Take some coins out of your pocket and look at them closely. On each is a Latin inscription, e pluribus unum. As most of you know, this means "from many, one." The inscription was proposed, and ultimately adopted, in 1776 by consultant and artist Pierre Du Simitière who designed the Great Seal of the United States. At the time, it was a clear reference to the thirteen colonies united into one nation.
Over the more than two centuries since its adoption, the phrase has grown in meaning to describe not only the political unity of individual states that make up the United States, but also our democratic process, which guides an increasingly diverse population to govern itself justly and fairly. And it is a phrase that has yet deeper meaning that can bring us great comfort—we are not alone, we are together. We are community.
This ancient Latin phrase has new meaning for us all now, as daily we confront a threat unlike others we faced in the past—a threat without a face, without a name, without an identity.
We are all connected in that no one has been untouched by the terrorist attacks. Some have lost loved ones. More know of others who have been directly affected. Travel decisions have been affected. We all have new concerns about biological attacks, their impact, and their extent.
University decision-making at Rensselaer is now undertaken within this new context. It influenced our decision to bring home 16 Architecture students who were just beginning a semester of study in Rome. It was unfortunate, of course, but we decided that it is better to be cautious and to err, if necessary, on the side of safety. We made this decision because the U.S. State Department had issued a warning for Americans traveling in Italy and shortly thereafter, U.S. armed forces initiated airstrikes on targets in Afghanistan. Although Rensselaer students are currently studying in other nations abroad, the travel warning combined with the higher concentration of Rensselaer students in Rome influenced our decision.
As our lives and our world change daily in ways we never anticipated, it is interesting where one derives one’s sense of hope. We perceive hope in a new sense of expressed unity. We find it in expressions of solidarity with our Muslim communities. We find hope in repeated government messages that we are not at war with Islam but rather with a small cult, its leader, and those who target order and safety everywhere throughout the world.
Another area where I sense hope is in the Rensselaer community itself. I believe that the members of our highly diverse community are committed to each other and to persevering in harmony. Perhaps we have learned this through working in teams on multidisciplinary projects. Our diversity is our strength and, indeed, our salvation. It is only when we single out others unlike ourselves that fear and hatred fester.
A university is an appropriate marketplace for ideas, providing community members with the opportunity to experiment with ideas and test them for veracity. Publishing opinions and views in The Polytechnic, inviting speakers, and holding formal and informal debates are appropriate and useful forums for expressing ideas.
And, herein may lie the most important message of e pluribus unum: that we are all part of one Rensselaer—one community, one nation, one world, one human race. Other separations and divisions are meaningless, and even dangerous.
Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian political and spiritual leader, once advised, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."
When trouble strikes, we often ask, "How can I help? What can I do to make a difference?"
The events of this fall may have, perhaps inadvertently, offered us an important opportunity for positive action—to make sure we live the change we wish to see in the world. Because we can change the world.
