The Purposes of the University: Selected Speeches

A selection of speeches from UF's 11th president Bernie

Machen, offering insights on public higher education and its challenges

and changes



"Write your own story. Find the

strength, whatever your hardships, to tell the powerful story within

each of you. Write the best stories you can for your families, your

communities, and your country. Live the biographies everyone will

read."—Remarks to Palm Beach County’s most accomplished graduating

seniors at the Scholastic Achievement Foundation of Palm Beach County

"We

injure our humanity in discriminating against others, and we deny

ourselves the richness of experience on this earth. We cannot be the

nation we want to be, or the university we want to be, without everyone

participating in equal measure."—Remarks at a reception for Federal

Judge Stephan P. Mickle, the first black student to earn an

undergraduate degree from UF

"Science is far from perfect, but

it’s all we have. When you shine a light on scientists and their work,

revealing both the strengths and the flaws, you beat back the darkness

and denial that offer no future."—Remarks to the National Association of

Science Writers



The modern university is a beacon for

students, a home for scholars, a hub of culture in the community, an

engine of discovery, an economic force—a place of many purposes, all

facing change or reinvention. This selection of speeches from University

of Florida's 11th president Bernie Machen, with executive speechwriter

Aaron Hoover, offers insights on public higher education and its

challenges from the helm of one of the largest land-grant universities

in the country.



The Purposes of the University

sheds light on many upheavals within academia. Machen defended against

legislative pressures and criticism of the liberal arts and sciences,

cemented the university's bonds with donors as public funding crumbled,

worked to maintain student diversity post-affirmative action, sought to

define innovation as a central mission, led a major turn toward

sustainability, and forged new educational models online and on campus.



The

speeches in this volume also highlight milestones and key moments at

UF, from the expansion of the campus to mediation of town-gown relations

to the launch of research projects all over the world. They offer

candid portraits of the life and people of the university and its

hometown of Gainesville, celebrating iconic figures like Gatorade

inventor Robert Cade and campus personalities such as UF's

longest-serving employee, Betty Jones. And they include reflections on

university life: tributes to the first black students, the history of

the marching band, the trees of the historic campus, and the legacy of

student veterans who enrolled after returning from the nation's wars.

Perhaps

the most traditional public role for university presidents is to

encourage and help students. In his speeches—at commencements,

convocations, and other events across the state—Machen aimed to inspire

and to celebrate young people and their passion. On topics both weighty

and whimsical, his perspective combines openness to change with full

faith in the university and its many purposes.