President Hansen: In this place of memory and of hope, in this moment of acknowledged continuity yet of splendid renewal, this good and wise faculty - in rare unison - offers felicitous greetings and a hearty welcome to our adventures.

Welcome to this community where the life of the mind is celebrated because of its entanglements in the flesh of living; welcome to these halls where learning is honored for its own sake, even as we hope it serves through the pathways of those we teach to bear down the haughty and to lift up the downtrodden; welcome to our sciences and our literatures and our histories, great vessels which give us buoyancy and happy journeys. Join us in our quiet harbors and on the high seas.