COMMENCEMENT 1990 : Caltech

Caltech held its 96th annual commencement Friday. Degrees were conferred on 503 graduates, with 194 receiving bachelor’s, 161 receiving master’s, one receiving an engineer’s and 148 receiving doctor’s degrees. Frank H.T. Rhodes (University of Birmingham, 1948), president of Cornell University, delivered the keynote address. From his text:

“Commitment to anything beyond one’s immediate sphere was anathema just a few years ago, when much of daily life seemed focused on avoiding commitments of any kind. Even marriage and family life were to be put off as long as possible, if not permanently, because of the potentially constraining commitments they might entail. It was a simpler life, in some ways, but one that was ultimately unfulfilling, for it is our commitments that give meaning and purpose to our lives. If the yuppies of the ‘80s have taught us anything, it is that life without commitment is superficial and unsatisfying, that a triumphant career is not enough. ‘Hollow men and moral nomads’ reap, not fulfillment, but futility.”