Shirley Abrahamson
Spring 2008 Commencement Address
I am honored to participate with you in this, the 155th commencement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mark Twain would often begin a speech with a dramatic pause followed by an announcement: Aristotle is dead. Plato is dead. Goethe is dead. Nietzsche is dead, and I don’t feel so well myself.
Mr. Twain’s comment aptly describes my condition this morning. I do not feel so well myself because of the nature of the speech expected on this occasion.
Chancellor Wiley instructed me to be erudite, inspiration, cliché-free, humorous and brief. Brevity is the most important of these qualities, according to the chancellor, so brief I shall be.
I could be very brief and give you the legendary advice that comedian Bob Hope gave to a commencement audience. After giving dire warnings of the dangers and disappointments of the cold, hard world outside, Mr. Hope gave the graduating class two words of advice: “Don’t go.”
But you should not heed this message. You are filled with pride about leaving, and rightly so. Your thoughts are filled with parting, partying and packing, and you and your families are tired of paying tuition and related bills. You’re out of here!
And let’s hear a big thanks to the families who’ve given you financial and other support all these years.
Some would characterize your degrees as your tickets out of the university and tickets to the future. I am reminded of a story about United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. He was boarding a train in Washington, D.C.’s Union Station. The famous justice searched his pockets, but could not find his ticket. The conductor immediately recognized him and said, “Don’t worry, Justice Holmes. Come aboard. I know that when you find your ticket, you’ll mail it to the railroad.”
“Mr. Conductor,” Holmes replied. “The question isn’t where is my ticket, but where am I supposed to be going?”
The question of where you are supposed to be going should occupy you all of your life. I have three messages today for you to consider as you decide where you are going.
First, Chancellor Wiley helps point you in the right direction. As he told you, these 2008 commencements are his last in his capacity as chancellor. And the chancellor tells us that whatever you undertake, do well.
The chancellor has undertaken his positions here and he has done well, and with compassion and commitment. He cares.
Wiley was an outstanding professor and researcher at this university. He is a scientist who strongly supports the arts and humanities. He has worked with students and has been accessible to them.
As chief executive officer of this campus since 2000, he has led us through a period of major growth in infrastructure, research funding, diversity, and study opportunities for students here and abroad.
Chancellor Wiley is a prominent figure nationally in higher education. In 2006, Wiley chaired the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors. He chairs the board of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Wiley is an educator and administrator who has made a lasting impact on the university, the city of Madison, the state of Wisconsin and the nation in the true spirit of the Wisconsin Idea. He understands the role the university plays in the state’s economy.
In sum, Chancellor Wiley has advanced this institution as a world-class institution, and you are graduating from a world-class institution.
As you go forward, remember Chancellor Wiley. Whatever you do, do well and do it with passion and commitment. Care.
And let’s show Chancellor Wiley we care about him. (Standing ovation.)
My second message is a reminder that the diploma you receive today is not a mere piece of paper. It is an instrument for democracy and doing justice. For more than 200 years, Americans have a shared a vision of democracy is which our basic freedoms are protected and in which all of our people contribute their diverse talents and energies to solve local and national problems.
I urge you — graduates and guests alike — to let your voices be heard to protect and perfect our democracy and our rights and responsibilities under law. We must remain committed to democracy and justice — I as a judge and you as citizens.
Judges are very important in our democracy. They determine the constitutionality of legislative and executive acts. Judges protect us all against the violation of anyone’s civil rights and guaranteed liberties. Judicial decisions affect all of us, even if we are not in court.
You, the people, rely on judges to be independent. That is, you rely on judges to be fair, neutral, impartial and non-partisan – judges who make decisions based on their understanding of the law, not on the basis of public opinion, personal whim or will, prejudice or fear.
You rely on judges to decide cases free from interference by the executive or legislative branches of a government, free from interference by private citizens or special interest groups.
Yet justice is too important to be left only to judges. You, the people, are a necessary part of justice. Supporting a neutral, fair, impartial, non-partisan judiciary and celebrating and protecting our freedoms are tasks for all of us.
At a minimum, you should vote. Only 60 percent of our citizens vote during a presidential election in November. In April Wisconsin non-partisan elections, less than 20 percent of eligible citizens vote.
My message: Participate in our democracy. We fight hard. Let’s keep it.
My third message relates to the global world in which we live. Many of our students come from countries across the world and they enrich our knowledge and lives. They make the university and Madison communities an integral part of the global community.
May we all seek a world in which rights to freedom of speech, press and religion are protected. May we all be committed to a world free from discrimination, a world free from poverty, and a world filled with justice and peace.
I know I’m asking much of each of you, but you are each capable of giving much.
Let me say congratulations and best wishes to the graduates and their families and friends in all your future years you have every reason to be proud.
Thank you asking me to share this important and memorable occasion with you. And please come home to the university and Madison often. We will miss you. Good luck and Godspeed.
Shirley Abrahamson earned her Doctor of Juridical Science degree from the UW Law School in 1962. She was appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by Governor Patrick Lucey in August 1976 to fill a vacancy created by the death of the court’s chief justice. She was elected to her first full term in 1979. She became chief justice on Aug. 1, 1996, upon the retirement of Chief Justice Roland Day. Prior to joining the court she practiced law in Madison and taught at the Law School.