[This is the written version of his speech released to the University Post beforehand, check against delivery, ed.]
Dear new students,
In these historical settings. History is about to hit you. Rector no. 259 in a Dumbledore outfit. At a university founded in 1479. Here at the gates to the empire of knowledge. Guarded by an eagle with a speech bubble in Latin. On a square with statues of stone-dead MEN of science. In these historical settings it’s not just an honour to welcome you. It’s also an infusion of renewal and youth into the University’s 545-year-old body.
So dear students:
‘Holy Flame’ – which the choir sang just before – is not just a magnificent song from 1839. It’s the fire in your eyes. 2024 is not just the year when King Frederik the 10th came to the throne.
It’s also a new generation coming in. When you – students of 2024 – on this day and in this place are admitted to the University.
Forget Store Bededag. Today is Great Uni Day. A day filled with peace, love and science. So much so that the statues might crack up laughing. And the eagle up there spread its wings. Fly up high and “gaze toward the heavenly light” – as it says in the speech bubble.
Now, let me introduce the university’s leadership. I will do it in one go. As we have several faculties and many programmes. But only one university.
Dean of the Faculty of Theology Carsten Selch Jensen.
Dean of the Faculty of Law Jacob Graff Nielsen
Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Vibeke Koushede.
Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Bente Stallknecht.
Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Kirsten Busch Nielsen
Dean of the Faculty of Science Katrine Krogh Andersen
Prorector for Education Kristian Cedervall Lauta
Prorector for Research David Dreyer Lassen
And finally, not in a gown, but with the University’s cash holdings in his inner pocket, University Director Søren Munk Skydsgaard.
What’s it like to be a new student at university? Overwhelming. Doubt creeps in. Have I chosen the “right” course? Am I good enough? Will I understand 100 pages of academic English for tomorrow? Can I find an apartment that doesn’t cost a MacBook a month?
And worst: Will I make friends?
Doooon’t worry. Doubt is a normal academic feeling. No one is a genius at studying right from the start. Everyone has doubts. Even the confident-looking person sitting next to you who seems to have their life perfectly sorted.
Now, here’s a warning. Don’t let doubt grow into despair, as Søren Kierkegaard said. Endure doubt. Accept doubt. Embrace doubt. Exactly when you almost – and only almost – catch the point the teacher has thrown out in the lecture hall. Exactly when you’re on the edge of the known. Exactly at that balancing point is where you learn the most.
But we – we – have a common task. Together at the university. To all those who feel lonely and inadequate. To all those looking for someone to have lunch with. To all those sitting alone scrolling through their phone – as a social alibi.
Let the community suffocate loneliness. Let the dinner club starve uncertainty. Let your study group provide the collective strength to crack the code, of even the most difficult equation or text. And please make room for the scrolling stranger at the lunch table.
Go to the Friday bar – together. Take Tuesday yoga classes – together. Or stay home for a Monday chill-out – as long as you’re together.
***
I know it’s Friday and party time. Yet, I will ask a big question: What’s the point of going to university?
Is it the long chain of rational purposes: Get a degree to make mom and dad happy. Get a degree to get job. Get a job to earn a living. Yes, that full package of good purposes is perfectly fine.
But the point of university is more than that. Just before, the choir sang about the university’s holy flame. The holy flame is your dreams, your hopes and your will to change the world.
And there’s a lot that needs changing:
– From fiords with no life to slush-ice on ski slopes.
– From antibiotic resistance to anti-democratic resistance.
– From Ukraine to Gaza
The holy flame is also the sustainable fuel behind the new businesses
you may well dare to start.
So head out to KU Lighthouse on Tagensvej. Where student start-ups meet in a great community of spirits.
But the point of university is more than that. 2024 is a significant year in one particular way. Never in the history of democracy have there been so many elections. 4.2 billion people – or over half of the world’s population – are to vote in an election this year. There’s the presidential election in the US, of course, and elections in India, South Africa and Brazil.
Today, we are at another election – your choice of university. And choice of academic values that also help uphold democracy.
Values such as:
Seeking the truth without claiming that there is only one.
Accepting mistakes.
Expecting the unexpected.
Basing decisions on knowledge.
Advocating for a cause – even getting angry about injustices.
Listening to people you don’t agree with – even people with a totally different view of the world.
With the hope that we all, in the end, become wiser as individuals and as humanity.
***
Now let’s proceed with a classic ritual at the University of Copenhagen: The symbolic handshake.
Fortunately, I get a helping hand from the Prorector for education, Kristian Cedervall Lauta.
The handshake signifies that you as new students promise to abide by the university’s medieval rules – which I won’t repeat in Latin. In modern-day language, the rules mean: “Behave well and look after each other”.
Or summed up in a series of words that unite all the points of my speech.
Create a university of Renewal, Community, Power to change and Understanding for others.
And finally: Have a great time at the party on North Campus today.
Welcome to the University of Copenhagen!
