Congratulations, class of 2011. When you think about it, we've been here a long time. A lot has happened both at Tufts and off the Hill since the last time we all sat together at Matriculation in 2007. As I began brainstorming with my friends, I started developing a list of things that many, if not all of us, can remember. Some of these things put in perspective the time we've spent together on the Hill. This list is by no means comprehensive but rather some of the first that came to mind.
When we entered Tufts, we could still sexile our roommates. No one had heard of Sarah Palin or an Angry Bird. And the old voice in the Tisch Library Hirsh Reading Room still told us when to pack up.
Just months after arriving, we saw one of our peers from the University of Florida taken down at a Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) event to shouts of "Don't tase me, bro." As our freshman year went on, a little-known senator rose in the polls. The campus was divided between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and a small group held out for a John McCain win. But almost everyone had an opinion. And many of us made trips to New Hampshire for our respective candidates, through the cold of the primaries and on into the early fall months leading up to the election.
That year the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in Superbowl XLII, and the New York contingency at Tufts gloated for months. It took Common and the Dropkick Murphies to bring the campus back together on the President's Lawn.
We learned about the embezzlement of nearly $1 million in student activities fee money, and the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate had the ability to spend the recovered money however students saw fit. We chose to invest some of it to increase annual programming and to use some to build the Trips Cabin at the Loj.
Fall 2008 was a crazy time. We saw Wall Street brought to its knees and our college savings evaporate. During most recessions, students are usually insulated. But as the university's endowment fell, we feared the effects on the financial aid budget. Tufts did its best to keep true to its commitment to keeping every student here, regardless of need.
Only weeks after the economic collapse, our class witnessed the election of Barack Obama. We took to the streets in a march down to Davis Square to show that we had spoken at the polls. Seeing so many people amassed outside Olin Hall looking for somewhere to express their enthusiasm for the political process is an image that will stick with many of us.
Many of us went abroad during our junior year, reaching every corner of the globe. When we returned, we came back to a university that had gotten hip while we were away: YouTube submissions had become part of the admissions process; administrators learned to tweet; and some of the dorms had gone wireless in time for us to move off campus. Also while we were away, Massachusetts elected its first Republican to the Senate in decades, and Congress passed a health care reform, allowing us to stay on our parents' insurance plan until we're 26.
We've had the opportunity to see great things at Tufts. Our men's lacrosse team won Tufts' first NCAA championship, and our women's tennis team has risen to the top. An incredible number of speakers have answered our questions or offered advice, including John Kerry, Tony Blair, Michael Pollan, Seth Meyers and, most recently, Bob Woodward. We could watch the Bubs in Goddard Chapel and on NBC. And we've had the opportunity to run NQR all four years at Tufts.
Since we've been here, we've seen American culture develop around us. We first learned the Soulja Boy dance, then had to learn the Dougie. We got tanning advice from Jersey Shore and help picking a seat from Rebecca Black. We had to learn to talk in @'s and #'s. And most importantly, we were reminded to "hide our kids, and hide our wives." We witnessed the rise and fall of an empire: 4Loko. And we've witnessed the rise and rise of Rubinoff.
And after all of this, we've reached that day that had, through all of these events, seemed so distant.
I want to congratulate all of my classmates on our graduation today. While we didn't agree all the time, we've been through four years together. And I've enjoyed the ride. Good luck next year. Unlike past grads, we'll be able to keep up with each other on Facebook and Twitter, perhaps the biggest change we've seen since we moved in on that hot summer day in 2007.
