University commencement isn't the place for politics | Opinion

Of all a university president’s duties, none is more joyous than the annual rite of commencement celebrated on campuses across the country each spring.

Commencement is a day to honor students’ hard work and achievements. It is a day to thank parents for their support. It is the one day each year that brings together the entire university community – faculty, administrators, alumni and families – not only to usher graduates into the next chapter of their lives, but also to affirm what universities do and why they exist.

In my remarks to graduates this year, I encouraged them to set their life’s aspirations high. And I spoke about the importance of self-knowledge and courage in the essential work of determining their purpose – the orienting sense at the center of a meaningful life that defines the role each of us plays. 

Institutions also have a defining purpose and are most effective when they stay true to it.

The purpose of a university is to provide transformative education and conduct pathbreaking research. Everything it does should be closely connected to those two endeavors. 

Yet each spring, on commencement stages around the country, some lose sight of a university’s purpose and make commencement a platform for advocacy.

Examples from this commencement season include the faculty senate chair at the University of Michigan, who praised pro-Palestinian student activists, and students at UNC-Chapel Hill who unfurled “Abolish ICE” banners and Palestinian flags before walking out of the ceremony.

The issues being protested change over the years, but the dynamic remains stubbornly the same.  

Universities should encourage debates, not try to settle them

These actions reveal a fundamental misunderstanding about the purpose of the day and of universities in general.

Universities are not political parties, and they don’t join political movements. They contribute to the betterment of society not by pursuing ideological agendas but through the research and innovation of their faculty and students, by teaching students not what to think but how to think, and by serving as a model of civil discourse.

Once universities enter the game of politics, we dilute our purpose and play a different game –one we might well lose, if the decline of public trust in universities is any indication.

This is one reason that we at Vanderbilt are proud to uphold a clear policy of institutional neutrality, which requires that university leaders at all levels refrain from statements and actions on social or political matters not directly related to the university’s purpose. The university should encourage debates, not try to settle them.

In the familiar parlance of university leaders everywhere, there is a right time, place and manner for opining, debating and and protesting. Students and faculty are free to proclaim and argue over their ideas and opinions in any number of forums – in classrooms, conferences and symposia, in late-night residence hall conversations, or in formal protests on the quad.

The purpose of a commencement ceremony isn’t political persuasion, but a communal celebration of shared purpose – a day for everyone, regardless of their political views.

So for the remainder of this commencement season and those to come, let’s by all means toss the hats in the air, pop the champagne and sing the alma mater one last time. But let’s leave the politics at home. They are not what commencement – or a university – is for.   Daniel Diermeier is chancellor of Vanderbilt University.