 N. Bruce Duthu '80 (Photo by Joseph Mehling ’69)
 Travis H.K. Green '08 (Photo by Kawakahi Kaeo Amina ’09)
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Convocation speaker N. Bruce Duthu ’80 framed his remarks to the Class of
2011 around the importance of humility. A longtime member of the Dartmouth
community, Duthu is the Gordon Russell Visiting Professor in Native American Studies at
Dartmouth and a professor of law at Vermont Law School. He was director of
the Native American Program at Dartmouth, associate dean of freshmen, and
director of the Intensive Academic Support Program.
The Latin root for the word, humility, Duthu explained, was “humus,” or the
word for “earth.” He observed that in the language of the White Mountain Apache
tribe, the word for “earth” is equated with the word for “mind,” a concept, he
said, that demonstrated “a powerful expression of the unity between sacred
landscapes and one state of being or identity, and the ethic of living in
balance with the natural world. “I believe that humility is a necessary and
vital element of the liberal education we endeavor to provide here at
Dartmouth,” Duthu said. “And indeed, I’d go further, and say that humility is a
necessary and vital quality for engaging with our neighbors, both here in this
country, and around the world, and in discharging our obligations as stewards
of the world’s natural resources.”
In his remarks, Travis H.K. Green ’08, president of the student body, told
the members of the Class of 2011 that they were free to make a new beginning at
the College, and that they could find “new friends, new interests, reveal inner
passions. Here, you’re freed from your past. Your roots are gone. You can
choose which to grasp back on to, and what new ones to lay down. You don’t have
to conform to what you were in high school. “The seed of your future self lies
in the bit of the Dartmouth spirit that’s already inside you,” Green said. He
challenged the first-years to find their own definitions of themselves and of
excellence, adding, “I challenge you to define Dartmouth.”
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