Speeches

Speeches

2023 Commencement Address

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."

Class Day Address 2023

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."

Remarks from the 2022 Pulitzer Awards Ceremony

October 20, 2022

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

2022 Convocation Address

August 28, 2022

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

Photo of Lee Bollinger at a podium in Low Library, addressing an audience
2022 Commencement Address

May 18, 2022

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

Keynote Address at the Global Conference for Media Freedom

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."

Remarks at the Vigil for Davide Giri

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."

2021 Convocation Address

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."

2021 Commencement Address

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?"

Will Our Votes be Counted and Secure in 2020?

September 23, 2020

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