Hoyer Delivers University of Maryland's School of Public Policy Commencement Address

COLLEGE PARK, MD – Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5), a University of  Maryland alumnus, delivered the Commencement address for the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy Commencement ceremony. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:   

"Thank you, Dean [Donald] Kettl, for that kind introduction and for the honor of addressing the Commencement class of 2014.

"Thank you, [Commencement Speaker] Caleb [Wolf], for those inspiring words, and, Professor [Philip] Joyce, for sharing your insights with us this morning.

"Thank you to the parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends who are here and who helped our graduates reach this day.  And thank you as well to the faculty, staff, and administration of the School of Public Policy for everything you have done – as mentors and advisors – to prepare the class of 2014 for whatever comes next. 

"Let me also extend my congratulations to graduates Martin Fitzgerald and Sara Gallagher, who are recipients of the fellowship my late wife, Judy, and I established to promote the study of public policy.  And I also want to congratulate Christina England, Lindsay Dodd, and Rachel Kane, who are this year's Gladys Noon Spellman Fellows.  I had the honor of succeeding Congresswoman Spellman in the House after she fell ill and was unable to stay in office.  I joined with her family in 1985 to launch the fellowship in her name to support outstanding students here at the School of Public Policy. 

"The year I graduated from law school in 1966, Senator Robert F. Kennedy delivered a powerful address while visiting the University of Capetown in South Africa.  He said:  ‘Like it or not, we live in times of danger and uncertainty….  All of us will ultimately be judged, and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves, on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that event. …Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control.  It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine our destiny.'

"Senator Kennedy's words are as true today as they were then. Like it or not, graduates of 2014, we live in times of danger and uncertainty – but the future is not beyond our control.

"When Senator Kennedy spoke in 1966, the security of our world rested in the hands of two superpowers, the balance between them providing a measure of stability.  In 2014, it is not one main adversary that we face but a host of non-state actors and regional powers vying for advantage in power and resources. 

"In 1966, our gross federal debt was $328 billion.  Today it is over $17 trillion. 

"When I graduated, the federal minimum wage was $1.25 an hour.  While today it is $7.25, in 1966 dollars that would have equaled just $0.99 an hour.  And there is a growing skepticism among many Americans that the opportunities that enabled you to access higher education will no longer be there for the next generation. 

"In 1966, information traveled around the world in a matter of hours, as newspapers went to print and television was broadcast.  Today, within a split-second, a single tweet can launch a conversation spanning the globe – just as easily as it can launch an uprising or spark sectarian violence. 

"The world you are entering as newly minted graduates is a far more complex one than when I stood in your shoes.   However, I can say with certainty that you are well prepared for it. 

"The education you received here at the School of Public Policy is rooted in its mission to ‘prepare broadly knowledgeable and innovative leaders to have an impact on the profound challenges of the twenty-first century.' 

"Our challenges are indeed profound, but you have the tools to make a positive impact.  As Kennedy said, it is the ‘work of our own hands' – what you will do with your Maryland education – ‘matched to reason and principle, that will determine [the] destiny' of our nation.   

"Reason and principle in today's public discourse are in too short supply.  The challenges of the twenty-first century will require those who engage in policymaking not only to be good leaders but good listeners.  Not simply to care about issues but to address them carefully and acknowledge their complexities. 

"Sadly, too much of our politics of late has been characterized by simplicity: sound-bites rather than sound arguments and impulse without regard to implications. 

"However, as I look out at all of you and think about the promise of your generation, I see much cause for hope that ‘reason and principle' will continue to serve as your guide.

"When I wore the cap and gown in 1966, there were only three women in my law school class and few role models for women in government.  Fortunately, this has changed, and I have had the privilege of serving alongside pioneering women like Barbara Mikulski, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi, who continue to inspire a new generation to public service.  

"When I began law school, segregation and discrimination continued to deny equal access and equal opportunity to millions of Americans.  I entered public service in large part because of the Civil Rights Movement.  Today, while much work remains to make our union more perfect, the moral arc of the universe, as Dr. King predicted, has bent in justice's direction.  But the quest for justice remains ongoing, and, it is for your generation to bend that arc further. 

"The growing diversity among our policymakers – in both background and in beliefs – makes America stronger as we face new challenges.  However, we must make certain that diversity does not manifest itself as division.

"I have confidence that you and your peers can meet our challenges. What you learned here at the School of Public Policy was not just a broad set of knowledge but an understanding of your ability to reason and determine your own set of principles – and how to channel that knowledge, that reason, and those principles into making a difference. 

"You've already shown us how.  Each year, School of Public Policy students participate in the ‘Do Good Challenge,' where participants team up to make the greatest possible social impact through innovative philanthropy.  One of this year's two winning teams created a social networking site for LGBT youth to connect with pen-pals for peer-to-peer support.  The other launched an organization to build schools in Honduras.  Finalists included a team working to connect the Anacostia River bike trail to an urban farm and another linking college-age mentors with at-risk students in Prince George's County. 

"Your generation, the most inter-connected in human history, has the advantage of seeing more of the world up close than any generation before it.  But as our world shrinks, your responsibility to do good in it will grow.  Even now, as was the case in the last century and for centuries before that, the awareness of injustice or suffering too often did not lead to action.  In the twenty-first century, however, one cannot plead ignorance of injustice or suffering on the other side of the room or, indeed, the other side of the world. 

"So I implore you, in each of your own lives and careers, to commit to a philanthropy of time, energy, and effort by giving your talents to the challenges you discover.  And, with the world at your fingertips, you will surely find many. 

"An education demands responsibility, so proceed from here with pride in having attained knowledge but also humbled, recognizing what possession of that knowledge entails.  As the years pass and – to paraphrase Kennedy – ‘you surely judge yourselves,' let your yardstick be the degree to which you were guided by ‘reason and principle' and by how well you employed them to do good wherever possible.  

"Sometimes you will be daunted by the task before you, but I will leave you with the same direction my Commencement speaker gave the University of Maryland Class of 1963.  Lyndon Johnson, still Vice President six months before John F. Kennedy's assassination, stood before us and quoted from Shakespeare, who wrote:  ‘Our doubts are traitors, / and make us lose the good we oft might win, / by fearing to attempt.'

"Do not fear to attempt.  Challenge yourselves to do good. And challenge others to do the same.  In doing so, you will surely judge yourselves successful. 

"Congratulations, and Godspeed!"