Opening Convocation Remarks President Brien Lewis – August 16, 2016 I would like to aspire to a presentation that you will find thought‐provoking and even enjoyable. But I am reminded of the words of Sasha Guitry: “You can pretend to be serious; you can’t pretend to be witty”. Winston Churchill: “All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” NEW HONOR CODE IS SIMPLE: Honor Code: "As a member of the Catawba College Community, I will uphold the value of academic honesty that grounds our institution, and I will not lie, cheat, or steal.” Pledge: "On my honor, I have not violated the Honor Code in completing this work." 1 Today, want to discuss 3 things about Honor 1. What does it mean generally? 2. Why is it important at a place like Catawba College? 3. How Honor is reflected in our Code. 1 – What does it mean generally? INTEGRITY/DOING RIGHT  C. S. Lewis defined it: “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”  Mark Twain observed: “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Recovering attorney. People often tell lawyer jokes as if attorneys lack integrity. [Pope‐Rabbi‐Lawyer at pearly gates.] Ethics: WNHP mission: will be one of North Carolina's leading law firms.  Known to ourselves and others as displaying absolute professionalism and integrity in all dealings with clients, colleagues, and other attorneys. 2 – Clearly integrity and doing the right thing are important. Why is it especially important at a place like Catawba College? 2 Code says, “As a member of the Catawba College Community, I will uphold the value of academic honesty that grounds our institution.” What does this mean – grounds our institution? A. BARTLETT GIAMATTI:  “We expect openness, decency, and mutual respect in all our dealings as much as we expect disagreement, debate, and the reasoned, forceful give‐and‐take of ideas. Whether or not that is the family style you are accustomed to, it is the way of life and cherished values of the families you have now joined. 3  “It is a community open to new ideas, to disagreement, to debate, to criticism, to the clash of opinions and convictions, to solitary investigation, to originality, but is not tolerant of, and will not tolerate, the denial of the dignity and freedoms of others. It will not tolerate theft of another’s intellectual produce. It will not tolerate denials of another’s freedom of expression. … It will not tolerate these denials, because the freedom we possess to foster free inquiry and the greater good is too precious.” An exciting future faces you as you enter Catawba. You may understandably be asking yourself, what do you bring to this community? As many of you know, one of my favorite philosophers is the venerable trainer of Jedi Knights, Master Yoda. In one of the Star Wars movies, a young Luke Skywalker is at the mouth of a dark, foreboding cave. He asks, “What's in there?” and Yoda replies, “Only what you take with you.” 4 3 – How Honor is reflected in our Code and Pledge.  So what you take with you is your Honor – your willingness to commit to the spirit and the letter of our Code and our Pledge. It is a pledge not just to one another – it is a pledge to ourselves.  The Code says “I will not lie, cheat or steal”. Albert Einstein: “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”  The Pledge says: "On my honor, I have not violated the Honor Code in completing this work."  Andrew Carnegie: “All honor's wounds are self‐inflicted.” We do it to ourselves – no one else damages our honor. CORE VALUES on our seal: Scholarship. Character. Culture. Service. They are at once distinct and separate – when viewed through the lens of Honor, however, they are inseparable:  There is no true scholarship if it is not done honestly and honorably. 5  One’s character is defined by how one upholds one’s honor or deals with the consequences of having failed to do so.  Our culture – now your culture – expects and requires honorable action.  Serving one’s community is a reflection of one’s honor. The people who founded the college that is entrusted to us had vision and values in mind, not just grades, or boxes checked, or even careers. What does it mean to be educated for the 21st century? It means we do not just transmit and received knowledge but that we understand purpose, and meaning and consequences. Our new Honor Code might seem at once simple while also lofty, ambitious, filled with appropriate but unreasonable expectations. But we should do expect no less, we should do no less. As we set sail on this voyage of education and exploration together, it is fitting for us to be, I hope, inspired and challenged by Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. His poem, a Prayer for Spiritual Revival may, I trust, call to us and call us to reflect. Drake wrote: 6 Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore. … Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wider seas Where storms will show your mastery; Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars. Thank you for making this commitment – and may you truly find the stars. ///// 7