{"id":46,"date":"2009-10-26T20:44:24","date_gmt":"2009-10-26T20:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/index-6\/megan_gregory\/"},"modified":"2013-06-25T14:59:17","modified_gmt":"2013-06-25T19:59:17","slug":"megan_gregory","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/speeches\/megan_gregory\/","title":{"rendered":"Megan Gregory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n
\n <\/p>\n
Megan M. Gregory

\n St. Olaf College Phi Beta Kappa Initiation Speech

\n April 22, 2004 <\/p>\n


\n First and foremost, I would like to say “congratulations” to my fellow

\n initiates on your election to Phi Beta Kappa, and “thank you” to the

\n Delta of Minnesota chapter officers for this opportunity to share some

\n of my thoughts about the importance of the liberal arts in our lives. <\/p>\n


\n Now, since today is April 22nd, and since I am an Environmental

\n Studies major, I can’t pass up the opportunity to wish everyone a

\n Happy Earth Day. But what does Earth Day, first celebrated in 1970 by

\n 20 million Americans with a very practical mission of putting

\n environmental issues on the political agenda — have to do with Phi

\n Beta Kappa and its recognition of academic, intellectual excellence?

\n I believe that the connection lies in the breadth of abilities that

\n were required to put knowledge to work in service to the world. <\/p>\n


\n The first Earth Day had as its foundation academic excellence in

\n disciplines such as the natural sciences and environmental literature,

\n combined with moral and political engagement. As a society dedicated

\n to “fostering and recognizing excellence in the liberal arts and

\n sciences,” Phi Beta Kappa exists precisely to promote the development

\n of such well-rounded students who are able to see their work in a

\n particular discipline within the context of how it might serve the

\n human and ecological community. In its mission statement, St. Olaf

\n College affirms a similar tradition by expressing its desire to

\n provide “an education committed to the liberal arts.” So tonight, at

\n this Earth Day initiation ceremony of the St. Olaf chapter of Phi Beta

\n Kappa, it seems especially appropriate to reflect on the place of the

\n liberal arts in the education we have received from St. Olaf and in

\n the lives of service we will lead once we leave the Hill. <\/p>\n


\n As St. Olaf students, we have all heard numerous encomiums singing the

\n praises of the liberal arts. Not an invocation, Honors Day, or

\n academic ceremony passes without some mention of this cornerstone of

\n St. Olaf’s educational philosophy. The liberal arts are central to

\n this college’s identity, and yet we feel compelled to constantly

\n defend the relevance of such an education in the so-called “real

\n world.” What I would like to propose tonight is that as we reflect on

\n our education, we need not eschew practicality in order to affirm the

\n liberal arts. For me, the value of the liberal arts education that I

\n have received is not that it has allowed me to pursue lofty

\n intellectual pursuits without some straightjacket of practicality, but

\n rather that it has enabled me to redefine what is practical and

\n worthwhile to pursue in preparation to tend the creation with which we

\n have been entrusted. <\/p>\n


\n Our interdisciplinary education has instilled a desire to seek truth,

\n and the ability to think critically and morally about the world around

\n us. Such development of our intellectual capacities, far from

\n separating us from a needy world, instead enables us to be active

\n citizens with a passion to uphold principles of dignity and justice

\n for our fellow human beings and for the Earth that sustains us. In

\n Representations of the Intellectual, scholar and peace activist Edward

\n Said asserts, “Real intellectuals are never more themselves than when

\n they denounce corruption, defend the weak, deny imperfect or

\n oppressive authority–The intellectual belongs on the same side as the

\n weak and unrepresented.” He continues, “The intellectual is an

\n individual endowed with a faculty for articulating a message, to as

\n well as for a public. And this role has an edge to it, and cannot be

\n played without a sense of being someone whose reason for being is to

\n represent all those people and issues that are routinely forgotten or

\n swept under the rug.” <\/p>\n


\n The first Earth Day came about because intellectuals such as Rachel

\n Carson were able to transcend the narrow boundaries of their

\n particular disciplines in order to advocate on behalf of public health

\n and the integrity of creation. It was Rachel Carson’s breadth of

\n talents, a quality valued by the liberal arts, that enabled her to

\n serve. While trained as an ecologist, she was able to translate

\n scientific knowledge into lyrical prose for the public and persuasive

\n speech for policymakers. It was these abilities outside her field of

\n expertise that ultimately enabled her to contribute to a changed

\n consciousness regarding humankinds relationship to the natural

\n world, and improved policies to preserve ecological integrity. <\/p>\n


\n As people who have been blessed with the gift of a college education,

\n it is our privilege and responsibility, like Rachel Carson, to use our

\n gifts in the creation of a more sustainable, just, and peaceful world.

\n Envisioning the goal of education as preparation for service, it is

\n intensely practical for the scientist to study ethics and philosophy,

\n for such pursuits can inspire research that will enable us to live

\n sustainably on the Earth and alleviate the suffering of people now

\n burdened by disease or malnutrition. It is vitally important that the

\n anthropologist be trained not only in ethnographic methods, but also

\n in public speaking, so that he may defend the human rights of

\n marginalized peoples before powers with the authority to guarantee

\n these rights. Literature becomes an essential element of the

\n curriculum for all citizens, for the gifted writer can give us a

\n glimpse into the lives of communities with different experiences from

\n our own, nurturing what Dr. Mary Titus called “compassionate

\n imagination” in her invocation address two years ago. This ability

\n to empathize with others is crucial if we are to live the “lives of

\n worth and service” that St. Olaf College is committed to fostering. <\/p>\n


\n Each of you is here tonight because you have demonstrated excellence

\n in a range of intellectual pursuits. Best wishes as you go forth to

\n put your liberal arts education to practical use in the world we are

\n called to care for. Congratulations! <\/div>\n

\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Megan M. Gregory St. Olaf College Phi Beta Kappa Initiation Speech April 22, 2004 First and foremost, I would like to say “congratulations” to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":0,"parent":32,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-46","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pbk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}