President Tilghman Gives '08 ROTC Commissioning Address
Jun
27, 2008
Shirley M. Tilghman, 19th President of Princeton University, gave this year's address at the ROTC commissioning ceremony, held on Tuesday, June 3, the afternoon of graduation. In her remarks she praised the new lieutenants for their commitment to military service in light of the challenges to be faced in an increasingly complex global environment.
The full text of her remarks follows:
OFFICER COMMISSIONING CEREMONY
June 3, 2008
3:00 pm, Faculty Room
Address by Shirley M. Tilghman
President, Princeton University
Thank you, Colonel Brown, for your kind introduction and, more importantly, for the exemplary leadership that you have brought to the Tiger Battalion during the past four years. As you prepare to leave the ranks of the active duty army after more than two decades of service, I know I speak for your cadets and fellow cadre members when I say that your presence on our campus will be missed, as will your insights as a teacher, engineer, and veteran of Operation Desert Shield and Storm. During your time at Princeton, first at the armory on Washington Road and now at 294 Alexander Street, you have provided our students with the personal example and professional guidance they need to serve our nation as junior officers and to do so with integrity, intelligence, and courage. For this your many friends at Princeton thank you.
It is an honor to speak at this year’s officer commissioning ceremony, which, like Commencement, is both an end and a beginning. In a few minutes two members of the Class of 2008, Thomas Haine and Carlos Del Pozo, will cease to be ROTC cadets, just as they ceased to be undergraduates this morning. When they swear to “support and defend” the Constitution of the United States, they will be committing themselves to serve our nation unconditionally, to put their comfort, safety, and very lives on the line if that is what their mission asks of them.
As the daughter of a Canadian army officer, who served in Europe in World War II, I know that this is not an easy path to follow, especially in times of conflict. It is a path that calls not only for great self-sacrifice, but also for a level of knowledge, judgment, and awareness that is not easily acquired. Only a liberal education, in my view, can fully prepare an officer for the challenges that he or she will face at home and abroad; only by studying the world and the forces that shape it can an officer hope to dispel the “fog of war” or keep a fragile peace. Today we honor Tom and Carlos not so much for their decision to wear our nation’s uniform but for all they have done – and will do – to ensure that they wear it well.
Having majored in history and East Asian studies respectively, Tom and Carlos have used their time at Princeton to learn about other countries and cultures and to look at the world from multiple vantage points. Carlos spent a summer semester in China under the auspices of Princeton in Beijing, and Tom devoted his senior thesis to the formative months of colonial Hong Kong. Both officers-to-be have completed another – and equally important – kind of international education, for their class included students from 50 nations, from Poland to Morocco to Nepal. Discussing ideas, sharing meals, and working on projects with students who see their homelands and the United States through a different prism of experience is an education in and of itself and the basis for lifelong understanding.
These activities also engender a respect for others that is critical in foreign relations, especially when military power is employed. Without a fundamental belief in the dignity of one’s fellow men and women, regardless of their race, religion, or socioeconomic circumstances, the exercise of force will never lead to genuine peace. As an ROTC alumnus and Iraq War veteran, Geoffrey Gasperini of the Class of 2001, put it, “Americans tend to believe that everyone in the world thinks the same way we do and shares all the value systems we champion. There are some universal values, yes, but there are also significant differences due to religion, culture, and history. We will struggle to remain an admired and peacefully influential nation if we fail to recognize these differences when formulating the ways in which we interact with the peoples and nations of the developing world.”
This global sensibility is doubly important in a world that has never been so small. Political, social, and economic boundaries are growing more blurred, and decisions taken, products made, and ideas developed in other countries are having a greater impact on our lives than ever before. The interconnected world in which we live is increasingly difficult to partition into watertight compartments of “us” and “them,” whether the context is international trade, popular culture, or foreign relations. The polarities of the Cold War have given way to conflicts that lack a unifying narrative, conflicts in which combatants and non-combatants are hard to differentiate and in which civilians must be safeguarded, local customs respected, and national fissures healed. In pursuing diplomatic and military goals, stereotypes and generalizations have never been more dangerous, while, conversely, nuance and forethought have never been more needed.
This is the world that Tom and Carlos will navigate, and I am confident that the insights they have acquired at Princeton, both inside and outside the classroom, will serve them well. So, too, will the love and support of the families, friends, and active and retired officers assembled in this room. Further training lies before them – for Tom, at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri and for Carlos, at the United States Army Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia. But it is Princeton that has provided the foundation for these studies.
I would like to close with the words of a member of the Class of 1942, as he and his classmates prepared to shoulder arms in World War II. Valedictorian and future army sergeant M. Todd Cooke concluded his address with these thoughts: “The ability to think clearly and act rightly is the most valuable asset which we have received from our years at Princeton. . . . This ability we must preserve and cultivate to the best of our power so that we may discharge with honor our responsibilities in winning the war and in making the peace that will follow.” This is the tradition in which Tom and Carlos stand and the spirit that they will carry with them from this place.
Congratulations to you both, and my very best wishes to you all.
|
