Presidential Commencement Address

June 1, 2005

Thank you, Chairman Schmidt and Chancellor Goldstein; Provost Dannenbring; Deans Altman, Chase, and Elliott; Mr. Aldinger; distinguished guests; faculty; friends; and families; and, most importantly, graduates.

Members of the Class of 2005, I salute you and thank you for giving me the honor of addressing you at this, my first commencement as president of Baruch College.

Today, 3,724 students will obtain their bachelor’s and master’s degrees—2,709 undergraduates and 1,015 graduate students. These are remarkable numbers, but more remarkable is the quality of the graduates here before us today. You are known as the most diverse student population of any college in the United States, and you are unique for that diversity.

You are 60 percent female and 40 percent male. Seventy percent of you were born outside the United States, and English is not your first language. Forty percent of you are the first in your families to obtain a baccalaureate degree. Nearly 80 percent of you obtaining your master’s degrees are the first in your families to do so.

You range in age from 19 to 55 years old. Ten percent of you are already parents, and five of you are grandparents. Twenty-five of you have served in the Armed Forces of the United States, and three of you are on active duty today: We salute you for your service to your country.

Graduates, you come from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. You come from Long Island and Westchester, New Jersey, and beyond. You come from Asia and Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa—in fact from 76 countries. And in the elevators at Baruch—oh, those famous elevators—you speak 90 languages.

Many of you left your families to study in New York City and started at Baruch shortly before the tragic events of 9/11. You put your fears and tears aside in September of that dreadful year to pursue your education, getting on the subway to come to class at a time when that took a lot of courage.

And while so many friends and family members are here today, many of you have families in other places. They may not be here with you right now, but I know they are thinking of you as you sit in Madison Square Garden about to receive your degree.

Two weeks ago, at a student gathering, I spoke about the ambition and intelligence of Baruch students, but I also said that Baruch students are different because they are hungrier for the American Dream than students of more privileged backgrounds. One of you in that gathering thought about what I said and sent me a poem about what it means to be a student at Baruch College. I would like to read Renata’s poem.

When you live in a country where nobody speaks your language and nobody can pronounce your last name;

When you are destined not to see your family and friends for three long years;

When the only show you have seen during the whole year is The Apprentice;

When you study full time, when you work full time, and still find a way to get involved with a student club and campus life;

When you get out of class at 10:45 pm, spend one hour commuting back home, and wake up the next morning at 7 am so you are not late for that unpaid internship you got for the summer;

When you can get only a minimum wage job because you are too new to this country;

When you live for under $600 a month;

When you have a savings account with a balance of $32.64, and you are supposed to pay for tuition;

When you figure out a way to get a hot meal, a dessert, and a can of soda for $2.40 in New York City;

When you bring a sleeping bag to school during the finals week;

When you are nothing else but a hungry Baruch student. . . then you are nothing else but a living, breathing future American Dream.

Renata, thank you for that poem.

We use the expression the American Dream a great deal. At the heart of the American Dream is economic mobility, the belief that the grandchildren of poverty and of privilege can end up in the same place, that if you start poor, get an education, and work hard, you can make it to the middle class and beyond. This belief in mobility takes the sting out of the widening gap between the rich and poor in this nation. As long as there is equality of opportunity, then your starting point in life does not become a permanent barrier to mobility. We say this country is a meritocracy where anyone has a shot at becoming a Supreme Court justice, a CEO, or a self-made millionaire. And anyone who works hard enough can achieve the American Dream.

Benjamin Franklin did it. Abraham Lincoln did it. Bill Clinton did it, and, of course, Bernard M. Baruch did it. The Baruch College Class of 1955, here with us today, did it. Of that class, Irwin Engelman did it, Richard Merians did it, Sandra Wasserman did it. So did Marilyn LaMarche Mandell and Stanley Becker and Norman Brust and Santina Spadaro. So did Joel Zweibel and Abraham Tawil and Arthur Field and Robert Silberberg.

But recent studies indicate that economic mobility is declining. The ability for most lower income people to achieve the American Dream is at risk. Success in this nation is becoming more heavily based upon where you start in life, who your parents are, how much money your family has, and where you live.

The gap between rich and poor widened significantly over the past 20 years in the United States. Between 1979 and 2001, the income of the top one percent of American households increased 139 percent to more than $700,000 per year. The income of the middle fifth of households rose only 17 percent to $43,700, while the income of the poorest fifth rose only 9 percent to $28,300.

Most hourly workers’ raises have not kept pace with inflation for the past three decades. Take-home wages for many Americans are declining. Health care benefits are reduced or not available at all, with more than 45 million Americans lacking any kind of health care coverage. Retirement benefits are shrinking, or simply nonexistent, for many workers.

While life expectancy increased overall, upper-middle-class Americans live longer and in better health than middle-class Americans, who live longer and in better health than those at the bottom. Access to higher education is more readily available, with more high school students attempting college.

But the percent of students of middle-class origins who graduate from expensive colleges is far greater than the percent of lower-income students who graduate from less costly colleges. If you start out from a wealthier family, you are more likely to go to college and earn a degree and therefore more likely to have a lifetime of higher income than those who do not complete college.

Going beyond college and earning a graduate degree is reserved for less than 9 percent of the population and is highly correlated to family income.

But you know all this. You are hungry Baruch students. Well then, what are you going to do about it? Your challenge, Class of 2005, is to not be the last generation in this nation to have a shot at the American Dream. Make your own opportunities but also fight to ensure opportunities for those who will follow you. Are you ready to do that?

Kathleen Burke, graduating today, is ready. Your classmate grew up on Long Island, left high school before graduating, drifted out to California, and then enlisted in the Army and served in Korea, India, and Japan. Kathleen won a scholarship to Baruch and was just accepted at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Her sister, Sharon, will receive her MBA today. Sharon and Kathleen, you are American Dreams.

Among your classmates is Monil Vora, who at 15 years old moved from Bombay to Queens with his family. Out of family necessity, he became self-supporting so that his parents would not have to divert resources from his sister, who also was attending college. While taking 18 credits, Monil worked 50 hours a week to pay his tuition and living expenses. An international marketing major and member of the National Dean’s List and Chi Alpha Epsilon Honor Society, he is the recipient of the James Murphy Award, given to a student who overcomes tremendous financial hardship. Monil, you are an American Dream.

Among your classmates is Kimberly Joy Brown, one of 15 students in the nation to win the United Negro College Fund—Merck Undergraduate Science Research Scholarship Award. Kimberly conducts cancer research as a summer intern at Merck’s Cancer Research Department in Pennsylvania. She received a $25,000 scholarship and will enroll in an MD/PhD program with a specialty in pediatric cancers. Kimberly, you are an American Dream.

Among your classmates are four MBA students—Brian Power, Jim Mumm, Adrian Gawdiak, and Mukunda Krishnaswamy—who won first prize in the Merrill Lynch IPO® Challenge for proposing a new business that will link U.S. grocery chains with Indian firms. These four young men won $50,000 to start their new company. Gentlemen, you are the American Dream.

Among your classmates are Wade Li and Aiming Feng, who organized a group of 40 Baruch students to collect money on street corners in Chinatown for tsunami relief. Together, the two young accounting majors, who came with their families from China only seven years ago, raised more than $70,000. Gentlemen, you are ready for the American Dream.

Among your classmates are Ana Pazo, a finance major from Queens, and James Thompson, a marketing major from Staten Island, who organized hundreds of their fellow students and raised $50,000 for the American Cancer Society. This is the largest amount ever raised by a college in New York State. Ana and James, you are both American Dreams.

Among your classmates is Hernan Green, who fought a deadly illness that struck him as he began his master’s degree in higher education in the School of Public Affairs. Despite sickness, loss of his job, economic hardship, and personal grief, he persevered to become assistant dean of academic affairs at Rutgers University. Hernan, stay well and help other students achieve their American Dream.

Graduating today are 30 students with physical and learning disabilities—people whose passion for learning and their desire to work has helped them overcome the obstacles of blindness and deafness, learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and traumatic brain injury.

Graduating today are men and women whose commitment to public service has led them to important positions at Volunteers of America, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, the New York City Department of Homeless Services, the Public Theater, and the New York Foundling, among other government and nonprofit agencies.

Graduating today are men and women who will soon join some of the nation’s most prominent companies, including HSBC, Bear Sterns, Citigroup, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Colgate-Palmolive, JPMorgan Chase, and Abbott Laboratories. Many of you begin your careers with starting salaries that exceed the income of your parents.

And graduating today is one student who won $5 million in the Lotto Jackpot last fall.

Graduates, prove that economic and social mobility will not diminish in this nation. Take your place in government, in business, in nonprofit organizations. Become artists and entrepreneurs, journalists and musicians, scientists and dancers, accountants, advertisers, managers and leaders. And in all these positions, remember—in Renata’s words—that yesterday you were “nothing but a living, breathing future American Dream” and now, today, in 20 minutes, when your degrees are conferred, you own the American Dream.

Take the responsibility to provide future generations of students of Baruch College with the same opportunities that await you.

I congratulate all of you. I wish you good luck. Make us proud!

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