News-Letter

Media Credit: Angeli Bueno

On freshmen move-in day in 1996, a man and a woman on rollerblades zipped along the long line of cars, stopping just long enough to stick their heads in the windows, shake hands with parents, and say hello to the newly arriving students. That man and woman were William and Wendy Brody, the newly elected president of Hopkins and his wife.

Last night marked Brody's final address to the University after his 12-year tenure as president, as he will step down from the presidency in March 2009. His speech, titled "Uncommon Sense in Today's Financial Crisis: Reasoning and Problem Solving in the Real World," was hosted by the Milton S. Eisenhower (MSE) Symposium.

"I told someone I was giving this talk, and they said, 'That's great Bill, but nobody will show up,'" Brody began, welcomed by laughter and enthusiastic applause from students in the almost-full Shriver Hall.

After recalling a humorous experience in which he delivered a speech to an audience of a single person during his time as provost at the University of Minnesota, Brody applauded this year's MSE Symposium.

"Year after year, [MSE] brings in some of the best speakers," Brody said, and then added jokingly, "until tonight."

Brody told the audience that although he considered reminiscing about being president of the University or commenting on the nation's health care system in his final address, he decided that the current economic state of the nation overshadowed any other possible subject.

"I thought I might as well go back to my roots as a teacher," Brody said, "and talk to you about what I teach undergraduates periodically: uncommon sense. And today I'll talk about uncommon sense in the financial crisis."

Brody quoted Albert Einstein, who wrote that common sense is, "a series of misconceptions acquired by the age 18."

According to Brody, however, this type of sense can be acquired by the age six. Real common sense is a rare commodity.

"It's amazing how infrequently we use our brain matter," Brody said. "We just go back to the misconceptions we acquired, probably in utero."

Brody then segued into the formal topic of his speech, commenting on the magnitude of the current economic situation.

He quoted President Harry Truman, saying, "a recession is when your neighbor is out of work, and a depression is when you're out of work."

And although Brody smiled along with the audience's laughter, he was also quick to point out the gravity of the current unemployment rate in the United States.

Continued...

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