Ray Kelly ’63 Delivers Keynote Address at 167th Commencement

Comments of Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly
Manhattan College Commencement
Manhattan College Campus – Draddy Gymnasium
Sunday, May 17, 2009

 

Thank you, Dr. Jackson.

Brother Scanlan, Chairman O’Malley, distinguished members of the board, faculty and administrators: thank you for this honor.

I have to begin with a confession. I’ve just come from my son Jim’s law school graduation. At Fordham. I’m sorry. I had no choice. Jim did get his undergraduate degree here, as did I. And today I find myself nostalgic for the old rivalry, the days when, allegedly, Manhattan students would sneak onto the Rose Hill campus in the dead of night, find the Fordham ram, and use their artistic skill to render it the appropriate colors. Fordham students always wanted to retaliate. But they had no idea what a Jasper was.

Back at Manhattan, I know I’m on safer ground. Every time I visit I’m amazed at how the school has grown since when I commuted here by subway from Queens. Brother Scanlan, I have so much admiration for all you’ve accomplished in your exceptional 22 years as president. You’ve shown the world the potential of Manhattan and its students: 120% more applications, a100-point increase in the SATs, outstanding faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, and a wholesale transformation into a residential college and one of the premiere institutions of higher learning in the country. What you’ve built is awe-inspiring. But what you have preserved is just as important. Namely the school’s core values. They are manifest, Brother Scanlan, in your vocation, handed down from the Christian Brothers through generations of Manhattan graduates: a commitment to service, social justice, and the dignity of every human being.

Wherever I go, I meet those who absorbed these values at Manhattan and carried them into classrooms and boardrooms, laboratories and churches. People like my classmate, Chairman of the Board Tom O’Malley, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and champion of this school. I think of the Manhattan-trained engineers who labored in the aftermath of nine-eleven to secure the foundation at Ground Zero and of the 109 graduates currently serving in the New York City Police Department.

Members of the Class of 2009, today you inherit this tradition and the call that comes with it. Whatever field you are entering, whatever line of work, the world needs you – your skills, your drive, and most of all, your principles, the heart of your Manhattan education.

I know you have practical matters that demand attention: paying off loans, finding a place to live, getting a job. And I know the market is tight. But I urge you to consider more than money in charting your career. Financial crises come and go. These conditions will not last forever. But knowing this, knowing how quickly fortunes change, this is the moment to find what will endure for you, the path that will sustain you.

I remember the day when I stood in your shoes. Under my cap and gown, I wore a Marine Corps uniform. I was commissioned as an officer the same day, and went on active duty one month later. Ultimately, I was deployed to Vietnam. Everything I learned at Manhattan came with me, and blended with the principles of leadership I was taught in the Marines. Among them: integrity, knowledge, courage, decisiveness, dependability, initiative. It turned out that Marine Corps values fit remarkably well with those of the Christian Brothers.

Three-and-a-half years later I came home, entered the Marine Corps Reserves, and became a New York City police officer. The city was a very different place than when I’d left. It was the late 1960s. There were riots and massive anti-war protests, turbulence in every corner of the city, rising crime. It was a challenging time to be a police officer and a fascinating one. Then as now, police work was a window onto the city, a chance to experience New York in all its complexity and contrasts. These were plainly visible to any officer on patrol: New York’s richest and poorest within blocks of each other.

Even decades later, I think you’ve seen this too, the gulf between Manhattan’s lush campus, the landscaped homes of Riverdale and, four miles away, one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States of America. In this context, what does it mean to respect the dignity of every human being? What does it mean to serve? And how can you live these core Manhattan values?

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the facts of poverty and violence, the sheer number and complexity of problems we face. But already, the members of this class are choosing a different path, a path of action. You’ve traveled to unfamiliar places, from Nairobi and Galveston, to neighborhoods across New York in the service of humanity. You’ve taken your training in education and taught children how to write persuasive essays. You’ve applied your coursework in accounting to help finance low-income housing. You’ve used your skills in engineering to adapt automobiles for the elderly and the physically disabled in rehabilitation.  One of you came here with 20 years as a New York City police officer under your belt. So you know a thing or two about the needs of others and what you have to offer.

There will always be those who say some problems are too big to solve, some injustices inevitable. So I want to remind those of you who, in a few moments, will officially enter the ranks of the alumni: Manhattan College graduates don’t believe in the inevitable. We don’t believe in conventional wisdom and forgone conclusions. We believe in action reinforced by faith and idealism. The growth of this school, the contributions of its alumni are a testament to the strength of this formula. Based on everything you’ve shown in your studies, in your volunteer service, I know that New York and the nation can believe in the Class of 2009. I certainly do. And I believe that with the time-tested values you’ve acquired here, you have just the tools you need to create a future we can all look forward to.

On behalf of the alumni of this great school, we’re proud of you, we’re counting on you. Congratulations! God bless you, and God bless America.