Back at His RU Experience Matthew Albert, a member of this year s graduating class, addressed the graduates at the Convocation luncheon last Thurs. Below is the text of his remarks. It is a privilege to be a scientist, and it is a privilege to be a member of the Rockefeller community. Many societies don't value scientific pursuits, don't allow it or cannot afford it.
Many universities keep students on the periphery, looking in from the outside.
This might seem like an odd place to start, especially because I am not a particularly big drinker, but in so many ways the club reflects the Rockefeller community. Still decorated as I imagine it was in the 1950s, with a dusty model of the structure of DNA in the corner, it is a place of no pretense. There is a complete lack of protocol and hierarchy, offering a chance for students and faculty to interact in a relaxed, open and meaningful way. It is this attitude that pervades campus life as no one here hides behind titles nor even the walls of individual academic departments. Scientific discovery does not respect the boundaries of an immunology or a cellular biology department, and the founding members of this community made sure that scientists working at Rockefeller would be free to follow their own paths, not bound by the typical confines of the academy.