October 2008
Dr. Michael Stevenson
President and Vice-Chancellor
Simon Fraser University
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am pleased to add my warm welcome to Simon Fraser University, and especially to this Convocation. We are delighted that so many family and friends join us at this ceremony to celebrate the achievements of those who graduate today.
Ladies and gentlemen of the graduating class, each of you has much to be proud of on this occasion. You have met the very high standards required at this university. The degrees you will receive certify your expertise in a specialized field of study, as well as your analytic and communication abilities, and the creative and critical skills that are the mark of the university graduate. You are about to enter a labour market that urgently needs such skills and which rewards university graduates with much better career choices and higher incomes as compared to those who do not graduate from a first class university.
Although you have much to look forward to as a result, you can take nothing for granted. You are graduating just as the American and world economy may be suffering the worst decline of financial markets and the most serious reversal of economic growth since the Great Depression. The startling developments of the past few weeks underline the complications and confusions of our times. So, I want to discuss these matters briefly, even if I risk deferring your richly deserved celebration.
The movement over the last quarter century to lessen the size and cost of the state, and to liberate the market from bureaucratic regulation and inefficiency, has been characterized by many contradictory trends. For example, the promise of less government has been undercut by the continued growth if redirection of government spending; the promise of the free market has been undercut by “irrational exuberance” of poorly regulated capital markets; the assurance of better services has been undercut by the health and safety threats in deregulated water, power and food systems or the increased visibility of homelessness and drug addiction following the deinstitutionalization of mental health care. Domestic “wars” on drugs or crime are as ineffective in achieving their announced objectives as the international War on Terror. And claims to political superiority grounded in the defense of human rights and civil liberties are devalued by arbitrary arrest and the abrogation of legal rights in defense of “homeland security,” and by the more general pressure to liberate executive power from judicial restraint.
For reasons like these, the events of the last few weeks underline the limits of American and North American domination, whether economic, military or political. The world is a much different place than it was even a decade ago, when we celebrated the advent of a new millennium.
As new university graduates you know the world is a more complicated and dangerous place. You know that this is not only a question of the rapid restructuring of economic and political power in the global market and international order. It is also a question of the life of the planet itself…of fundamental changes in climate and ecosystems, the intensified risks of natural disaster and reduced biodiversity, and the hugely complex issues of adaptation to and mitigation of environmental change.
Despite the magnitude of these challenges, and despite the rhetorical drum-beat of electioneering calls for change, the political response is so far not encouraging. Governing and opposition parties still vie for the embrace of lower taxes, knowing apparently that most of us will favour a marginal increase in private consumption over any collective investment in public infrastructure or social services. Courageous leadership on climate issues is the exception rather than the rule, and it is met with opportunistic opposition to carbon taxes, unless they be levied on someone other than ourselves. Public investment in the arts as a means to building the creative economy and improving the quality of life is opposed as a sop to cultural elites and a subsidy to work that affronts the sensibilities of ordinary men and women, as great art tends to do when first produced. And public investments in education, which are so urgently required in order to rethink the fundamentals of our ways of life and to redefine long term strategies for social change, are increasingly targeted to the short-term demands of the existing labour market and to the shortest possible return on investment through the commercialization of research.
Serious discussion of these and other issues is muted by the forces governing our electoral politics. In the age of mass communications simple plurality, first-past-the-post, electoral systems force convergence on issues and differentiation on image. Trash advertising and spin, segmentally targeted to different “demographics,” manipulate political sentiment and undermine rational discussion.
But we are not locked in an iron cage, helpless against external forces. Younger, more highly educated citizens like you are able to confront the contradictory and irrational circumstances you otherwise inherit. Your powers of critical thinking and rational argument are greater than the powers of deception and denial. Your powers of organization, mobilization and persuasion reflect your sophisticated understanding of web-based communication and networking. You are the most active participants in new social movements that will have greater influence on our future than the political organizations of the past.
So, as you graduate today with all the advantages of a university education, recognize that the crisis tendencies that dominate our news today are signs of challenge and opportunity. Accept your inheritance from SFU, exploring innovative alternatives to the status quo, and stay true to our commitment to “thinking of the world.” Confront the bankrupt formulations of the past, and take the lead in articulating new directions for the future.
On behalf of all of us at SFU, our very sincere hopes for your success in taking up the challenges of leadership in our society. Our very warm congratulations for all you have achieved at this university, and our very best wishes for your future careers and happiness.
Congratulations and best wishes to you all.