Presented below is the transcript of President Sally Kornbluth’s 2025 MIT Commencement address, as intended for delivery today.

Good afternoon, everyone! Governor Healey. The alumni of the Class of 1975, in their fabulously stylish red jackets! And of course, all the graduates of the Class of 2025 — along with your supportive family and friends!

At MIT, it is customary for the president to offer a “charge” to the graduating class. To begin, I’ll take a moment to reflect on the world we create together here at MIT.

At MIT, we create ample space for differing opinions, regardless of whether the topic is scientific, personal, or political. The friction that arises from these disagreements is a remarkably effective means to refine each other’s thinking. (If you doubt my words, I encourage you to sit in on a faculty meeting!)

However, in this unsettling era, as we get ready to launch the Class of 2025 into the world, I wish to 
honor three essential aspects we all agree upon — the solid foundation of our collective efforts and understanding.

First, we believe in the elegance and strength of the scientific method. Winston Churchill once remarked, “No one claims that democracy is flawless or all-knowing.” Indeed, as he famously stated, “Democracy is the worst form of governance — except for all other forms that have been tried.”

You could similarly express this — with respect! — for the scientific method. None of us would contend that it’s “flawless or all-knowing.”

Yet, the scientific method remains the most dependable tool humanity has ever created to uncover the truth about the physical world. It is designed to identify errors, shield us from our own biases and assumptions, and provide a systematic approach to convert unseen facts into actionable knowledge.

It’s challenging to envision anything more valuable than that.

Secondly, we believe in the elegance and strength of fundamental scientific discovery — that remarkably intricate, bewildering, heroic, intoxicating journey of exploration and experimentation that somehow ended up with the mundane title of “basic research.”
 

We value scientific discovery as profoundly inspiring and significant in its own right — and we recognize that it is vital for fostering innovation as well as delivering new tools, technologies, treatments, and cures.

And lastly — through direct personal experience here at MIT — we all acknowledge that we become sharper, more rigorous, more curious, more inventive, and more inclined to achieve groundbreaking outcomes when we collaborate with brilliant individuals across a wide array of backgrounds, perspectives, and ideologies, from throughout the nation and around the globe.

Big ideas aren’t found in an echo chamber!

And I want to reiterate something I’ve stated often: MIT could not be MIT without our international students!

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The elegance and strength of the scientific method. The elegance and strength of scientific discovery. And honestly, the elegance and strength of the Institute’s remarkable global community.

For those of us connected to MIT, these three principles might seem almost too self-evident to require elaboration, let alone celebration.

Yet, we find ourselves in a perplexing moment, a moment where these principles have never been more crucial — and have seldom been under such threat.

Therefore, I now extend my charge to the members of the Class of 2025.

To the graduates today:

I hope and trust that, during your time here, you’ve equipped yourselves remarkably well for the upcoming phases of your life and career. I wish you every success in that next chapter, and all that follow.

Nevertheless, I must request that you each undertake another role. A lifelong role. An urgent role.

I need all of you to become ambassadors for the way we think, work, and thrive at MIT.

Ambassadors for scientific reasoning and scientific discovery! For thoughtful research of every kind, here — and at institutions across the country! For the significance of research in advancing our nation — and our species! And ambassadors for the boundless opportunities that arise when we recognize, value, and amplify each other’s talents and potential, in a thriving global community.

This ambassadorship offers no paycheck aside from your awareness of its vital importance. However, I hope you will embrace this responsibility — because no one else can advocate as effectively. And these principles form the essential groundwork for everything else we strive to realize.

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There’s only one path to navigate through MIT.

The arduous path.

Each of you has accomplished this — and amidst historic challenges. May all the strengths and insights you’ve gained here serve you excellently on the journey ahead. Thank you — and congratulations!