Tepper’s Convocation Message: “Welcome Failure Alongside Success”
Tepper and members of the administration welcomed students and new faculty, and 60 students were awarded 68 academic achievement prizes. Oneida Indian Nation Representative and Turning Stone Enterprises Chief Executive Officer Ray Halbritter offered a welcome to the Oneida Indian Nation’s ancestral and sovereign lands following the reading of the College’s Land Acknowledgment, which was collaboratively written with the Oneida Indian Nation and finalized last spring.
In his first major address to the College community as president, Tepper reassured students that it’s okay to fail. “As a culture, we tend to focus on success. And all of you are here because you are successful,” he said. “But when we are engaged in advancing ideas or challenging ourselves to grow, we need to welcome failure alongside success. Yes, failure. It is ok not to have the answer.”
Tepper cited a recent example, when he was speaking with some students outside Commons Dining Hall. “One student, Mello, is from Wyoming. I asked the rest of the group to guess the population of Wyoming. … the first answer out of the gate – 4,000; another, 10,000. It is almost 600,000,” Tepper noted. “But I love that this is a place where we are comfortable being wrong. Invite me to Trivia Night if you want more proof of my full embrace of failure.”
The new president predicted that faculty will be overjoyed if a student tells them they tried an assignment and struggled with it but learned something anyway. “Struggling, and sometimes failing, is a sign of trying; it is an indication that you are taking risks; you’re not going to grow unless you’re outside your comfort zone. Share these struggles with your teachers. I want to liberate you from the pressure to be perfect. This is a learning community, not a reality TV show. No one gets kicked off the island for not being perfect here. You are here because you deserve to be here.”
He also recalled a personal experience from when he was dropping his son Sam off at college for the first time. “I was acutely aware that he was both thrilled, excited, amazed AND also terrified, uncertain, overwhelmed. When you enter a new space — school, work, a new city, a new community — our brains and our hearts begin a dance,” Tepper said. “Your brain is trying to figure out the new rules, the roles, the way things are organized, where’s my first class? … The brain is looking for order. But what about the heart? The heart is looking for belonging, affection, recognition. And that’s the dance.”
Tepper also spoke to new students about their place in the College’s long legacy. “You have inherited this College from the many generations who walked these paths before you, and you will add your voice, your design, and your creativity to its evolution. You will make Hamilton a better place. You will change us with your ideas, your questions, your cultures, and your identities.”
That theme was reiterated by Halbritter, who said, “This is an important day — it marks the continuing of a relationship that dates back hundreds of years,” and he thanked Hamilton community members “for building on this long-time partnership.”
Recalling the friendship between Chief Skenandoa and Samuel Kirkland, Halbritter shared a Native American proverb: “‘We are known forever by the tracks that we leave.’ Over the next four years you will understand the truth of this,” he said. “Everything you’ve done to make the community better, the work you do and the relationships you forge, will form a legacy that will not be forgotten.”
Halbritter then presented Tepper with an Oneida Indian Nation flag “that will represent our proud history and shared friendship at ceremonies like this for years to come.”
Dean of Faculty Ngoni Munemo accepted signed honor cards from former Honor Court Chair Sophia Katz ’25 on behalf of members of the Class of 2028. Munemo’s talk focused on free expression, academic freedom, civil discussion, and disagreement. “I have been preoccupied with what feels a deeper, more serious threat to higher education in general, and the liberal arts project in particular: students fear to speak and engage, often choosing to self-censor,” he said. “I hope you can hold fast to your beliefs, but remain open to conversation about your intellectual and ideological positions … and leave room for doubt in the positions you hold.”
Munemo expressed the hope “[that] you don’t put writers and thinkers on your ‘Don’t Read’ list just because you find their bio objectionable. Read them, think about how what they say informs and adds to your viewpoint, and then toss them aside,” he advised.
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