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Video Closed Captions

[singing]

Genay Kirkpatrick:
I just want to give a warm welcome to the class of 2015. We're really excited that you

Genay Kirkpatrick:
guys are here, and I hope this is a good start to what is going to be a great Princeton career.

Gregory Groves:
... a great welcoming environment. Like, the first week you're here, just meet all these

Gregory Groves:
smiling faces welcoming you here into the community.

Suzannah Beiner:
Hi, my name is Suzannah Beiner. I'm class of 2015, very glad to be here from Sebring, Fla.

Suzannah Beiner:
Go Tigers!

[singing, drumming]

Matthew Cramer:
I remember when I was a freshman, it was the first time I stepped back and thought,

Matthew Cramer:
"Wow, this is really amazing."

Shirley M. Tilghman:
Over the next four years, your Princeton education will stretch your minds in ways that you can

Shirley M. Tilghman:
only begin to imagine now. Preparing you to be informed and effective citizens of this

Shirley M. Tilghman:
and all countries -- citizens who are able to draw understanding from and discern the

Shirley M. Tilghman:
most fruitful path amid the immense sea of facts surrounding them. I am looking forward

Shirley M. Tilghman:
to getting to know each of you and to cheering you on inside and outside the classroom as

Shirley M. Tilghman:
you chart your course through this great University. I hope you will leave our campus saying,

Shirley M. Tilghman:
as generations of students before you have said, "This place changed my life."

Suzannah Beiner:
President Tilghman's opening address really put my four years in perspective. College is about

Suzannah Beiner:
new experiences and Princeton really encourages students to try new things. I'm going to push the

Suzannah Beiner:
boundaries and explore new possibilities and be an even better person than when I got here.

[music, drumming]

Alec Slatkey:
We're here, as we are every year, to welcome the freshmen to Princeton as they walk through the gates.

[singing]

Rachael DeLue:
Tonight's talk was about a very large question, which is, "How do we represent history?"

Rachael DeLue:
And it was inspired, of course, by the fact that today is the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11.

Rachael DeLue:
One of the great pleasures of teaching at Princeton, of being a professor at Princeton,

Rachael DeLue:
is that I get to figure things out in collaboration with students such as yourselves. It's meant

Rachael DeLue:
to frame the students' experience at Princeton, which is about asking questions. History matters,

Rachael DeLue:
but the manner in which we describe history matters just as much. We have a historical

Rachael DeLue:
responsibility but also an ethical responsibility to tell the story of our past completely and

Rachael DeLue:
fully and from multiple points of view. Doing that will help us make decisions for the greater good.

Clayton Raithel:
And now, as per Princeton tradition, we'd like to invite all of the a cappella groups

Clayton Raithel:
that sang with us tonight back on stage for the singing of "Old Nassau."

[singing]

Clayton Raithel:
Thank you. Thank you very much, guys. Enjoy the rest of your evening and your time here at Princeton.