardless of their current location and duties, and we intend to keep that in place as long as it is financially feasible and responsible. But doing so will require some changes and sacrifices that, while uncomfortable and unpleasant, will help secure continued employment and retain vital economic resources in the Durham community. 

Consequently, the following will apply to all university employees. (DUHS employees will receive separate communications.)  Effective July 1, 2020, we will:

Temporarily suspend university-paid retirement contributions.  To avoid cutting direct compensation, we will instead temporarily suspend all employer contributions to the Duke Faculty and Staff Retirement 403(b) plan for a period of 12 months. This action does not affect any employee investments—that is, anyone enrolled in Duke’s retirement plan can continue to make contributions from their salary—only the university’s separate contributions to these plans will be temporarily suspended. Nor will this impact the Employees’ Retirement Plan for our nonexempt employees, which is administered separately. 

We take this step only after very careful study and deliberation. While painful, it appears our best way forward for two reasons. First, it affects only deferred income and only for one year, meaning that regular salaries will continue to be paid throughout this temporary period. Second, this will ensure that Duke can continue to support our employees, their families, and the Durham economy. 

This action, and the other cost-saving efforts noted earlier, will result in an estimated savings of approximately $150 million to $200 million next fiscal year and provide, we hope, the necessary resources to sustain and advance our academic programs for the near-term.  

We are also taking additional steps to that will affect the approximately 300 university employees earning above the retirement-contribution threshold: 

Temporary reduction of salary for highly compensated employees.University employees who earn more than the federally mandated 403(b) contribution threshold ($285,000) will also see a temporary reduction of 10% in the portion of their salary above that threshold, for a period of 12 months. Specific details will be communicated before June 30 directly to those who will be impacted. 

Additional voluntary contributions by senior leadership.  As President, my reduction above will be doubled to a total of 20%, and the Provost, Executive Vice President, and Chancellor will have a reduction of 15% for this period. The deans and vice presidents will also make additional contributions to support our highest priorities in addition to the mandated reductions.

We take these steps only after considerable study of all the options, and with confidence that this is the best and most equitable path for us at this difficult moment. We will continue to monitor our circumstances carefully, and have engaged a comprehensive Team 2030 Strategy process to determine what further actions may be needed.

Some may wonder why we don’t simply draw additional funds from Duke’s endowment to address these deficits. You are probably aware that the endowment, which in times of growth is a source of funding for priorities such as student financial aid and faculty chairs, is not a “rainy day” savings account. Rather, it is a permanent fund intended to provide ongoing support over the life of the university, and most of it is legally restricted for specific purposes. The steps we are taking to secure Duke’s financial future are already predicated on spending as much as we responsibly can from our endowment. Indeed, even with the actions outlined here, we expect in the coming year to spend from our endowment—which has suffered considerably by recent declines in the market—at rates that will not be made up for by investment growth, thus further reducing this vital source of long-term income.

Our circumstances today are daunting, but we will get through them. We are a strong and resourceful community guided, especially in challenging times, by our shared values of mutual respect, trust, inclusion, discovery and excellence in all we do. Our work is great and good, and it continues in the face of the pandemic. Last weekend, we conferred degrees on almost 6,000 new Duke graduates. And while we could not share their joy on campus, thousands of you, joined by alumni, friends and families around the world, came together to mark the moment of their transition from citizens of Duke to citizens of the world. It is for them, and their succeeding generations of scholars and doers, that we take these steps now to secure our future.

Thank you for all you do to make us the Duke we have always been, and the Duke we are destined to become.

Sincerely,

Vincent E. Price
President

Dear Colleagues,

What sets Duke apart are our people and our purpose, and both have been tested over these past few weeks.  We have all lived through what for many has been the most tumultuous and unsettling period of our lives.  The combination of understandable concern for our health and safety, and those of our loved ones, with massive disruptions to society, education, business and even our ability freely move around our communities, is deeply unsettling.

But we have as a Duke community met these unprecedented challenges with an extraordinary outpouring of creativity, commitment and courage from thousands of people spanning the globe.  Each of you has contributed in your own way, through actions that have saved lives, supported our students, faculty, staff and patients, and ensured that our important work continues despite the challenges we confront every day.  Many of you have done so while balancing health concerns, caring for family members, and navigating the mental and emotional challenges of an uncertain and isolating time. 

Your extraordinary effort brings home the truth that we can only do great works through great people, and that ensuring the well-being of our people is critical to our purpose of seeking knowledge in the service of society.

Even as we confront present challenges, we must be clear that the pandemic will also produce profound and lasting effects, including severe and negative effects on our operations and finances.  Duke is not alone in this, of course: every business, government, nonprofit organization and family is now making difficult choices. While it is too soon to determine with precision the magnitude of disruption to our finances, it is clear that the impacts will be both severe and prolonged.  All of our formerly reliable sources of revenue – tuition, research grants, clinical revenue, private philanthropy and income from our investments and endowment – will almost certainly be significantly and adversely affected, even as we face increased expenses in our education, research and patient-care services. 

The responsible institutional course is to engage in a thoughtful, comprehensive, and strategic review of our operations and finances, and we are initiating exactly that.  In the meantime, we must also act responsibly now by taking immediate steps to mitigate our deepening financial challenges.  As a result, we are today either confirming (in the case of actions that were announced earlier) or implementing the following Duke University policies, which do not apply to the Duke University Health System:

Expenditures:  All schools, units, departments and programs will need to pause new non-salary expenditures, including (but not limited to): contracts, service or consulting agreements; computer, office and laboratory equipment; renovations; furniture; travel and entertainment; meetings and conferences. Any ongoing expenditure of university funds (including grant, gift and endowment funds) greater than $2,500 will continue to require pre-approval by the Executive Vice President, Provost or Chancellor for Health Affairs or their designees.  There will be additional guidance forthcoming regarding information technology services, including software licenses.

Hiring:  All staff hiring is paused until further notice.  Requests for exceptions for positions that are essential to the operation of the university can be made through the vacancy management process, which requires the approval of the Executive Vice President, Provost or Chancellor for Health Affairs, depending on the unit.  Subject to the approval of the appropriate dean, ongoing faculty searches may continue provided that all salary and startup funds are identified.  Likewise, searches for staff positions that are fully funded by external research grants that have already been received by the university may continue, subject to review through the vacancy management process.  

Salaries: For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020, there will be no salary increase for University employees making more than $50,000 per year.  Employees earning up to $50,000 who earn satisfactory performance evaluations will receive a one-time, $1,000 payment.  The only exceptions to this policy will be certain academic promotions.   Positions covered under collective bargaining agreements will be governed by the terms of the contract.  This action also does not cover Duke University Health System (DUHS) employees.  DUHS administers compensation on a different calendar from the University, and guidance for the next year will be provided to DUHS employees at a later date.

Benefits: At this time, we do not anticipate making any changes in our insurance programs (health, dental, vision and disability).  We are reviewing our 403b program to determine whether adjustments are now appropriate.

Construction:  All new construction projects are on indefinite hold, except those related to safety, repairs, infrastructure, virus research and a small number of obligations to new faculty. 

As we adapt to this new reality, I pledge to you that Duke will never lose sight of our highest commitments, to our people and our purpose.  We remain firmly committed to meeting the financial aid needs of our students, which are likely to rise.  Our decisions will be guided by and aligned with Duke’s overarching strategic framework, Toward our Second Century.  We will be mindful of the needs of the most vulnerable among us and committed to the health, safety and security of our students, faculty and staff.  And we will be true to our shared values of respect, trust, inclusion, discovery and excellence.

We will get through this, together, by supporting one another and our shared mission as a university.  Thank you for all that you are doing for Duke. I am proud to call you colleagues.

Sincerely,

Vincent E. Price
President

Dear Colleagues,

The start of a new academic year is a time of great anticipation at Duke.  Faculty, staff and students alike share news of their summer exploits.  Many of our colleagues are working to put the finishing touches on new facilities like The Hollows and the Karsh Alumni and Visitors Center.  And the summer campers at Duke who temporarily lowered the average age on campus by perhaps a decade have gone home, making way for our returning undergraduate, graduate and professional students and the great new class of 2023. 

We can only speculate about what the months to come will bring. A Bass Connections team might discover a primary source that opens a new page of our history. Perhaps we’ll see some new  discoveries that will save lives, a few more Rhodes Scholars, or even another Nobel Prize. Maybe the Blue Devils will win another national championship – or several!

For me, this time of year also brings a profound sense of gratitude for the opportunity I’ve been given to be a part of this inspiring Duke family.  Our achievements may garner the headlines, but it’s the countless everyday contributions of each person in our community that truly define us – and shape our future.

I’m thankful for those who have been here all summer: maintaining and renewing our beautiful campus, conducting research in our labs, caring for patients, and supporting our students and faculty in their endeavors. I’m grateful for those who have been representing Duke this summer across the globe, through internships and research projects and DukeEngage trips. I’m particularly grateful for those who are joining our university for the first time, and for all that you will contribute to our community in the months and years ahead.

As I told our first year students at convocation, the connections between us are what set Duke apart. In this spirit, as we look forward to the new academic year, I encourage you to reflect on how very much we rely on each other to be our best.  Find an opportunity this week to express your gratitude to a classmate, a teacher, a staff colleague, or a teammate.  Hold a door open, give a smile and a wave, let them know how much you value their being here.  You might make their day – and I anticipate they’ll be grateful for you as well.

Very best wishes for a wonderful year.

In gratitude,
Vince

Good afternoon! To the great class of 2023, welcome to Duke! 

I also want to recognize Provost and Chief Academic Officer Sally Kornbluth, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Gary Bennett, Vice President and Vice Provost for Campus Life Mary Pat McMahon, our deans and administrators, and all of the faculty members who make this community so exceptional.

Well, you are moved in!  I was out there on East Campus helping with move-in yesterday morning, and a quick note: If any of you in Jarvis are missing a mini-fridge, I think I left it in one of the common rooms.

And to your parents, siblings, and friends who came to help you move in:  well, it’s time.  Time for congratulations, and then goodbyes.  If you want to stick around, you’ll have to talk to the admissions office about submitting an application. 

Otherwise, it’s time for you to take your leave, and leave it to your students begin exploring Duke.

To be sure, there is much to explore. This storied gym, for one, but I have to tell you that you’re not seeing it at its best right now. Come back when one of our volleyball, basketball or fencing teams are on the floor, and this place will be rocking.

But other corners of campus are already bursting with life: from the Rubenstein Arts Center with its light-filled dance studios, to the classrooms and labs where your professors are preparing for your arrival, to the glorious afternoons in the Duke Gardens as we head into the fall. 

As you explore, you’ll come across some fascinating corners of the campus.  Along a quieter edge of the Gardens, for example, you may discover a granite marker documenting an interesting fact – passing right through the middle of Duke is the 36^thparallel of latitude.  

From time to time, you might be inclined to think of this campus as a parallel universe, but that’s notthe point of this marker.

When Eratosthenes, the so-called Father of Geography, first attempted to measure the circumference of Earth in the 3^rdcentury BCE, he did so by projecting this line, which we now know as the 36^thparallel, and which neatly bisects the Strait of Gibraltar, the Greek Islands, and the entire ancient Mediterranean world. In the centuries since, that line has guided untold travelers, dreamers, and explorers … and now, it has brought you here to Duke.

The 36th parallel illustrates just how far this class has come to get here.  In its vast lap around the world, the line runs through remarkable places, some of which are very familiar to you or your classmates. It passes through Southern California — where I was born and raised, along with many members of the class of 2023.  

The parallel also passes through some of the most embattled – and culturally-significant – places in the Middle East: Tehran, Kurdistan, and Aleppo, Syria. It passes through Jiangsu Province in China, home to three of you along with Duke Kunshan University.  It passes just north of Busan, South Korea, home to two of you, and through a thousand smaller towns along the way.  Closer to Duke, it cuts directly through Tulsa, Oklahoma and Nashville, Tennessee – are there any Tulsans or Nashvillians here today?

But today, I’d like us to pause for a moment and contemplate the 36^thparallel — not just to note a curiosity on our campus, but to think about what these kinds of lines signify.  I think there may actually be some interesting lessons for us, here today, when we think about such imaginary lines.

First, lines allow us to map; they help us draw places and to define spaces.  And the 36^thparallel can literally show you the way while you’re here. In a happy accident of history, Campus Drive almost exactly follows the line.  So if you ever get lost somewhere between East Campus and West, I suppose you could navigate old style by using a sextant.

But one way or another, you willbe charting your own course here. A course of study, sure, but also lining up new friendships, clubs, research, producing and performing works of art, playing sports, perhaps traveling abroad.  And as you are mapping your way, writing papers, poems, and lab reports while juggling your activities, you may at points feel a bit overwhelmed, exhausted, anxious, or just flat-out lost.  When that happens, please reach out for some assistance in navigating.  

As Liv McKinney so nicely pointed out, when you lose your line, when you veer off course and become disoriented; it’s not necessarily cause for concern.  You may just discover places you’d never imagined, people you’d never expected to befriend; ideas that help you get back on course — if you want – or to rechart your course, or maybe even redraw the whole map.

Second, lines allow us to connect; they can serve as links between disparate points.  When Eratosthenes first projected the 36^thParallel some twenty-three hundred years ago, he scarcely could have imagined the innumerable connections it has allowed humanity to make – bridging cultures and continents and facilitating a much wider and deeper understanding of our place in the world.

So another way to think about your education is to focus on the points, the places, the people you will draw together– as is often said, learning is about “connecting the dots.”  Your roommates, classmates, or teammates, your teachers and advisors will challenge your perspectives and opinions.  And, if you are willing to connect with them, they will have a great deal to teach you about how to live in and experience the world. Some of the most remarkable things that you will learn at Duke will be from one another, not in the classroom or lab but in conversations late at night at the dorm, over breakfast in the marketplace, or even while you’re tenting in K-ville.  Be open to those connections.

I hope that you will also take these connections as inspiration to draw your own broad connections, across disciplines, over time, between theory and practice. As has no doubt already been made known to you, Duke is a university firmly rooted in the liberal arts – that is, we are committed to a holistic approach to the search for knowledge; we believe that by studying literature, history, and the arts alongside the sciences and math we gain ever more opportunities to draw those connections, and in so doing draw a fuller picture of what it means to be human.

Now, I should close by noting a third function of lines, which is that they allow us to divide; we often draw lines to serve as boundaries. 

Just as Eratosthenes could scarcely have forseen the connections facilitated by his imaginary line, he could not have known some of the more dubious purposes that line would serve.  Eratosthenes could not have forseen that 19^thcentury Americans would use the 36^thParallel to draw the northern boundary of slavery in the Missouri Compromise – a compromise that may have forestalled but could not prevent the nation’s journey toward Civil War.  Or that the 36^thParallel would mark the boundary of the no-fly zone in Iraq, and the front lines in the Syrian Civil War.  

Today, we are confronted around the globe by intense divisions over disputed boundaries, and border lines over which goods and people, and ideas, travel. 

When we draw lines, we often oversimplify.  We risk missing a truth that is much more complicated, and richer, and blurrier than our imaginary lines suggest.  And if we confuse the lines we draw with reality, we risk embracing division over connection.  We risk letting our own boundaries box us in.  

Confronting that risk means reaching over those lines that would otherwise limit our worldview.  If we truly listen to our neighbors, listen carefully, and voice our disagreements with them respectfully, we will emerge with a much fuller idea of our place in the world.  Reaching out to make connections – especially connections across the boundaries that encircle us – reminds us that the lines that we thinkdivide us are only imaginary.  We become open to people, students of the world, seeking to learn from our neighbors rather than draw boundaries against them.

Over the course of your four years here, I hope you will be a boundary crosser, that you will seek out what interests you, what challenges you, what scares you, what excites you. Are you planning to conduct biomedical research? Try a short-story writing workshop, and you could write science fiction about genetic engineering. Is art history your strength? Why not take a chemistry class that can teach you about methods for dating paint pigments?  

But there is one boundary I hope you willdraw.  I know how exhilarating life at Duke can be. I know how driven Duke students can be. The fear of missing out can get the best of us.  Our drive is admirable, but it can drive us to distraction.  It can wear us down.  

So, I hope each of you draws another imaginary line, one that says I need some space; some space to relax; some space to reflect; some space to focus on my health.  And please: Get. Some. Sleep. 

Not now!  Stay with me …

I do want to emphasize this last point – the research clearly demonstrates that you are not at your best without adequate rest.

One great way to rest is to take in the Gardens.  Please do that now and again. And next time you do, maybe you will pause to reflect at that marker of the 36^thParallel of Latitude. 

Eratosthenes believed that this line was the center of the world. And while our scientific understanding has certainly evolved in recent centuries, when it came to our campus, he might have gotten it right. Here before you at Duke, along that imaginary line that traces the road between East Campus and West, an entire universe of knowledge awaits your exploration. 

So, brave explorers in the class of 2023, may the next four years take you on a remarkable journey of discovery that begins now. 

Congratulations, and welcome.

Good afternoon. To the great class of 2019, let me say congratulations. I don’t want to jinx it, but the outlook is prettygood that you will graduate tomorrow. 

To the parents who are with us, congratulations to you as well. I know from experience that “it takes a village” really means “it takes two decades of preparation and four years of worry.”  So, thank you for all you have done for our students.

And to those of you here for convocation, you’re in the right place but about three months too early. Please come back later.

It’s no coincidence that this grand space is modeled on the chapels of the great European universities. When James B. Duke was designing this campus, he wanted it to suggest a history that goes all the way back to the earliest medieval institutions of higher learning.  

So much about the university, from the soaring architecture to these extravagant robes we sometimes wear, is rooted in the Middle Ages—in the guilds of scholars who gathered around libraries where knowledge was preserved for safekeeping during the confusion and unrest of the day. Students studied for entry into the guild and earned degrees granting them access to the wisdom of the library.  

And while much has changed over the centuries, libraries are still the heart of university life.  You’ve probably spent many an hour in Perkins, Bostock, Lilly, and Rubenstein, thumbing through dusty volumes or frantically searching J-STOR. There is something profound – almost spiritual – about the research breakthrough late at night, when you flip open a book and find exactly the right quote for that paper.

Our libraries are more than stacks and carrels, or study rooms and digital collections: they also contain a wealth of archival materials. Among our special manuscripts you will some of our most treasured wisdom and the ingredients for some of our most transformative discoveries. 

So, when I set out to prepare these remarks, I followed your lead and went searching for justthe right quote for my assignment.  

Predictably, I found much to consider, from voices speaking through and across the ages.  

Take for instance the 16^thcentury Flemish physician Andreas Vesalius. Duke owns one of the few first editions of Vesalius’s landmark 1543 anatomy tract, On the Fabric of the Human Body, which serves as the basis of much of modern medical science and biology. 

In and among hundreds of pretty gruesome anatomical engravings, you can find some advice that is useful even today. Vesalius urges us to ground our understanding of the world in what we directly experience, to challenge what is authoritatively handed down with what we ourselves see to be true.  

He wants you to claim your ownunderstanding of the world; indeed, the medieval physician derisively describes sitting through a boring – and in his view, quite mistaken – lecture at the University of Louvain in the early 1500s – his fellow students scribbling notes, quote, “with accuracy in proportion to their interest.”

I guess not much has changed in 500 years. 

Or take the 18th century African-American poet Phillis Wheatley.  Duke has, remarkably, an inscribed 1773 first edition of poems by Wheatley.  She was a slave for most of her life – entirely self-educated – but her poetry was celebrated throughout colonial America and England and is still studied and read widely today. 

This is one of our most treasured assets — the first book published by an African American author, released two years before the first shots of the American Revolution and nine decades before Emancipation. 

What might Wheatly have written that speaks to you, today?  Well, in a poem to new graduates at Harvard, she called on them to raise their sights, and challenged them to make the most of what they had learned, to literally reach for the sky: “Students, to you ‘tis given to scan the heights above; To traverse the ethereal space, and mark the systems of revolving worlds.”

So, Wheatly spoke eloquently of the power and impact of outrageous ambition long before it became associated with Duke.

Many such voices of the past can be heard, speaking to your future from the quiet corners of the library, if you choose to listen.   You can find here the very scrap of paper where Walt Whitman first worked out a few famous lines for his life’s work, Leaves of Grass,in the middle 19^thcentury. His words are crossed out, underlined, scribbled – until he finally arrives at this: “Youth is full of grace, force, fascination … but old age will come after you, with equal grace, force, fascination.”  

Your parents can confirm that this is true. 

So, here’s what we have heard on the eve of your commencement: set out to understand the world for yourself, advises Vesalius; with all that you have been given, aim high, implores Wheatly; and from Whitman, accept the grace of aging as you have the exhuberance of youth.

But of all these treasured voices, there is one speaking most eloquently through the generations, as though she were here, with us in this Chapel: the great Victorian writer Mary Ann Evans,also known as George Eliot. 

As the English majors among you probably know, Duke owns a first edition of her classic novel, Middlemarch, which was published in eight installments in 1871 and 1872.  You can go to the Rubenstein Library and hold the volumes in your hands, serial paperbacks that have advertisements for patent medicines and long-forgotten London bookstores inside the back cover. Our librarians will give you a pair of gloves to turn the frail and browning pages.

And from those pages, Eliot speaks with unparalleled beauty and wisdom.   One line in particular, from her famous conclusion, sticks with me, and I hope speaks to you: “The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts.”

While commencement is a time when you are exhorted to strive for knowledge, to reach for the heavens, to leave your mark on history, I suggest we listen to the truth expressed here – the unhistoric acts can make all the difference. 

To be sure, the class of 2019 has been responsible for more than your share of Duke history: winning ACC championships, opening the Ruby, earning scholarships and awards, and building a world-record electric vehicle. But you’ve also “grown the good”at Duke in countless ways that never got reported in Duke Todayor The Chronicle.  

You’ve grown the good by staying up late to help a classmate who was struggling with a physics problem set.  You’ve grown the good by collecting trash on the paths in Duke Forest. You’ve grown the good by helping a heartbroken friend through a rough patch, by looking out for a first-year who is homesick, and by spending a Saturday morning grouting tile at Duke’s Habitat house.  

Even by holding open the door of the library for that colleague whose hands are full of books: It can be as simple as a smile, a kind word, an extended hand, or any of a million small ways of saying “I see you; I support you; I appreciate you.”

You know, we talk about preparing students for leadership in the world, but this doesn’t necessarily mean turning you into world leaders. It means inspiring you to have the courage to take full advantage of your gifts, by giving them to others every day, and becoming more fully realized versions of the person youwant to be.

Some of you in this room might change history. It’s possible that sitting among you is a future President, a famous artist, a CEO, perhaps a Nobel laureate, the discoverer of the cure for cancer.  And if you loved your time in Rubenstein, perhaps one of you will direct the Library of Congress or the Bodleian at Oxford.

But a great many of us will lead what from the outside may seem like more ordinary lives – as elementary school teachers, community doctors, advocates for immigrants, and devoted parents.  And these too will be great and good lives.

Duke’s greatest aspiration is to give you the curiosity and conviction to make the ordinary extraordinaryin whatever you do.  Just as in your time at Duke, opportunities for these unhistoric acts abound. Seek them out. 

You’ve already grown the good on our campus these past four years. And as you set off tomorrow once and for all, as you step through the gates into life after Duke, it will be into a world that I know will likewise be forever changed by the great class of 2019.

Cheers, and congratulations.