119th Annual Meeting
of the Wellesley College
Alumnae Association
Wellesley College

Reunion Weekend
June 6, 1999

Diana Chapman Walsh
President
Wellesley College

People often ask me for the secret of our success. I have various answers, of course (we all do), and one of you suggested yesterday (only somewhat facetiously) that I should simply respond that if I were to reveal the answer, it wouldn't be a secret any more.

But let me just say this, as we who are assembled here close down the 1900s at Wellesley College on this beautiful June day. At the end of history's bloodiest and most brutal century, the challenge of our time is to reconcile deep tensions in our culture and around the world -- to achieve a viable balance between individualism and community, between diversity and unity.

This is a time when all of the pressures on our young people -- economic pressures, technological pressures, politics and the siren song of the mass media and mass culture -- are telling them that what matters in life are celebrity, not substance; money, not values; style, not standards; transactions, not enduring relationships.

At a time such as this, if we can inculcate in our students a habit of responsible stewardship -- of choosing thoughtfully what is worthy of their care and then organizing their lives to exercise that care responsibly and consistently -- if we can teach that value of stewardship, we have done something very important. And I believe we are doing just that.

Our Wellesley students are learning to be critical thinkers, they are learning in relationships, they are learning to take responsibility for the claims they make about truth and value, they are assuming responsibility and sharing it, and, in that process, growing ever more aware of the radical connections they have -- we all have -- with other people and the rest of creation. They are learning they have obligations to use their knowledge and power responsibly.

That's our secret, it seems to me (but don't tell anyone). That's what it means to be a Wellesley woman -- always has been, and I hope always will be The story of Wellesley College, when all is said and done, is the sum total of the life stories of our alumnae -- all of you -- stories:

• of women who live their lives with courage, commitment, and zest;
• of women who never stop questioning, learning, growing ... and giving;
• of women, who, at every age, alive with curiosity, greet triumphs with humility and face tragedies with dignity, who make their way through the world with abiding grace and generosity.

It is an amazing privilege to be leading this institution -- this phalanx of Wellesley women -- at this moment in history. I thank you all for your stories. I thank you all for all you do -- and are -- for your College, for your friends and families, for your communities, for our world.

I thank you for coming back to spend this weekend with us. Be well, be safe, and please come back again very soon.

Betsy Lawson elawson@wellesley.edu
Office for Public Information
Date Created: June 23, 1999
Last Modified: June 23, 1999