Dr. David Robert Harris, PhD, was inaugurated as Union’s 19th President on Saturday, September 8 in front of Schaffer Library.

The occasion was marked by a traditional ceremony as well as a weekend of events. The inauguration was also a time for Harris to speak to the campus and share his plans for the future of Union.

Harris started off his inaugural address by thanking those who had participated in the inaugural events. He also thanked the Ainlays and other past presidents of Union, including Roger Hull, who was in attendance.

“In looking at me and the portrait of my predecessors, we can appreciate how far Union and society have come while also being mindful of how far we still have to go. As we’ve seen at a national level, whether a barrier has been punctured or broken is sometimes only clear with time,” Harris said.

Most of his speech focused on the wisdom, how he has sought to attain it in his life and how he believes Union could guide others to attain it.

He said that he was guided by the motto of Union: “Sous les lois Minerve nouse devenons tous frères et soeurs,” which translates to,”Under the laws of Minerva, we all become brothers and sisters.”

His focus on wisdom was based on the fact that Minerva was the Roman Goddess of wisdom.

“If we are to achieve our pursuit of wisdom,  we must all learn to become

more comfortable being uncomfortable,” Harris said.

He invited the campus to participate in the “Union College Challenge” and “stretch” themselves out of their comfort zone as a means to attain wisdom.

He shared two commitments he made for this term: the first was to listen to a center- right podcast every week and post his reflections online; the second was to attend at least three yoga classes a month.

Through this, he believes he can “better understand how others see the world.”

“The emphasis on brothers and sisters in our motto acknowledges that to truly succeed at Union College and to pursue wisdom, we cannot go at it alone,” Harris said.

Harris also described the role he expected to fill as President of Union when he addressed the question of why the inauguration was even taking place.

“This weekend is a celebration of Union College. What it has been, what it is now and what it can be. It is also a celebration of you and all the other people who shape this college for nearly as long as the United States has existed. What it is not is a coronation. The President of Union College is the leader of a community. There is much he or she can decide, but the President’s authority is not absolute and his or her perspective should be questioned, I would add, albeit respectfully and constructively.”

At the start of his address he also acknowledged that he did not know what the future held.

“Reading the addresses in hindsight makes clear that articulating a vision requires humility,” Harris said. He described addresses made in 1929 by President Day to pay attention to Wall Street and 1934 by Fox to keep his eyes on Poland and how these presidents had no idea how radically their worlds would change.

“I don’t have any special insights into where we are going, but I do know that Union College presidents have faced far greater uncertainty in the past,” Harris said.

Leading up to Harris’s address were a number of speakers and performances from faculty, alumni, students and political officials, including a performance by parent of a 2014 Union graduate and facilities services cleaner Frances M. Ramirez de Cueva, Union Bhangra and speeches from the Mayor of Schenectady, Gary McCarthy, New York State Senator James Tedisco ’72 and many of Harris’s formal colleagues. Many of the speakers highlighted the qualifications of Harris to serve as president, often citing his character as a defining role.

“David Harris crosses boundaries in order to make connections, he connects people, he connects fields, he connects ideas, he connects people with ideas, he connects progress with people,” said President of Amherst College Dr. Biddy Martin. According to Martin she “pulled” Harris into administration when he was a faculty member at Cornell University.

Harris’s wife, Ann, gave a surprise speech in which she discussed the importance of being involved. She referenced a refrigerator magnet that is in the Harris family’s home that reads, “No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody who is sitting on the couch” to highlight her point that “making an effort always makes a difference.”

The day before the ceremony, Harris participated in a question and answer session in Memorial Chapel that was open to students, faculty and staff. The Q&A, moderated by Sarah Taha ’19 and Richard Boakye ’20 began with Taha and Boakye questioning the President about his past accomplishments and his own college journey.

“Thinking of my own life… I think it could have gone another way,” Harris said reflecting on his past and explaining how he finds motivation in missed potential and lost opportunities.

Shortly after this remark, he spoke about the importance of financial aid. “The saddest moment is when someone has done all of the hard work to get into a college like Union and the last thing that stops them is they weren’t lucky enough to be born into a wealthy family… Who has done what it takes to achieve at Union and are we drawing a random sample of those people? If not, why not? Why do some people think this is a place to be and others don’t? And, why is this a place some people can get to and others cannot?”

Harris identified the complexity of racism and the role class plays in perpetuating inequalities, a topic he had studied when writing his dissertation in quantitative sociology on “white flight.” He spoke of financial aid as a way to bring intellectual and ethnic diversity to Union.

When talking about Schenectady, he described seeing four drastically different neighborhoods when walking off campus for two miles in four different directions. When asked about potential changes in the relationship between Union and the Schenectady community he said:

“We grow by having a range of experiences. Interacting with Schenectady… gives students, faculty and staff an opportunity to grow. It’s not just giving back, it’s about growing as you’re giving.”

He also spoke about determining the importance of determining a common objective.

“I’m a huge proponent of athletes as a way to enhance the mission of a college,” Harris said. According to him, athletic teams exemplify how people who hold diverse backgrounds can still be unified by a common cause.

Before coming to Union, Harris was previously an administrator at Tufts University and Cornell University. He was also a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Obama Administration.

After the inauguration, there was a Handshake Ceremony in the Nott Memorial where people in attendance of the ceremony received the opportunity to shake hands with Harris. Later that night, there was a gala in Jackson’s Gardens and a dessert reception.

The night ended with fireworks on West Beach. The next morning, Harris led a 25-mile bike trip along the Mohawk River.