While at the beginning of a new school year, it’s appropriate to start today’s meeting with a moment of gratitude and memory.

As all of you are aware, U-M president emeritus James Duderstadt passed away last month, an inestimable loss to our university and community.

Dr. Duderstadt led with exceptional vision and extraordinary energy. He had a transformative impact at the University of Michigan, and he leaves behind a profound and lasting legacy.

Would you join me in offering our gratitude, and in honoring Dr. Duderstadt’s memory?

Last week, we also lost a dear friend of the university. Greg Harden was a counselor and a coach, an encourager and an advisor, and a mentor and a leader. His impact went far beyond national championships and Super Bowl winning athletes – he touched untold lives, and he made our university, our community and our world a better, brighter place.

Looking forward, we would like to express our profound gratitude to Regent Ron Weiser, who has made another generous and extraordinary gift to the University of Michigan.

He has provided $25 million to the Weiser Family Breast Cancer Research Center, a gift that will speed new discoveries, open new insights, and further empower our world-class researchers to provide compassionate and personalized breast cancer care, even as it strengthens the place of Michigan Medicine as one of the nation’s leading medical centers.

Ultimately, his gift will lead to the treatment, healing, and transformation of women’s lives.

So thank you again Regent Weiser.

It is also thanks to our regents that our acclaimed Michigan Marching Band has recently begun rehearsing at our new, state of the art Elbel Field facility.

The regents approved this project last year, and now, if you go by at the right time in the afternoon, you can hear and see our band practicing for the next big game.

In addition, I would like to thank Vice President and General Counsel Tim Lynch and the members of the Committee on the University of Michigan Principles on Diversity of Thought and Freedom of Expression for their diligence and dedication, and for the thought and deliberation and engagement with our community that went into the report they issued on Tuesday, which aims to strengthen diversity of thought and freedom of expression at our university. 

I’m so pleased by the breadth of expertise and cross-disciplinary collaboration of the Principles Committee, which included 32 faculty members from 12 different schools and colleges, as well as a librarian, seven staff members, and two students.

And I’m so grateful for the tremendous engagement we had across our community, with more than 4,000 comments received.

In addition, our participating programs are again performing highly in the national rankings.

According to U.S. News and World Report, U-M remains one of the premier universities in the country for grad school education. We were also ranked as one of Princeton Review’s 390 Best Colleges, as well as #7 for return on investment among overall public universities. The Wall Street Journal also ranked us as one of the top public universities in the country.

We have so much to look forward to this upcoming year.

I’m especially excited about the launch of our year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment and Global Engagement, which we’ll be hearing more about later in our meeting.