Speeches and Publications

President William G. Durden '71 leads by example in his national role in higher-education policy on issues that matter to the public. He continually draws attention to important topics in higher education through his opinion pieces, international and national media interviews and speaking engagements throughout the United States and abroad.
 

2013

Addresses and Remarks

• Presentation at annual Town Meeting, Jan. 18, 2013 
   
• Keynote address at Johns Hopkins University's Gateway Sciences Initiative symposium, Jan. 17, 2013

2012

Addresses and Remarks 

• Convocation advice through the years, Aug. 26, 2012

• Convocation speech, Aug. 26, 2012

• Baccalaureate remarks, May 19, 2012

Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

•  "A Useful Liberal Arts," Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 26, 2012 

•  "The Real Tsunami," Inside Higher Ed, June 11, 2012

2011

Addresses and Remarks

•  2011 Commencement Remarks, May 22, 2011

• 2011 Convocation Address, Aug. 28, 2011

• "A Powerful Critique of College Rankings," response to article in The New Yorker, Feb. 17, 2011

• "Comment on William Ayers Appearance at PAS," Feb. 2011

• Address to the Dickinson community, Town Meeting, Jan. 21, 2011

Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

•  "I May Not Have the Right Bumper Sticker, But I'm Still Patriotic," Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 11, 2011

•  "Helping Students Govern Themselves," Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 31, 2011

• "Educating Our Way Out of the Recession," Baltimore Sun, Sept. 26, 2011

2010

Addresses and Remarks

• Remarks, Dual Degree Reception, Oct. 30, 2010

• "The Dickinson Advantage," Fall Open House, Oct. 11, 2010

• Opening remarks, Charting the Path for a Sustainable Dickinson summit, April 16, 2010

• Address to the Dickinson community, Town Meeting, Jan. 22, 2010

2009

Addresses and Remarks

• Address to incoming students, Convocation, Aug. 30, 2009

• Keynote address, Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools educators conference, Cairo, Egypt, April 4, 2009

• "What It Means to Be a Dickinsonian," Alumni Weekend, June 13, 2009

• "Higher Education Must Help Shape the Next Generation of Public-Service Learders," 46th Annual Public Affairs Symposium, Feb. 23, 2009

Campus Communications

• Economic status of the college, Sept. 24, 2009

Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

• "Vertigo Years," Inside Higher Education, Aug. 17, 2009 (with provost Neil Weissman)

2008

Addresses and Remarks

• Global Environmental Sustainability: An Unprecedented Challenge for Your Generation, Convocation, Aug. 24, 2008

• Remarks during Alumni Weekend, June 14, 2008

Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

• "Let Us Disarm!" Inside Higher Education, Dec. 11, 2008

• Letter to the editor in response to New York Times article "Colleges, Alcohol Abuse and the Legal Drinking Age," Sept. 24, 2008

• "The Age-21 Law Isn't Working; It's Time to Debate the Issue of Abusive Drinking," Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 27, 2008

• "Discounting Our Way to Affordability?" Inside Higher Education, Feb. 5, 2008

• "When Harvard, Yale Cut Tuition, Students Elsewhere Pay the Price," USA Today, Jan. 18, 2008

2007

Addresses and Remarks

• Convocation address, Aug. 26, 2007

• Opening remarks, Alumni Weekend, June 9, 2007

• Remarks, Commencement, May 20, 2007

Media Coverage

• "Harvard's Aid to Middle Class Pressures Rivals," New York Times, Dec. 29, 2007

• President Durden Signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment to combat global warming through enhanced campus environmental sustainability (6/12/07)

Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

• "On College Costs, Be Careful What You Wish For," Inside Higher Education, Dec. 10, 2007

• "It's Time to Move Past Rankings," Patriot-News, June 10, 2007

• "Reclaiming the Distinctiveness of American Higher Education," Liberal Education, Spring issue

2006

Addresses and Remarks

• Keynote address, Association of American Schools in South America, Oct. 19, 2006

• Convocation address, Aug. 27, 2006

• Opening remarks, Alumni Weekend, June 10, 2006

• Commencement remarks, May 21, 2006

• Remarks, Rector Science Complex groundbreaking, May 5, 2006

Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

• "No God Left Behind: Why Not?" Inside Higher Education, Sept. 21, 2006

2005

Addresses and Remarks

• Installation Remarks, The Brian C. Pohanka '77 Chair in American Civil War History, Oct. 21, 2005

• Remarks, Tocqueville Award dinner, Oct. 6, 2005

• Convocation address, Aug. 28, 2005

• Remarks, Sign-in ceremony, Aug. 25, 2005

Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

• Letter to the Editor, New York Times, Oct. 26, 2005

• Letter to the Editor, Weekly Standard, Oct. 17, 2005

• "Complaints about Corporatization in Academe Are Overstated and Polemical," Trusteeship magazine, October 2005

• The Year of Languages, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, July 2005

• Op-ed on freedom of speech on college campuses, Harrisburg Sunday Patriot, March 13, 2005

2004

Addresses and Remarks

• Keynote address, EARCOS 2004, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Nov. 2, 2004

• Remarks to board of governors, Dickinson School of Law, Oct. 15, 2004

• Convocation address, Aug. 29, 2004

• Introductory remarks, 41st annual Public Affairs Symposium, Feb. 15, 2004

2003

Addresses and Remarks

• Opening remarks to board of trustees, Strategic Meeting on the Future of Dickinson, Oct. 17, 2003

• Convocation address, Aug. 31, 2003

Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

• "The Liberal Arts as a Bulwark of Business Education," Chronicle of Higher Education Article, July 18, 2003