Speeches

May 17, 2023

"I like to think that we are graduating together. I am sure that you and I both will hold this moment in our hearts for the rest of our lives."

May 16, 2023

"There is something that lasts forever in being immersed in the realm of ideas and knowledge, especially in a great research institution like Columbia."

October 20, 2022

"The best of the human spirit continues to be manifest in the work honored by the Pulitzer Prizes."

August 28, 2022

“This unconditional embrace of the life of the mind we nurture here is unique."

May 18, 2022

"Deliberate disinformation and propaganda also, and more importantly, undermine the very idea of deep knowledge and expertise itself."

February 10, 2022

"Universities share the values, they are the natural partners, of great journalism, and they have as much interest in preserving the conditions of freedom of thought and communication as anyone."

December 3, 2021

"The Columbia community has suffered a grievous loss. Davide Giri was our student, our colleague, our teacher, our friend, and our fellow Columbian."

August 29, 2021

"The extraordinary burdens you have borne and the life experiences you bring with you now will provide you with an unusual, intellectual maturity with which to encounter and come to terms with the greatest issues of humankind."

April 30, 2021

"Never has society more desperately needed to reap the benefits of science, newly discovered knowledge, and the pursuit of truth. How otherwise can we possibly pretend to be sufficiently equipped to comprehend and to come to terms with the world to which we now bear witness?"

September 23, 2020

President Bollinger took part a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine webinar on the U.S. voting landscape in 2020.