{"id":357,"date":"2007-10-16T16:07:31","date_gmt":"2007-10-16T20:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/"},"modified":"2010-10-20T17:32:32","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T21:32:32","slug":"remarks-medal-honor-2007","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/remarks-medal-honor-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"Remarks: Medal & Honor Ceremony, 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trinity Medal and Honor Agreement Ceremony Remarks:\u00a0 Class of 2011<\/h1><\/span>\n

October 16, 2007<\/p>\n

Congratulations to the Gold Class of 2011!\u00a0 Tonight you have taken one of the most important steps that will occur in your Trinity career.\u00a0 You are about to sign one of the most important documents you will ever sign in your life — Trinity\u2019s Honor Agreement.<\/p>\n

I signed this agreement a long time ago, in 1970 when I first came to Trinity as a freshman.\u00a0 For me, this document is more important than my mortgage agreement, my contract, and many other documents I have signed in my life.\u00a0 How can I say this?\u00a0 Because Honor is the basis for all of those other signatures, all of the promises I make to people whenever I sign a contract.\u00a0 My signature on the Honor Agreement I made with Trinity a long time ago certifies my pledge to uphold the principle of Honor in all of my agreements throughout my life.\u00a0 In essence, this agreement underwrites all of the countless contracts I have signed since that day; and so it will underwrite the contracts and agreements you make across your lifetimes as well.<\/p>\n

By enrolling at Trinity, you have accepted the principles of the Honor System.\u00a0 Tonight, you formalize your commitment to live by the principle of Honor, the hallmark of being a Trinity Woman (and Trinity Man) for life.\u00a0 The Trinity Medal that you will receive this evening symbolizes this commitment to live by Trinity\u2019s values of Honor, Justice, Faith and Charity.<\/p>\n

Why do we take the Honor System so seriously here at Trinity?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about what happens when dishonesty prevails in our society.<\/p>\n

Tonight, I\u2019d like to talk about the very sad story of Marion Jones.\u00a0 Do you know who Marion Jones is?\u00a0 She is, quite simply, one of the top female athletes of our times — or was.\u00a0 She won an unprecedented five Olympic medals in Sydney in the Year 2000; three golds among them.\u00a0 But last week, she pled guilty to lying to prosecutors about whether she had taken steroids before that competition.\u00a0 She also pled guilty to using performance-enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s this beautiful, strong young woman, her brilliant career flushed down the drain in an instant — all because she lied.<\/p>\n

Well, you might say, if she had not taken the drugs she would not have won the gold medals.\u00a0 Maybe yes, maybe no.\u00a0 We\u2019ll never know how good she could have been on her own merits.<\/p>\n

Marion Jones cheated.\u00a0 For an athlete to take steroids is like a student ripping a term paper from an Internet source.\u00a0 It\u2019s cheating against others, because every time you present something that\u2019s not your own work as if it is, you have cheated the other students who are doing the work all by themselves.\u00a0 Athletes who get help through drugs are just like students who plagiarize, they\u2019re presenting work as if it were their own when, in fact, their work is boosted through an improper source.
\nWhat\u2019s worse:\u00a0 trying, but never winning the gold medal; or having the disgrace of having to give the medal back, and then going to jail\u00a0 — all because of a lie.\u00a0 There is never, ever any shame in trying your hardest to do your best, even if the result is a B on a paper or a silver medal rather than gold.\u00a0 Your integrity is far more important than the grade or the color of the medal.\u00a0 The Olympics quote this saying at the start of the games:\u00a0 \u201cThe most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.\u201d 1<\/a><\/p>\n

By the way, I found that quotation in a column written by Fred Bowen, originally for the Washington Post, reprinted in places including thenewstribune.com where I found it online.\u00a0 (See http:\/\/www.thenewstribune.com\/soundlife\/story\/180241.html<\/a>)\u00a0 You can quote somebody who has quoted somebody so long as you cite to all of the sources.<\/p>\n

Think about this:\u00a0 being here at Trinity is like being at the Olympics.\u00a0 Everyone here wins a medal for getting here — the Trinity Medal you will receive tonight, a medal that symbolizes your membership here.\u00a0 You do not want to tarnish this medal, ever.\u00a0 You do not, ever, want to give this medal back because you have done something to disgrace this medal, the honor, the justice it represents.<\/p>\n

Yes, you want to win gold — you want to \u201cace\u201d all of your papers, of course — you want to do well in your coursework and on your exams.\u00a0 But you must try to do this on your own, not with any performance-enhancements other than those that we provide legitimately each day — the help of our faculty and staff, the tutors and advisors who are here for you.\u00a0 Consider them your personal trainers, the people who will coach you to success.<\/p>\n

But you must never, ever, give into the temptation to do something under-handed or dishonest, cheating to get ahead, or trying to get away with breaking the rules of this community, breaking your contract to live by the standards of Honor and Integrity.\u00a0 Even if you do this and no one ever finds out, you will have tarnished your medal, you will have dishonored the entire point of being here at Trinity.<\/p>\n

You will surely struggle at times here. If you don\u2019t, we\u2019re not being rigorous enough in our teaching.\u00a0 Just like the Olympic saying quoted above, the important thing is not the good grade but the struggle to learn that preceded the grade.\u00a0 Maybe you will triumph and get a good grade.\u00a0 Maybe you will keep struggling and get a few miserable grades.\u00a0 The point is not the grade, but the kind of person you are becoming as you wrestle with the whole point of becoming an honest, intellectual individual.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t find it hard to learn, you\u2019re not getting your money\u2019s worth out of this education.\u00a0 Demand more; demand rigor; demand that we push you to struggle to learn.<\/p>\n

In a perverse way, Marion Jones now stands out as a different kind of role model, a model for the consequences of dishonesty and cheating.\u00a0 But at least she has confessed to what she did, and in that confession we can find some redemption, some restoration of her honor, some capacity to forgive — unlike some other athletes whose names I won\u2019t mention, men who have reaped much greater wealth and fame than any woman will ever achieve, men who have not been honest with their fans, their friends, their families, their own consciences.<\/p>\n

At least Marion Jones finally had the courage, the strength of character to admit what she did.\u00a0 She said, after she pled guilty — again, I am quoting Marion Jones who was quoted by Fred Bowen in the Washington Post<\/em> article that was reprinted in thenewstribune.com —\u00a0 Jones said: \u201cI want you to know that I have been dishonest, and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let (my family) down. I have let my country down. And I have let myself down. I recognize that by saying that I\u2019m deeply sorry, it might not be enough \u2026 to address the pain and the hurt that I have caused you, therefore I want to ask for your forgiveness.\u201d <\/em>2<\/a><\/p>\n

Confession and forgiveness, are, by the way, also a big part of our Honor System.\u00a0 We all make mistakes, and the Honor System expects you to admit your mistakes.\u00a0 It\u2019s far better to come forward to confess what you have done, rather than waiting to be caught in your lie.\u00a0 We believe in forgiveness — not an exemption from consequences, mind you, since there must be consequences for cheating or dishonesty — but forgiveness means we can move on from the mistake, accepting the consequences but still coming back to try again.<\/p>\n

Trinity\u2019s historic system of honor is a way of life and also an educational program designed to teach you what it means to live honorably and with integrity in all things that you do, all the time, even when no one is looking, or when you think you\u2019re just among friends.\u00a0 Living honorably seems so obvious.\u00a0 It means:<\/p>\n