Commencement
May 18, 2024
As prepared for delivery.
Good morning friends—it’s an honor to be here with y’all today! Thank you again to Wendy and Kevin for sharing your stories and lifting up Guilford’s core values. As an alumna and someone who currently works here, I have been struggling to find any words to offer that could inspire,encourage, or bring you peace and hope on this day. Your studies and experience over your four years at Guilford have been arduous, shaped by a global pandemic that interrupted the culture and community on this campus, as well as current massacres, genocides, and civil wars,in the Congo, Israel, Palestine, Russia, Sudan, and Ukraine among other places in our global community. Our lives on campus are not separate from the world outside of it, but the two are deeply intertwined–how we choose to engage as humans is informed by our values.
It was 12 years ago that I walked barefoot across this stage, and I lift that up as I come to you humble and vulnerable today. I was asked to be the alumnus speaker, somehow meant to represent all of you, knowing that it isn't truly possible to represent your immense diversity and beauty, but I do want to share some of my truth. How my values, many of which were planted and nurtured on this campus, of integrity, peace, liberation, and community, even and especially in times of challenge- have shaped my life, and have guided me through uncertainty. I certainly didn’t know that my path would lead me back here, into the honor of serving and supporting students on this campus, but it was the connections of mentors and friends that called me back.
As students at a Quaker college, you are in a long line of Friends, AKA Quakers who have worked to actively seek the goodness, Light, or “that of God” in every person–both those who are most similar to us, and those with whom differ or struggle. You also belong to a legacy of Friends who, as Bayard Rustin encouraged, “Speak truth to power” both in quiet and loud ways.There is not one right or wrong way to address the injustices and oppression that we have learned about in our years of study, that we experience or know in our time. However it is ours to discern and figure out what is our work, both individually and alongside the communities we are a part of.
It is true that the change we seek does not happen outside of the context of relationships–our connection and commitment to each other become guideposts when we are uncertain or afraid.It is also our responsibility to reach across lines of difference, to mend relationships, and to build diverse communities where truth can be heard and shared. As Quaker alumni, you are not alone in this work.
Grounded in radical love, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr warns of the difference between a positive and negative peace–a negative peace being the absence of tension, and positive peace which is the presence of justice. Building and creating this positive peace requires us to hone and build our skills and muscles. Friend Pamela Haines asserts that we must learn how to be deep listeners, to embrace conflict, to risk vulnerability, to boldly mend and repair relationships,to be educated and persistent in our pursuits, to learn how to grieve, and to do the hard work of cultivating hope. These are skills I hope you have begun to nurture here on this campus, and that you will continue to grow beyond these walls.
Part of what I have learned as an alumna is that the transformation that I experienced here on this campus was a threshold– Guilford was a place of planting seeds, of grasping new ideas,and nurturing their growth. The years ahead will also be pivotal for you. They will be a space where a deeper transformation can continue–where you get to take your unique perspectives,gifts, and ideas into other communities. You get to collaborate in creating a path for yourself and our wider community towards a collective liberation.
In working with many of y’all over the past few years, I know you to be resilient, creative, and dedicated humans who are attuned to injustice in ways that previous generations have not been. I boldly ask y’all to continue embracing complexity, to release yourself from the danger of binary thinking, and lean into relationships and community especially when it’s hard- because again, change doesn’t happen outside the context of relationship.
You did it. you are graduates! And... your education and transformation don’t end with this degree. You will need to have people by your side in this continued labor, many of them are probably amidst these rows of handsome people today, and many are strangers you’ve yet to meet that will become your chosen family and community. I want to be the second of many to welcome you to a huge community of folks who share the title of Guilford Alumni. I’m deeply grateful for y’all, and congratulations class of 2024.