By Lisa Marsh Ryerson, President of Wells College 

It is my great pleasure to announce the official opening of Spring Semester 2001 at Wells College. Welcome back. And welcome to the 21st century. I welcome students who are already part of our community as well as those who are joining us for the first time. I welcome our distinguished faculty members, staff members, and those in our extended community who have joined us this evening.

Spring convocation is one of my favorite Wells traditions because it is so unique. Fall convocation is a celebration of the liberal arts - the foundation of our community. It is a time of anticipation and excitement as we leave the summer behind and look forward to the promise of a new academic year.

Spring convocation is special because it is organized collaboratively by students. It is an opportunity for Wells women to share their perspectives. It is a celebration of our shared belief in student self-governance and free expression. It is a statement that sisterhood among students makes all that is great and good at our college possible.

At spring convocation we look forward to a new semester. We anticipate winter's passing and the feeling of rebirth that comes with the arrival of spring. While we take pride in the fact that our traditions remain consistent, we know the Wells community also thrives on change.

Each semester at Wells is filled with possibilities for new discoveries and growth. We embrace new ideas discovered in the classroom. We grow from discovering new relationships and deepening those we already have. Like our community, relationships never remain the same. They evolve and make our lives richer. And life at Wells College is about relationships that enable us to learn and grow.

The beginning of each new semester is a time to take inventory of these gifts. It is a time to think about how to challenge ourselves and how we can work to challenge others so they may grow along with us. In our community, the possibilities for growth are endless. And the responsibilities are great. As a member, you are called upon to appreciate the richness of humankind and truly respect differences.

The theme for Leadership Week this year was ethics. As part of my contribution to the dialogue, I offered observations about the importance of ethics in maintaining the learning community that exists at Wells.

At Wells - a women's college - we have a unique opportunity to learn and practice ethical behavior influenced by gender. Psychologist Carol Gilligan was one of the first scholars to identify that women and men might have different views of morality. Her famous book In A Different Voice describes these differences:

"The moral imperative that emerges repeatedly in interviews with women is an injunction to care, a responsibility to discern and alleviate the 'real and recognizable trouble' of the world. For men, the moral imperative appears rather as an injunction to respect the rights of others and thus to protect from interference the rights to life and self-fulfillment. Women's insistence on care is at first self-critical rather than self-protective, while men initially conceive obligation to others negatively in terms of noninterference. Development for both sexes would therefore seem to entail an integration of rights and responsibilities through the discovery of the complementarity of these disparate views."

Gilligan's discovery of an "ethic of care" in the women she studied has led to an exploration of the idea that women offer a different worldview which can greatly enrich our lives. The Wells environment is ideal for exploring these possibilities. Because Wells women develop high levels of self-consciousness and self-understanding, we also have an opportunity to bring these new ideas into practice in the world, which is still dominated by ethical systems constructed by males.

Most notable, the ethic of care is practiced by faculty members. They seek to know students as people, never as numbers. Students make supportive friendships the basis of community life. And alumnae, long after they have graduated, never cease to loose interest in campus.

The ethic of care allows us to live in an open, accepting, and compassionate community where women are the leaders. Through free expression and dialogue, you are able to hear and understand the perspectives of others.

While encountering new ideas is not always comfortable, this experience is essential to your education and development. To grow, you must accept alternative points of view. Part of this process inevitably causes some discomfort as we process new and exciting ideas. But this is the path to knowledge and wisdom.

History shows that the struggle to keep these values alive involves constant vigilance. After you have graduated, you must take these values with you and work to create a world where respect for human dignity and free inquiry are the norm. This commitment is manifested in different lives in different ways. But as women educated in the liberal arts tradition, we share a common purpose.

Others have struggled before us who have had to overcome great obstacles. In her tireless work to free slaves, Harriet Tubman often had to hide in forests and endure great physical hardships. Later, she reported she endured those hardships by having visions of a world where everyone was free and equal. When asked what it was like to experience freedom after slavery, she said, "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now [that] I was free. There was such a glory through the trees and over the fields, that I felt like I was in heaven."

I have no doubt that most of us who live in this unique community and love it find a strong connection between Harriet Tubman's vision and our own.

President John F. Kennedy said, "Let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."

As we enter a new semester and a new century, let us think about our shared values and work together to make our learning community the best it can be. 

Delivered January 29, 2001, Phipps Auditorium, Wells College