“I want to talk about an old-fashioned idea that’s in desperate need today. It’s a topic each of you has the power to advance in the world, if you choose,” Jalen Rose told graduates May 2 during U-M’s Spring Commencement at Michigan Stadium.
“I want to talk about integrity.”
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Rose said he went to U-M’s website and typed “values” into the search box — and the first value, on a list of six, was “integrity.”
“When I began writing this speech … I didn’t know the number-one value at the University of Michigan is integrity. But I learned it. I felt it. I’m here to tell you this is a good way to live. It’s the Michigan way.”
Rose, founder of the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, sports analyst, and former U-M basketball and NBA player, delivered the keynote address during Saturday’s graduation ceremony. The event also included remarks by student speakers and U-M administrators and faculty, who repeatedly noted that the university conferred its 1 millionth degree over the weekend.
More than 9,000 graduates and nearly 60,000 of their families, friends and supporters claimed tickets to the commencement ceremony, which was held on a brisk, mostly sunny morning.
Rose was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Other honorary recipients were:
- Shirin Ebadi, Iranian Nobel-winning human-rights lawyer, Doctor of Laws.
- Ingeborg Hochmair, electrical engineer and cochlear implant pioneer, Doctor of Engineering.
- Michael Phelps, world-champion swimmer and Olympic record-holder, Doctor of Laws.
- Ron Weiser, businessman, philanthropist and U-M regent emeritus, Doctor of Laws.
Kent Syverud, former chancellor and president of Syracuse University, who was expected to become U-M’s next president but announced last month that he could not accept the job because he is battling brain cancer, also received an honorary Doctor of Laws.
In presenting the honorary degree to Syverud, U-M Board Chair Mark J. Bernstein noted Syverud’s “achievements as a scholar, educator and university president” and said they reflected his dedication to the public good.
Living the Michigan way
Rose, a member of U-M’s Fab Five from the early ’90s, said he has long considered himself a “Michigan Man” but recognized that term may be limiting.
“These days, we’re empowered to claim our identities, our orientations, our cultural inheritance, our belief systems. This is a good thing. Yet the term “Michigan Man” seems limited. I’m going to broaden it,” he said.
“To make the term representative of all of us. I propose that ‘Michigan Man’ simply becomes ‘Michigan.’ I am Michigan. We are Michigan.”
To be “Michigan,” Rose said, means living with a strong work ethic.
“All those terms about excellence and those who stay will be champions — those are real things,” he said.
It also means responding to adversity with grace.
When Rose was recruited to U-M as an All-American basketball player from Detroit public schools, he said, “People were questioning me.”
“Media outlets and the newspapers wondered how a kid from Detroit — how are you going to make it at Michigan?” he said.
But Rose made the Dean’s List as a U-M student, then finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, College Park, while playing in the NBA.
When faced with adversity, Rose told graduates to think of a line he paraphrased from the movie “Rocky.”
“Life is not how hard you hit. It’s how hard you get hit and keep on going.”
Giving back is another important aspect of living the Michigan way, Rose said.
“My hometown and this university have shaped all 360 degrees of me. My labor of love is to continue to give back,” he said.
One of Rose’s proudest accomplishments has been the creation of a Detroit charter school, the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy. “We’re in our 15th year and our college acceptance is 100%. I have students who go to Michigan,” he said.
Finally, to be “Michigan,” Rose said, means showing others respect. “How you treat people. How you show up. Saying ‘thank you.’ ‘excuse me,’ ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘please.’ Those are very important words, as you matriculate in your personal and professional career.”
Concluding his remarks, Rose congratulated the graduates and told them they have much to look forward to.
“Success is in front of you. Happiness is in front of you. Love is in front of you.”
Then he reminded them that they now have a permanent place in the Michigan community — and, wherever they are in the world, two words will always connect them: “Go Blue!”
Using a U-M education for the greater good
President Domenico Grasso jokingly began his remarks by saying, “As a kid, I always dreamed of ending up in the Michigan end zone. This is not quite how I pictured it.”
“But I’m told being university president at commencement is a close second.”
Grasso congratulated the graduates and acknowledged those in attendance who had helped support them.
Then, while noting the value of a Michigan degree, he took a moment to recognize Syverud.
“Your Michigan degree will always be part of who you are. We see that today in the contributions and example of alumnus Kent Syverud,” Grasso said. “He reminds us that the true measure of a life is not only in achievement, but in how one meets life’s unexpected turns. His steadiness, courage and grace, especially in the face of profound challenge, leave a deep impression for us all.
“Graduates, you can honor him by emulating him: lead with purpose, serve with integrity, and meet whatever comes your way with resolve and humility.”
To illustrate this point, Grasso encouraged students to consider an alternative slogan to the popular “Michigan vs. Everybody,” which Grasso called “a powerful slogan for our athletics teams — who are, of course, out to compete, beat everybody, and bring home national championships, like this year’s men’s basketball team.”
“But the broader university was founded in the public interest and has remained grounded in that mission ever since,” he said. “We want the world to look to Michigan for the common good — for discoveries, ideas, cures and actions that advance humanity. The real power of Michigan lies in being here for everyone.”
Grasso proposed instead: “Michigan for Everybody.” Then he held up a T-shirt with the motto.
“Michigan, in service to humanity, is for everybody,” he said. “And you will carry that forward — proving it through the impact you make in the next chapter of your lives.”
Building on those who came before
In her remarks, Provost Laurie McCauley noted the historic significance of U-M’s 1 millionth degree, saying it was the culmination of “1 million stories, across more than two centuries.”
“That is how institutions endure — each story, each person, each moment stacked upon those that came before,” she said.
She also referenced a campus legend about a construction crane that was abandoned a century ago beneath Michigan Stadium when the crane supposedly sank into the mud and couldn’t be retrieved.
“I have always loved what the image suggests,” she said. “Every great structure rests on what came before, including the parts no one sees.”
LSA Dean Rosario Ceballo referenced the millionth degree milestone as well, while acknowledging U-M’s history.
“Our history as an institution is not perfect, but it does highlight our ability to grow and our ability to adapt,” she said.
Most graduates, she said, have probably also experienced ups and downs during their time in Ann Arbor — and she admitted to weathering her own.
“I remember the many times after starting as a newly minted Michigan Ph.D. when someone questioned my role here as a professor, sometimes leading me to question myself, too,” she said.
“Yet, here I stand today, as your first Latina dean of the College of LSA. A daughter of immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic, a first-generation student, and a Michigan alum. I’m here on this stage because I also had the privilege of a Michigan education.”
She told graduates they now also have the benefit of a Michigan degree to help drive them.
“Starting today, you will carry your Michigan education with you — it will never leave you. This education, with all its highs and all its lows, is now an integral part of who you are and who you have become.”
Faculty Senate Chair Derek Peterson reminded the graduates of Sarah Burger, a woman who applied to U-M in 1858 and again in 1859 but was denied admission both times because she was a woman. The university would not admit women until 1870.
Noting that the Class of 2026 consisted of 53% women, Peterson said, “The point I want to make is, the freedoms we all have were hard won. They were not handed out by a generous administration. This is the greatest public university in the world because people like Ms. Burger refused to accept the orthodoxies of their time.”
Remember the good times
Alicia Clark, a senior in LSA and one of three student speakers — the others were Liam Reeser and Cassandra Turner — reflected on the many memories she’d made during her time in Ann Arbor and how her time at U-M had been a period of growth both academically and personally.
“College has taught us everything we need to know for our majors, yes,” Clark said. “But, perhaps most importantly, college has taught us how to grow as a person. It has taught us that every moment, big or small, good or even bad, deserves to be remembered.
“And so, I leave you with a challenge. Don’t just hold onto the memories you’ve created here. But I challenge you to continue to create more. So call your old roommates. Book trips to visit each other. And show up, even when life becomes busy. Because these years, they will never truly leave us. We will continue to wear maize and blue. And the University of Michigan will stay within us far beyond graduating today.”
Adam Ashforth
I think the argument Peterson was making is that at each historical turning point in the history of this university – from the admission of women, through the appointment of Jews to the faculty, to the recognition of Black Studies (and he could have mentioned McCarthyism, the protests against the Vietnam War, and the anti-Apartheid struggle…) – the administration and regents have been on the wrong side of history. And it seems like they are still today.
Charlotte Karem Albrecht
Excellent! Congratulations to the class of 2026!
Now, re-post the full commencement video, since UM removed it.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciDNaDCnW-k. Why would they remove it, you say? Because this (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0xsQtkMC4&ra=m) was apparently so reprehensible as to warrant an immediate public apology from President Grasso, furious emails and tweets from Regents, and threatening emails and phone calls from others. Did we ever see a response this swift to any of the sexual predators at our university? So yes: “live with integrity, serve the public good.” We have truly lost our way.
If you are a UM student, faculty, or staff and are outraged about this, you can sign an open letter here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PMfkVP_vp1vEw6rbAvGBnVKzbn_DLn3tGEyytvafnRc/edit?usp=sharing
Silke-Maria Weineck
So who is “Peterson,” who makes a sudden appearance towards the end, has no first name, has no title, and speaks in unknown capacity?
(censorship always leaves scars in the writing)
The University Record
Derek Peterson served as chair of the Faculty Senate this year. His full title is in the story. Thank you.
Silke-Maria Weineck
It is now. good of you to fix that.
Silke-Maria Weineck
It is now. good of you to fix it.
Charlotte Karem Albrecht
Silke, was the version you read different that the version that exists now? It seems odd that a writer and scholar so attentive to language would miss that.
Silke-Maria Weineck
Thanks for asking! My comment must look incomprehensible. And yes indeed, the original read, starting with Rosie’s quote:
“‘Starting today, you will carry your Michigan education with you – it will never leave you. This education, with all its highs and all its lows, is now an integral part of who you are and who you have become.’
Peterson reminded the graduates of Sarah Burger, a woman who applied to U-M in 1858 and again in 1859 but was denied admission both times because she was a woman. The university would not admit women until 1870.”
Clearly, a paragraph that actually did introduce our colleague, outgoing senate chair Derek Peterson, had been deleted. Just like the video of the entire commencement was apparently deleted due to the fourth of these beautiful sentences:
“So, the next time you sing ‘Hail to the Victors,’ our fight song, sing for Sarah Burger. And sing for the thousands of other students who have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of social justice over the course of centuries.
Sing for Moritz Levi, the first Jewish professor at the University of Michigan. Appointed Professor of French in 1896, he was to open the doors of this great university to generations of Jewish students who found in Ann Arbor a safe haven from the anti-Semitism of East Coast universities.
Sing for the students of the Black Action Movement whose members demanded a curriculum that would reflect the experience and identity of Black people in this country.
Sing for the pro-Palestinian student activists who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.”
It’s a sad day when a University president apologizes for the sentiment above and implies that UM would have censored him in advance. But I guess we always knew what “viewpoint diversity” actually means.
Rebekah Modrak
My incisive colleague Dr. Johannes von Moltke, has provided the best summary of this situation. With his permission, “It was the speech of an historian, gifted rhetorician, Guggenheim and McArthur fellow, who went to the archives, shared what he found, and imparted a lesson to departing students. The exhortation to sing the Michigan anthem (“fight song”) more inclusively was moving and brilliant. Contrary to our president’s extremely unfortunate post, this was exactly what a valedictory speech at a public institution of higher learning should be. And of those who claim to have been harmed by Derek’s speech I ask: how and where exactly does it hurt to have your “hearts [opened] to the injustices and inhumanity” of the war in Gaza?”
Anne Pitcher
Professor Peterson’s speech was not the speech of a rabble rouser or political hardliner looking to score points in a public forum. Instead it was the speech of a careful historian, a thoughtful scholar, who has the moral courage to draw comparisons between errors of judgment and acts of prejudice in the past with the controversies we face today.
Among the many things I find reprehensible about the administration’s response to Professor Peterson is they are always encouraging us to do more public facing scholarship, to make our research and ways of thinking more accessible to the public. But then when we do it, they censor and condemn us.
Martin Murray
I wholeheartedly endorse Derek Person’s remarks at graduation. He correctly pointed out that various University administrations were on the wrong side of history when protests — individual and collective — exposed inequities and injustices. I agree with Adam Ashforth that Derek Peterson could have added the attack on civil liberties around University Professors and the scourge of McCarthyism, the University opposition to anti-Vietnam war protests, and the unwillingness to support the anti-apartheid activism on campus. Derek Peterson did not speak alone — he voiced the sentiments of thousands of us who share his views. Countless international agencies with long track records of objectivity, millions of people around the world, and large numbers of citizens of Israel have raised their voices in opposition to the destruction of Gaza, the loss of lives, the continued occupation, and the unprovoked attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Derek Peterson is just one more voice. D. Grasso’s words ring hollow in the face of the University administration’s long litany of often repeated platitudes about supporting the right to speak freely, the right to assembly, and the University’s commitment to dialogue and respect for diversity of points of view. What hogwash! To eliminate Derek Peterson’s carefully worded speech from official University publicity regarding graduation, to chastise him for not obtaining prior approval for his words, and to apologize to the University community for his “insensitive remarks” reeks of George Orwell — “you can say whatever you want, but only if I approve of it.” This issue is more than D. Grasso and the University of Michigan. This country is drifting, if not rushing, into an era of what Herbert Marcuse called repressive tolerance in which official endorsement for civil liberties actually conceals the deeper reality of strengthening authoritarianism.