WEBVTT

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You know, when people ask
me about my vision for UVA,

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I often respond by
asking them, would you

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rather hear the short
version or the long version?

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And people who know
me inevitably say,

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the short version, please.

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So here's the short version.

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I believe that we should strive
to be both great and good

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in all that we do.

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And I think that if we
succeed, 10 years from now

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we'll be known as the best
public university in the nation

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and among the very best overall,
whether public or private.

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Now, you might be saying,
well, that leaves me

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with some questions.

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What do you mean by good?

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What do you mean by great?

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What does it mean
to be the best?

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Which inevitably leads
to the longer version.

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Today is, by some measures,
the 200th birthday

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of the University of Virginia.

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And as this date
has approached, I've

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been giving a lot of
thought to our past

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and how far we've come over
the last two centuries,

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but also to our future
and how far we have to go.

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I think we have the opportunity
and the responsibility

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to be a beacon for
higher education,

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to help light a path forward
for the 21st century.

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In order to do that, we
have to accomplish something

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that's harder than it sounds.

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We have to be both great
and good in all that we do.

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Think world class
university with a heart

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and a soul whose highest
calling is to serve the public.

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I think we need to
learn from our mistakes.

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We have not always been great.

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And we have not
always been good.

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And I think above all, we
have to rededicate ourselves

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to the animating purpose
of the University

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of Virgina, which is to serve.

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Now, to be great
and good doesn't

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mean that we should try to
do everything and anything.

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We have to make choices,
sometimes hard choices.

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But it does mean that we
should prepare our students not

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simply to be leaders, but
to be ethical leaders.

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We should work at the
frontiers of discovery.

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But we should also
be paying attention

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to the political and
social consequences.

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We should live our values.

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We should be a good neighbor
to the Charlottesville region

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and a good partner
to the Commonwealth.

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We should be elite and
unapologetically so.

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But we should not be elitist.

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Above all else, we should strive
to improve the human condition

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and advance the common
good through our teaching,

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through our research, and
through our health care.

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These two things, being
great and being good,

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can and should go hand in hand.

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And if we can do
both, I have no doubt

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that we'll be a beacon
for higher education.

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So happy birthday, UVA.

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And here's to another
great 200 years.

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Thanks.

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[APPLAUSE]

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