 Well it's happened again. Another summer has flown by and now our university is once again shifting back into high gear as a new academic year gets underway. It's an awesome time of year and even though I've been immersed in the seasonable rhythms of higher education for a long time, I'm always thrilled when fall arrives and the campus is filled with excitement, potential and promise. But it's special not just because of the time of year but because of this place. There's simply no place like Berkeley. For those of us who are privileged enough to work, teach and learn here, sure there are lots of other universities with talented students, outstanding faculty and highly professional staff. We don't have a monopoly on excellence but we do have a near magical combination of traits that sets Berkeley apart from the crowd. It begins with our public mission that attracts to the campus people with a deep desire and commitment to making the world a better place and it's that same public mission that compels us to provide access to thousands of students from low-income families who are often the first in their families to attend college. From all that springs an incredibly energizing engagement with and connection to real world issues and challenges and we wouldn't have it any other way. It is a real pleasure for me to welcome you or welcome you back to this amazing community of some 37,000 undergraduate and graduate students with sterling academic credentials and the broadest possible array of skills, talents and extracurricular interests. You embody diversity and the fullest meaning of the word in terms of your talents, your origins, your orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, your ideologies and your aspirations. Before you is a personal and intellectual adventure unlike anything you've known before. Waiting for you is Berkeley's community of fellow students, faculty and alumni. A community united through difference but also a common commitment to take risks, to explore new ideas, to engage new people and new perspectives and then to find ways to translate our learning, our explorations, our beliefs and our commitments into tangible form. You will be part of this great city of intellect and I hope you will be able to take full advantage of it to take indeed the full measure of it from the day you arrive. The air here is full of dreams and ambitions to confront some of the world's greatest dilemmas and challenges and we challenge norms and conventions in order to reimagine the future not just for ourselves but for all of us. This attitude, this ambition flows directly from our participation in a monumental American experiment based on the belief that the national community benefits from broad access to an excellent higher education. That democracy thrives when all of its citizens not just the privileged and the elite have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a time of learning, reflection and experimentation with some of the greatest ideas and the most creative minds of our day. We are a public university in the sense that we believe that society is more just and morally sound when the possibility of social mobility is afforded to all based on merit and not their origins or family circumstances. Now for many of you today coming to one of the greatest universities of the world may still seem a dream if not to you certainly to your families and let there be no mistake this is a dream. It was a dream that led to the creation of this extraordinary institution, a public institution second to none and it is a dream still for all of us who hold on to the belief that this kind of education ennobles not just those of us here now but our entire society as well. I would encourage you to go back as I did this summer to read W.E.B. Du Bois. He wrote in his classic work The Souls of Black Folk on the subject of education for African Americans in the context of a still unrealized American dream more than a century ago. As you will recognize his words speak for so many who have come here in years past and for you who come here now. I'm going to quote from his text. I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas. We're smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of evening that swing between the strong limbed earth and the tracery of the stars. I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So wed with truth I dwell above the veil. Is this the life you long to change into the dull hideousness of Georgia? Oh nightly America are you so afraid lest peering from this high peak we sight the promised land. Now remember that and make sure to take your time here and use it well. Immerse yourselves fully in the experiences and the opportunities of Berkeley including our magnificent campus and all of our wonderful collections. Our libraries, museums, art, music, theater, laboratories, our research spaces and departments, our programs in schools, our lecture halls and even our magnificent botanical gardens. Consort as Du Bois suggested we should with Aristotle, Aurelius, Balzac and Dumas and so many others in your coursework as well as in your readings and in your conversations with fellow students and faculty. Experiment with new ideas. Help us generate new knowledge. Use the extraordinary resources of this great public research university and also make sure to reach out, engage, connect. I certainly look forward to staying connected to you in the weeks and months ahead and as you all become full fledged members of the Cal community I look forward to seeing you on the campus. It's going to be an incredible year. Don't believe me? Just watch.