 Thank you very much. Each year, the Ford School's graduating students are asked to elect people to play key roles at commencement. And one faculty member is chosen to speak to the class. Both sets of graduating students also choose a representative student speaker. As the faculty speaker this year, the classes of 2017 elected Jonathan Hansen. John Hansen is a lecturer in statistics for public policy at the Ford School. He is a specialist in comparative political economy and political development. In his recent projects, he has explored whether democracy and state capacity complement or substitute for each other in terms of improving human development and why authoritarian regimes vary so significantly in terms of economic and social outcomes. John holds an MA in economics and a PhD in political science from the University of Michigan. And John, or at least John's chin, was a top fundraiser during our students No Shave November, which raised money for the Flint Child and Health Development Fund. And so I'm delighted now to welcome him on behalf of the faculty to address our graduates. John? What do you do with a tassel when you speak? Class of 2017, you look good. So congratulations. You've made it. A lot of long hours, a lot of problem sets, policy memos, a few exams here and there. I may have been responsible for some of those. But you got here, you made it. It's time to sit back and savor the moment for a while and appreciate what you've done. So congratulations. It's a big honor for me to be chosen to represent the faculty and speak to you today. And I have to say that this class of MPP students will be one that I always remember because we started together in the fall of 2016. For you, it was the start of a two-year adventure as a public policy student. For me, it was a return to the University of Michigan, a place that I love as a student, but would need to find a new home in the School of Public Policy as a member of the faculty. I don't know who was more excited at the time, you or me, but I think it was me. But like you, I had to go through a process of acclimation. I had to get my bearings, meet new colleagues, and just really figure out how the school worked. And one of the things I most needed to figure out was what you would be like. I've been teaching for many years. I've taught hundreds and hundreds of undergraduates in my lecture courses, lots of doctoral students in my PhD seminars, but only us mattering a master's students had ever come through my classroom. And so I had to wonder, what would it be like to stand in front of a lecture hall full of you? And what I found is that it was a fantastic teaching experience, because the talents that you bring, the experiences that you've had, and the passion you bring for bringing change to the world, and the genuine desire for learning, even when the classes might not always be so fun, like my stats class, for instance. But you worked hard, and you worked through all the difficult times, and we've got here today. What more could I ask for, after all, when I tell a bunch of dorky jokes, and you guys laugh? See? And as you know, the community here is something special. We worked hard to create a place that is open and accessible and diverse and where we appreciate each other. And you really are at the core of that, you, the students. But you're about to join a larger community out there, the community of alumni of the Ford School of Public Policy, who are out there making a difference in the world. We will miss you, but we look forward to seeing what you do when you take all of this energy and passion and go out there and change things. We're looking forward to it. And now, more than ever, we need you. We badly need well-trained, skilled people to be in positions of influence to address the challenges that we face today. I'm repeating a little bit what you may have heard before, but I think we're all ruminating about the same things that are happening in the world today. For we know that in America, we're facing a time of challenges, where the policymaking process is beset by simplistic beliefs or ideological fights, rather than the kind of evidence-based, rigorous analysis that we prize so highly here. We see fake news and trivialities dominating the political discourse. And there's a growing distrust of experts. Instead of taking the scientific consensus around issues like climate change, at face value, for example, we make them issues of ideological faith. People create different realities. And because of that, they find it hard to compromise with each other when the time comes. So in these times, you could be forgiven for wondering, what is the value of all the training that you've had here? If ideology can substitute for evidence, what good is it to bring evidence to bear on public policy decision-making? But the fact of the matter is that the kind of training we've had here is now more important than it's ever been before. We should serve as a model for how to have a reasonable political dialogue and how to use analytic tools to bring decisions based on evidence. We also have a crucial role in promoting values, the kind of community that we have here at Ford, where we work hard to respect diversity in its many forms, is exactly the model that we need to restore the fraying fabric of the American community. We have our differences, sure, but we come together, we listen to each other, and we work for the common good. We now need you to be the leaders and the best and to take on these challenges and change the world out there. And I must say, the situation is not as bleak as it seems. There's some evidence, if you look hard enough, of the impact of experts out there having an effect on the public policy process. As Sheldon Danzinger mentioned, the Congressional Budget Office, staffed with people just like you, had a big impact on the recent debate over health care policy. They did analysis and said what they predicted what happened, and it changed the course of the debate in the House of Representatives. And we've also seen what happened when community organizers and medical professionals and university researchers looked at the situation and flint, and they stood their ground and they made people pay attention. We have to stand up when you know what's right. And then we heard our president, not the president here, but at the United States remark recently about the health care debate, that it was a lot more complicated than he first thought. Who knew it could be so complicated? You guys knew because you studied these things, right? You knew. It turns out that expertise matters. Your skills, your passion, and the values that you bring matter. So don't be discouraged by the divisiveness of our political discourse. In the end, people can be persuaded by evidence. Still, I want to warn you that at some time and some place, you may fail. You may put your heart and your soul into something, and it may not turn out just how you think. But if you stay true to your values, you can never really fail. If you can look yourself at the mirror in the morning and say, I did it the right way, it doesn't matter what the critics say, because you met the standard that matters. So when things are rough, remember that you don't back down, you get back up again, you dust yourself off, and you keep going. There is always another opportunity at another place at another time. So public policy students of 2017, great challenges, but great opportunities lie ahead. You're ready to face them. I know it. We congratulate you, we are proud of you, and we want to hear from you. Oh, and one more thing. Wherever you are, wherever you go, go blue. Thank you.