Edgar Odell Lovett, the first president of Rice University, once said:

… when I seem to hear every board of civilization cracking, I always begin to count up the good men and the good women that I know, the thoroughly good men and good women, to be trusted to the ends of the earth. You have only to perform this simple exercise in arithmetic of counting up from time to time the good souls of your own personal acquaintance, to have all the time great hope for your country.

Last night at the university’s 112th commencement ceremony, I was surrounded by just such people.

And the highlight, for me, was when commencement speaker Dr. Huda Zoghbi shared her life story, reminding all in attendance of the power of higher education and unfettered research, of what universities do best and why we cannot do without them.