Paxson recalled her first year as Brown’s president, in 2012, when she learned to navigate campus and encountered the then-unfamiliar nicknames bestowed upon many of Brown’s buildings. She recounted a time when Google maps led her astray and caused her to be late for a meeting.

“Maybe with AI, this will get better in the future,” she said. “But for now, if you get lost, just ask a live human being — everyone is here to help you.”

Paxson encouraged new students to look beyond campus: to enjoy the culture and recreation that Providence and Rhode Island have to offer, and to serve the community by advancing knowledge and understanding, which is a core tenet of Brown’s mission.

“Building strong, reciprocal relationships with community members and organizations requires that we take the time necessary to build bonds of trust,” she said. “I can guarantee you that if you take the time to do that, you will build the habit of community engagement that will carry you through the rest of your lives.”

From the podium, Paxson acknowledged that communities and campuses nationwide continue to experience tension and discord amid extraordinary geopolitical challenges. She harkened back to the University’s charter, which boldly declared in 1764 that Brown would be open to students from all religious faiths — a radical idea at the time. The University’s founding principles of academic freedom, freedom of expression and respect for each person’s dignity have endured and broadened across the centuries, reflected today in the Open Curriculum and the steadfast commitment to “listen to and learn from others who might have radically different world views and life experiences,” Paxson said.

“University campuses are not designed to be complacent — we purposefully bring together people from widely different backgrounds and very differing views to test ideas, debate and sometimes disagree,” Paxson said. “That’s essential for learning.”

Testing ideas and advancing knowledge will inherently stir disagreement and sometimes discomfort, she said, calling on Brown’s newest students to respect each other and help sustain the University’s open-minded and supportive campus community.

“Freedom of expression without regard for the views and humanity of others, it generates cacophony — [and] respect for others without freedom of expression produces suppression and self-censorship,” Paxson said. “But when these principles are put together, that’s really when the magic happens — that’s how we achieve the bravely open-minded, caring and kind community that sets Brown apart, even in difficult times.”

Ushering in a ‘magical journey at this extraordinary University’

The power of engaging across difference is one of the reasons Paxson invited Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, to give the ceremony’s keynote address. Jha is a leading U.S. public health expert who served as the White House COVID-19 response coordinator and — as a prominent public voice during the pandemic — led with “clarity and honesty in how we talk about science,” Paxson said.

In remarks titled “Curiosity, courage and conviction: Your Brown journey to a healthier world,” Jha shared his experiences as a physician and public health leader and urged the next generation of Brunonians to work across differences to advance the health and well-being of humankind.

“You just walked through Van Wickle Gates: Your first step on your magical journey at this extraordinary University,” Jha said. “Magical because Brown has the power to transform, and that transformation of the Brown education begins today.”

Jha called on students to embrace deep inquiry: “the most powerful tool in human history” for promoting health and well-being. Inquiry is key to addressing an era of polarization that’s impeding progress to solve society’s greatest challenges, from vaccines to climate change, he said. As a public health leader during a global pandemic, Jha said he listened to people across the political spectrum and learned something important.

“I learned that what we have in common is so much deeper and more meaningful than that which divides us, and importantly, I learned we can reduce polarization that is so toxic to our society,” Jha said. “It’s not going to be easy. But it is doable.”

Jha reminded the incoming students that humans have been on the planet for about 300,000 years, but for nearly that entire time, the average human life expectancy was only around 30. Even in 1900, the global life expectancy was 32, he said. Just over a century later, it has doubled to 72.

Through courage, humility and conviction, humans started asking different questions with an acknowledgement that they didn’t have all the answers, like the curious, pioneering 19th-century physician who first conducted an experiment to see whether it would save lives if doctors washed their hands “and found it did — by a lot,” Jha said.

“This new approach has lots of names… I call it the scientific method, others call it the creative process, [and] some just call it innovation,” Jha said. “This new approach sparked an intellectual revolution that has reshaped everything… What drove those gains are the same things that are going to drive your Brown experience.”

Across the academic disciplines, from science and medicine to history and the arts, a commitment to curiosity, rooted in humility and fueled by courage and conviction, is what will ameliorate polarization and power transformation, Jha said.

“With [Brown’s] Open Curriculum and its culture of academic exploration, you don’t really have to know which direction your inquiry will take you — you are not beholden to well-established paths…” Jha said. “Know that inquiry makes you part of a proud tradition that has changed the course of human history… And it is that commitment to inquiry that makes Brown so special. Magical, actually.”