One of my colleagues in Trondheim admitted that as he gets older the tears seem to come more readily. They did on Friday 18 November. Perhaps I should explain.
NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in Trondheim awarded me a doctorate honoris causa, their 91st. The ceremony was a wonderful mixture of Nordic pomp, clockwork precision and Norwegian informality. Apart from two honorary doctors, twice a year approximately 150 students get their doctorates. Impressive.
Like all graduations it was a moving occasion. Certainly, I
was moved. My short acceptance speech was along the following lines:
I love graduations. You, dear doctoral graduates, have
worked so hard and now you are to be rewarded. You will go out into the world
and use your knowledge and skills to make the world a better place.
I find this this graduation occasion special for three
reasons. The first, not so important, is that it makes us happy. I work at UCL.
The auto-icon of Jeremy Bentham sits in box outside the office of the University
President and Provost. Bentham emphasised that social progress should aim at
the greatest good for the greatest number. By each of us graduates being happy
we add to the world’s utility. But I am not really a Benthamite.
A second more important reason why today is special is
because it is a wonderful celebration of what we do in Universities like this
one. It stands in stark contrast with what is going on in the world of politics
at the moment. With Brexit, far right parties in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and
across Europe, the US election, some politicians have declared war on truth,
logic, consistency, reason and social justice; not to mention the assault on
statistics. What we stand for in universities is all those things: truth,
logic, consistency, reason and social justice. We have a vital role to play in
standing up for these civilised and civilising values.
The third reason for my valuing this occasion so highly is
because I take the award to me as an award to the field in which I work: social
justice and health. What I do relies on evidence-based policies and social
justice. I am chairing a new Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in
the Americas. At a recent meeting in Washington DC I walked in the Mall and
found myself in the area devoted to Martin Luther King Jr. Dr King said:
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.
The world’s problems are our problems, your problems, my dear new doctors.
My colleagues here in Trondheim asked me if I am optimistic,
given all the bad things happening in the world, as I have just laid out. Yes,
I am optimistic because I do believe that evidence-based policies and social
justice will win out. Martin Luther King said it better.
I believe that unarmed
truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This why
right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Another Norwegian professor, as if accounting for his
colleague’s tendency to shed a tear, said: you spoke from your heart to our
hearts. I shed a tear.
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