Remarks to the Spring Class of 2025

President Bloomberg addressed the graduating spring Class of 2025 on May 10, 2025, in the Wolstein Center. Her remarks appear below as prepared.

Graduates, congratulations to each of you! Today is the culmination of years of hard work — and you deserve every bit of celebration and accolades heaped on you today.

I love graduation day on campus. There is so much potential in the air! It makes me think of all the critical moments where you made decisions that led to you being here today. At some point, you made the decision that your education was a priority, and that college was the right path for you. I’m so glad you did!

To get here today, I know you made sacrifices that really are essential to being a successful college student. And at some point, you discovered a passion or your dream career path, and you committed to pursuing it. In higher education, we teach and prepare the workforce of tomorrow — in health care and education, in engineering and business development, in the performing and visual arts, in urban planning and design, in communication and policy development. 

Perhaps most importantly, we focus on developing world citizens prepared to share their talents and knowledge with society in a way that makes us all better; that elevates all of us. I and most of my colleagues up here on the dais and in the audience today have chosen to devote our lives to higher education because we believe that America’s universities have fueled human progress — driving innovation and leadership, igniting scientific breakthroughs, building safer and healthier neighborhoods, and energizing civic life.

Beyond job training, at our best, American universities prepare people to strengthen our democracy and help solve the challenges that we face as human beings. I know I speak for my colleagues when I say that we are proud to dedicate our professional lives to advancing the promise of higher education in this country.

Students, it is certainly no secret that you are graduating into a divided world. Regardless of our own points of view, we seem to be sharing a common experience these days: There is so much (too much) that divides us, scares us, outrages us, offends us. It is my sincere hope that, in addition to preparing you for a good career and a living wage, your experience at CSU has prepared you to make a positive mark on a hurting world. 

What can I do, you might ask?

I believe we are at our best as a university when we’ve afforded you opportunities to hear about ideas that may challenge you and to listen to competing viewpoints. You’ve had the chance to weigh your opinions and beliefs against the evidence presented to you — holding your ground on your own values and beliefs if that is your choice or changing your mind if that is where the evidence and your own personal reflection leads you. 

As a university we are at our best when we help you build confidence in debating ideas or policy matters. When working on a team project or design plan, you’ve learned to navigate compromise. You’ve debated with peers to express your viewpoint while listening to understand their side of things as well. You have reached across differences to find common ground. These things are not easy to do. To the extent that you’ve had those experiences at Cleveland State University, please carry that skillset with you — wherever you go next. 

As you go forward, if you come to feel that we’ve fallen short in supporting students to develop those skills, help us be better. You are soon-to-be alumni. Stick with us, give us feedback, tell us how you’ve grown or share ideas of how we can change to help future students grow more. This is the promise of higher education in America. Never static. Always learning. 

I want to share with you a poem that has had a deep impact on me for years, but perhaps never more so than now. In addition to being a poet, Dr. Margaret Wheatley is an educator and speaker who emphasizes that leadership must invoke people’s inherent generosity, creativity, and need for community. She first developed this concept after volunteering with the Peace Corps in post-war Korea in the mid-1960s.

She included this poem in her book, Turning to One Another, in 2002:

There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about.
Ask “What’s possible?” not “What’s wrong?” Keep asking. 
Notice what you care about. 
Assume that many others share your dreams. 
Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters. 
Talk to people you know. 
Talk to people you don’t know. 
Talk to people you never talk to. 
Be intrigued by the differences you hear. 
Expect to be surprised. 
Treasure curiosity more than certainty. 
Invite in everybody who cares to work on what’s possible. 
Acknowledge that everyone is an expert about something. 
Know that creative solutions come from new connections. 
Remember, you don’t fear people whose story you know. 
Real listening always brings people closer together. 
Trust that meaningful conversations can change your world. 
Rely on human goodness. Stay together.

 

Before I conclude, I want to acknowledge that there are some students, faculty and staff members who are not here with us today. Over the last year, we have lost members of our community following a long illness or a sudden tragedy. If you knew any of these individuals who have passed, I encourage you to take a moment to remember them today and reflect on how they impacted your life. In so many ways, this practice of remembering and reflecting builds the kind of human community that Margaret Wheatley referenced in her poem when she says: “There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about”