Honor’s Breakfast Remarks
May 5, 2007
Northern Michigan University

Dr. Leslie E. Wong
President

Honor students, parents, Board of Trustees, faculty, friends and family of the Gulis’s, Wildcat supporters, good morning.

What a rich and robust path you’ve been on.  You are, to borrow a term from the late David Halberstram, Northern’s “Best and the Brightest”.  Halberstram’s book is and remains a must read.  Now this may sound like nostalgia to you, that is, a university president looking back on his own path.  But Halberstram’s depiction of a “can –do, idealism” so personified by President Kennedy remains to this day, a moving moment for me.  Imagine, being a 3rd grader, winning an essay contest where the prize was a seat in UC Berkeley’s football stadium to hear President Kennedy in person.  Aside from meeting and marrying my girlfriend, and the birth of my three boys, nothing remains as electric as that moment when I was 8 years old.  President Kennedy asked me to dream big and act upon that dream.  The world needed me.  I became an 8 year old with a mission. Today,  you represent this mission.

The parallels then and today are amazing.  Vietnam then, Iraq today.  Science and math deficits then (Parents: remember Sputnik?).  Math and science problems today – the Chinese and Indians far surpass us on those playing fields.  The US was lethargic then and we lurch today unable to repair Louisiana, protect our borders nor bargain in good faith across the planet.  But something remains powerful today that was powerful then:  your American university degree is the gold standard. Your work and achievement has given you an enormous asset. Right now, you are the world’s best and the brightest.

A university education will extend your privilege and your responsibilities.  As I told honor graduates in December, there’s another aspect to your credentials of which you may not know. Each of you represents one less person incarcerated in America, one less person dependent upon the state, one more person adding value to your community.  You will be proactive in your community, not reactive.  You will create jobs, not just get a job.  You won’t whine about why something is not done, you’ll get it done.  You’ll vote with intelligence and you’ll value reading above television, writing above complaining and thinking above obedience, truth rather than comfort and honesty over exploitation.

These words are loaded with meaning, more important, they are my call to you to live a meaningful marked by a set of core values.  Kennedy asked me to develop a set of core values to guide my life and make a difference in the world.  At the age of 8 he asked me if I had a set of core values that will upset my sense of comfort but push me forward and upward.  What I ask of each honors graduate today, is that you work hard to manage the development of your own set of core values.  Values that give you trouble, get you in trouble but lead to a meaningful life.  After all, if core values aren’t causing you tension and distress then they do not pass for core values.  You see, core values hold you to a higher standard that daily events will challenge.  For example,

Respecting the dignity of our differences doesn’t mean I can use arbitrary and bigoted labels just because everyone else is.  And yes, it means that in private, with my colleagues or in the Berry Events center during hockey game, such language about women is not acceptable.

My core values create problems when local citizens want me to clamp down on those mischievous students of mine.  They believe and report that you’re out of control, shiftless and irresponsible.  To me, you are smart, engaged, involved, caring and compassionate.  Imagine the diplomatic challenge of defending you while not angering others.  By the way, I’m not naïve.  You are mischievous in a good way.

As president, it is hard for me to see the direction of this state and country, when we’re more willing to pay up to $32,000 per year for upkeep on one prisoner for an entire year and yet, so willing to make students pay more for their education.  At that rate, each single prisoner represents the full cost of almost 3 resident students, tuition room and board at Northern.  Someone’s core values are out of whack. It is real hard for me to keep my mouth shut as you have by now noticed.

But this speech is about you.  It’s about the values you choose to judge and direct your own life.  Your parents did a great job because you are here getting a degree with honors.  The university did well because you met our standards despite the sleepless nights and frustrating assignments.

Now it’s all about what you do about you.  No one else is there to blame, no one else to be your excuse.  But I am confident of you, because you are my mission and I have not and am not willing to fail at my mission. 

This project called you is now your mission.  Make us all proud.  But more importantly, make yourself proud. 

Thank you.

Dr. Les Wong
President
Northern Michigan University