Wellesley, Massachusetts – In a commencement speech at Wellesley College today, pioneering educator Ruth J. Simmons—a longtime champion of the power of education to transform lives—urged colleges to continue to create spaces where young people can develop freely, through “unfettered learning and authentic self-expression.”
Simmons also called on Wellesley’s graduating seniors to create similar paths for people who haven’t had the same opportunities they have. “I urge you to … spurn the guarantee of comfort caused by wealth and upward mobility in exchange for turning back the rights of others,” Simmons told the graduates. “Remaining true to the Wellesley ideals will surely continue to propel you to a new and rich awareness of what it can mean to be a fully empowered human being unafraid to embrace the full humanity of others.”
Speaking before some 5,000 people, including 560 members of Wellesley’s class of 2026, Simmons recalled her own journey—from her childhood working the cotton fields outside of Grapeland, Texas, to her student days at Dillard University, and her career as a college professor and president at Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M.
Growing up Black in the South in the 1940s and ’50s had taught her to see herself in terms of restrictions that other people imposed on her, Simmons said. The “omnipresent assertion,” she said, was that being Black meant being less intelligent or less creative. But higher education—including a junior year spent on an exchange program to Wellesley—helped her accept a broader view of her role in the world. “Not a limited version of it,” she said. “Not the one ordained by the strict masculine hierarchy of my community…. I dared dream of being of use in changing and improving the world so that the -isms that afflicted my forebears would not be visited upon others.”
These restrictions and -isms, Simmons noted, are strongly resurfacing today, and it is vital that colleges stand firm against that resurgence. “Indeed, the very idea of unfettered self-expression is again under attack by those intent on restraining how we move about and protect our cherished freedoms in a democratic society,” Simmons noted. “Humanistic ideals long evolved from and shaped by the lessons of human history are being challenged, and policies and laws are being enacted to ensure that such an embrace of God-given human rights is forever suppressed. Institutions like Wellesley, at the vanguard of freedom and equality for women, must continue to protect the ability of young people today to find their way to unfettered learning and authentic self-expression.”
Simmons urged Wellesley’s new graduates to carry their transformative college experience into their lives after graduation. “I am more persuaded than ever,” she said, “that access to educational excellence for every child is the key to the healthy flourishing of individuals, and essential to the continuous improvement of a democratic society. … If Wellesley has made you uniquely fit for these times – these troubled times – make plain wherever you go and however you lead that your excellence derives from the privilege of academic rigor in the context of personal and academic freedom. Help others flourish by supporting the same for every child.”
In honor of Simmons’ pathbreaking leadership in higher education, following her speech Wellesley College President Paula Johnson surprised her by presenting her with the Distinguished Honorary Alumna Award and a special representation of the keys to Wellesley College.
In her own remarks, Johnson also urged Wellesley’s graduating class to carry their lessons from Wellesley into the world. Noting that “our country’s history teaches us that the courage of young people especially made all the difference,” Johnson urged the class to “seek your civic purpose. I hope you never underestimate your power to imagine new ways to move our country and world forward.”
A video of Wellesley’s 148th commencement ceremony, along with photos, transcripts, and other material, will be available online.