President's Class of 2023 Message

Congratulations, Graduates!

Today, you join the storied generations who have since 1847 graduated from The City College of New York and moved on to make the world a better place. I know many of you as individuals, but on graduation day I can’t help but think of you collectively, as the social phenomenon that every year leaves this campus poised to make its impact on society. You enter that society as unicorns: in a nation where upward social mobility is virtually non-existent, you have, by dint of your hard work and persistence, graduated from one of the last remaining producers of upwardly mobile Americans.

Those of you who are the first in your families to graduate from college make a new world of education imaginable for younger siblings, cousins and future generations. Your children and grandchildren will grow up in the knowledge that an educated life, a life of security and prosperity, is within reach for them–and that may be an assurance that you did not yourself have. Bravo!

You have had the privilege of working alongside student colleagues from across the globe, but especially colleagues who were not, for the most part, born into privilege. Together as you interrogated the lessons you learned, I trust that you did so with an urgent sense of the necessity of your own experiences and your own perspective. We change the world on this campus by mobilizing the insights of the whole people into education, and in so doing, introducing perspectives, experiences, questions and demands that are often absent from the discourse that dominates our society.

As you move from our campus, I would like to urge upon you some final thoughts. Trust your education. Trust in the store of wisdom you gained on this campus.. You came to us exactly as young people have for decades—neither more nor less prepared or worthy of this place. You leave us now entirely fit to be the modern heirs of our legacy and the able stewards of our vision. We are proud of what you’ve been, and eagerly anticipate the discovery of what you will become. We are also grateful for the days that we shared together on this campus.

Understand also that over our time together, we have but planted a seed for what a better society, a better world would look like. We expect you to tend the garden of mutual respect, of civic responsibility, of a basic care for others wherever you go, and for the length of your days. Living up to these expectations will take courage and fortitude. It will mean honoring the history of this great institution by bringing your best self into the world each day, and falling back, when you need it, on the lessons we learned together. It will mean drawing on the tremendous reserves of tenacity that so many of you have displayed in merely getting into CCNY or in making it to this, your graduation day.

I give you this charge knowing how strong you can be and how smart you all are. I ask you to walk this path because I know you can, and for the sake of our society, I hope that you will. I ask you to do what generations of young people before you have done, every year, in this place and at this time. I ask you to move into the world as true sons and daughters of City College, and live lives that we will celebrate as reflecting our very highest values, our greatest expectations, and our fondest dreams.

With my warmest congratulations and deepest admiration,

Vince Boudreau

President