Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses the graduates. (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)
Speaking at Boston College's 146th Commencement Exercises on May 23, 希腊总理基里亚科斯·米佐塔基斯(Kyriakos Mitsotakis)给2022届的毕业生们下了一个紧迫的任务:把民主从民族主义的危险中拯救出来, populism, 这是一项无处不在的技术，它带来的问题似乎和它解决的问题一样多.
“你们的首要责任是在21世纪从根本上重新构想民主, first of all, not neglecting your civic duties,” said Mitsotakis, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. 这并不一定意味着要进入公共服务部门——尽管他鼓励那些考虑这样做的人, because “if the best and brightest don’t enter the public domain, then you are leaving space for others to do so.”
Those choosing other walks of life, Mitsotakis continued, “please remember the lesson of ancient Athens, 第一次民主繁荣的地方:为了民主繁荣, all its citizens must be involved, in one way or another, in the affairs of the state.
重塑21世纪的民主听起来似乎是一项艰巨的任务. But this is the challenge ahead of you. 我敦促你们，不要把确保我们民主理想生存的任务留给别人. If you think you are the best and the brightest—which you should, 因为你们即将从这所伟大的学校毕业，所以承担起你们的责任. Because you cannot outsource this responsibility to anyone else.”
- Read the text of the prime minister's remarks here.
- 电子游戏软件主毕业典礼和分院毕业典礼的视频可以在毕业典礼2022网站上找到(向下滚动)。.
After an unseasonably hot and humid weekend, a pleasant, comfortably cool day in Alumni Stadium greeted the 4,450名本科生和电子游戏正规平台生在毕业典礼后分别在校园内举行的典礼上获得了学位.
L-R standing: BC Board of Trustees chairman John Fish, Rev. Nicholas A. Sannella, Arivee Vargas Rozier-Byrd，尊敬的Mark O 'Connell，波士顿辅理主教. Seated: Yolanda Courtney Lyle, University President William P. Leahy, S.J., Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Patrick Stokes. (Lee Pellegrini)
The University also presented honorary degrees to: Yolanda Lyle ’94, J.D. ’01 (Doctor of Laws), Arivee Vargas Rozier-Byrd ’05, J.D. ’08 (Doctor of Laws), Rev. Nicholas A. Sannella ’67 (Doctor of Humane Letters), and Patrick T. Stokes ’64 (Doctor of Business Administration).
Read the honorary degree citations.
莫里西文理学院的学生Jenna Mu被授予今年的荣誉 recipient of the Edward H. Finnegan, S.J., Award，颁发给最能体现哈佛校训“永远追求卓越”的应届毕业生.” Professor and Biology Department Chair Welkin Johnson received the Saint Robert Bellarmine, S.J., Award, 表彰对电子游戏软件的使命做出重大贡献的杰出教员.
Referencing classical as well as contemporary Greek literature, 从索福克勒斯到修昔底德，从康斯坦丁·卡瓦菲斯到尼科斯·卡赞扎基——甚至引用披头士的歌词——米佐塔基斯描绘了一幅令人不安的民主图景，与三十年前形成了鲜明对比, when his generation celebrated their commencements.
“重塑21世纪的民主听起来似乎是一项艰巨的任务. But this is the challenge ahead of you. 我敦促你们，不要把确保我们民主理想生存的任务留给别人. If you think you are the best and the brightest—which you should, 因为你们即将从这所伟大的学校毕业，所以承担起你们的责任. Because you cannot outsource this responsibility to anyone else.”
He recalled “those heady days,” when the speaker at his 1990 graduation from Harvard University, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, 是在为他分裂的国家的统一奠定基础吗. Eight months before, 柏林墙倒塌了(“我还记得在电视上看到这些事件时起了鸡皮疙瘩”)。, and within a year the Soviet Union would collapse, as would communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and “the last vestiges of the Cold War would be swept away.
“我们当时相信，西方在经济上战胜苏联已经无可挽回地证明，民主是所有时代、所有人的理想政府形式,” said Mitsotakis.
But instead of achieving the promise of a free, peaceful, and just world, he said, “my graduating generation and its leaders, I am afraid, took its foot off the gas.政界人士和专家认为，经济自由主义将在中国和俄罗斯创造更开放的社会，并挫败独裁者推翻民主的努力. His generation’s leaders, he said, 假设不断上涨的股市和全球经济的其他特征会带来广泛的繁荣，而不是不平等. 这反过来又产生了“民粹主义者的塞壬”，为“复杂的问题提供简单的解决方案”.”
BC President William P. Leahy, S.J.莫里西文理学院的詹娜·穆(Jenna Mu)获得了爱德华·H. Finnegan, S.J., Award, as Board of Trustees chair John Fish looks on. (Caitlin Cunningham)
Too much faith was placed in technology as a force for good, without fully understanding its economic, social, and moral implications, he added, 将公共领域变成现代版的巴别塔, “在那里，我们说不同的语言，我们只听那些与我们有相同观点的人的话.”
然而米佐塔基斯宣称，他“非常相信你们这一代人不会重蹈覆辙”.” To do so, 来履行你们的庄严职责，把一个比你们继承的世界更美好的世界传给你们的孩子, you need to do things differently,” he said. This will entail a commitment to democracy, which he called “the most powerful leap of faith in human history,，充分发挥毕业生在BC接受的“优秀教育”.
But whatever vocation they might follow, 他还敦促毕业生培养和维护家庭和朋友之间令人满意的关系. “As the Beatles, the great philosophers of my youth, put it, ‘And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.最重要的是，这才是最重要的，也是你能找到最大满足感的地方.”
生物学教授威尔金约翰逊收到圣罗伯特贝拉明，S.J., Award. (Jusitin Knight)
在早些时候的毕业典礼致辞中，哈佛大学校长威廉. Leahy, S.J., also touched on the imperative of serving a global community. “我们生活在一个迫切需要人才的世界和国家, faith, and commitment to work for the good of society, to help root out racial, social, and economic inequality, and to strive to bring an end to violence, poverty, and illiteracy.
“In addition, aggression and human rights violations, such as those currently occurring in the Ukraine, have to be stopped. 这些和其他紧迫而艰巨的问题需要参与和公正的解决办法.”
今年的班级成员的贡献是非常需要的. 莱希告诉毕业生们，他们拥有创造不同的技能、才能和美德. “你们有能力、有准备、有决心帮助我们的世界变得更美好、更和平. 你关心，有良好的意愿，并受益于BC的形成性教育方法. It draws from the Jesuit, Catholic intellectual and religious heritage, 强调将所接受的礼物作为礼物给予的重要性, and fosters living lives marked by faith, hope, and love.
“愿你总是从你所得到的丰富中给予别人, remain steadfast in your convictions, and remember the call, challenge, and opportunity of Boston College’s motto: ‘Ever to Excel.’”
Sean Smith | University Communications | May 2022
画廊照片由凯特琳·坎宁安，贾斯汀·奈特和李·佩莱格里尼