125th Anniversary Conference
Keynote Event Opening Remarks and Introductions
April 20, 2001

Diana Chapman Walsh
President
Wellesley College

Faculty, students, staff, alumnae, trustees of Wellesley College, conference panelists and other special guests - - we're so happy to have you here. What a joy it is for me on this evening to welcome you to this historic event. And we are making history tonight. Make no mistake. First and foremost by hosting this rare joint appearance by two extraordinary leaders on the world stage, two incredible daughters of Wellesley - - but we're not proud of them, are we? Two impressive daughters of Wellesley, ten years apart, back together now to give us a privileged glimpse of their shared and separate perspectives on where they've traveled, what they've learned, how they've changed and what they see ahead.

I extend a welcome also to those who are listening online all over the country and around the world. On this historic occasion we are for the first time broadcasting live audio streaming from the campus over the Internet. Two years ago when I first approached our two speakers about this event, they encouraged me to think about new and innovative ways to extend Wellesley's reach even more broadly to women around the world. This then is one small step.

We have so much to celebrate this evening as we have through this anniversary year, so much for which to be so grateful. We honor the many people out of whose courage, intelligence and toil this unlikely college has grown into a mighty institution. We honor our past and our future. We commemorate a proud legacy of excellence, of strength, of resilience.

As we have recalled Wellesley's past this year, celebrated our accomplishments and marked our milestones, we've also been addressing those things we must do to secure our future and to merit this place of power it is our good fortune now to occupy. All of us have a responsibility for charting the course of this institution that we hold in trust for a short time, each one of us in our own way. All of us make a difference for Wellesley College in the way we choose to live our lives. Hence, the inspiration behind this gathering of alumnae voices. Our conference builds on the premise that Wellesley College is positioned now to play a unique role in defining the wellsprings of effective leadership for the 21st century, the essence of a life well lived, how to make a difference in the world, and how to make a different world, a world more faithful to the values and to the aspirations of women.

Henry Durant dedicated his life and his fortune to the founding of this college. He was sure that educated women would make a better world, one built on intellectual rigor combined with forbearance, respect, compassion and trust. He wanted to secure for them the highest quality education fully equal to that available at the best men's institutions at the time. He was scornful of patronizing notions about the limited capacities of women's minds. "Women can do the work," he said, "I will give them the chance." He did and we did the work, and over the years successive generations of Wellesley faculty and staff have dedicated themselves to shaping and reshaping an excellent liberal arts education to meet the demands of changing times.

Even as outside pressures have transformed what we do and who we are, certain fundamental values have remained and endured. A Wellesley education has always focused on qualities that we all recognize as defining a liberally educated person - - flexible intellectual skills, critical habits of mind, respect for history and appreciation of beauty, tolerance, civility and empathy, and a sincere desire to learn from our differences and an abiding spirit of responsible stewardship for generations to come.

At Wellesley, we've always expected that our students, whatever their reasons for choosing this college, would come and be immersed here in a learning community in which they acquired knowledge as part of a deeper process of taking up their responsibilities for themselves and for the common good.

This 125th anniversary conference -- this return to the campus of our luminaries, this gathering of our great ones, the elders and some of them not even so old, and this amazing moment that we've created -- has offered us a chance for all of us to see those qualities of mind and qualities of heart in action in the world, as we've seen already this afternoon in the vivid panel discussions.

At the time of our centennial 25 years ago, few of us could have imagined that we would be as strong as we are today, recognize the world around as a beacon for women's aspirations and for their dreams of a better life. That we are in such a position of remarkable strength, we owe to the many alumnae whose lives have inspired us all and none more dramatically than our two speakers tonight.

Introduction of Keynote Speakers

To say that our keynote speakers require no introduction would be the understatement of the year, maybe the century. Both were political science majors at Wellesley College. Both were honors students -- hear that everybody? Both were campus leaders while they were here -- Senator Clinton as president of College Government -- Secretary Albright as editor of the Wellesley News. Both have been trustees of the College and both have been back many times to speak on important occasions and to lend their prestige to our cause, and it is a cause and a noble one. And through the powerful connections each of them has made with women around the world, they have underscored on the world stage the reality on which the founding of Wellesley College was based, that the education, empowerment, and self-directed transformation of women's lives, hold the key to the future of the human family.

Hillary Rodham Clinton -- your strength and your courage are breathtaking, legendary -- your unshakeable grace under pressure. We have admired your tenacity and your focus, your capacious mind. You've stood up consistently and resolutely for the needs of women and children first and always. You are a steady champion of the disempowered and the disenfranchised. You have been a tireless voice for human rights and for social justice. We welcome you back to campus now and always to celebrate your stunning successes.

Madeleine Korbel Albright -- you have touched everyone the world around and you have inspired all of us here, as you can hear, with the wisdom and the strength and the endurance that you displayed throughout your tenure as Secretary of State. Your dignity, your clarity and confidence, your human empathy shown through in everything you did and do. Even those people who might have disagreed at times with your policies - - were there any of those people? A few -- always admired your clear commitment to doing what you believed was right no matter what and the selfless integrity that you brought to your demanding work every hour of every day. You are the living embodiment of the Wellesley motto "non ministrari sed ministrare." We welcome you back to campus with our heartfelt affection, admiration and love.

We sure are lucky to have these two women, aren't we?

Now, here's the plan. Let me tell you the plan. You've heard more than enough from me. Each of our two guests will speak for ten or fifteen minutes about her extraordinary life and experience as a leader. Then, we'll sit down here in these three chairs, and I will start a little dialogue between them. We'll do that for about ten minutes or so, see how the time is going. Then, we'll open up the floor for your questions so be thinking about the questions that you might want to ask. There are microphones in the two aisles so you'll have to line up, and I'll take you in order. That's the plan for the evening, and it should be very exciting.

We'll go in reverse order of Wellesley seniority, so we'll begin with Hillary Rodham Clinton, Class of '69, the first First Lady in history to be elected a US senator, and then she'll turn the floor over to Madeleine Korbel Albright, the Class of '59, the first woman in history to serve our country as Secretary of State. Senator Clinton….