As Denison University’s 16th president, Robert Good delivered the following address during Parents’ Weekend in April 1980. The international events he referred to have interesting implications against the current global backdrop, but his thoughts on the college experience are just as relevant today as they were three decades ago…and they always will be.
I want to say something to you about risk-taking. I am prompted to do so partly because we are all transfixed at the moment by the tragic rescue attempt in Iran. That was risk-taking raised to a very high degree. The calculation of risk depends in part on the importance of the goal. The more important the goal, the more justifiable the risk. But that is not the only calculation. Alternatives must be measured, and their risks in turn. Also the risk of failure must be calculated. If the consequences of failure are extraordinarily serious, then risk-taking is justifiable only if the probability of success is relatively high, even though the goal is extremely important. That is a harsh judgment many of us would make about the rescue attempt in Iran.
In the real world of affairs, these are always difficult calculations to make. We never have enough information available–not even the President had enough information available–to quantify probabilities and to estimate consequences with any precision.
To act is to take risks. And not to act in a dynamic situation is also to take risks. The situation as it developed in Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe, illustrates that. Enormous risks were taken by all parties when they entered into an agreement to end hostilities and determine the future through elections. The African freedom fighters–the guerrillas–took great risks by coming to assembly centers and laying down their arms. The white minority in Rhodesia took great risks in giving up their absolute control of the government and placing their future in the hands of a new African government, the capacities and policies of which were largely unknown. Each African faction took great risks in entering an electoral process which might bring to power opposing forces hostile to its interests. And the British together with their Commonwealth Associates took significant risks in attempting to manage this complex and volatile process.
But the alternative was not to act–to have permitted the continuation of the status quo, a dangerous, enervating racial struggle with ultimately catastrophic consequences. Not to act in a dynamic situation is also to take risks.
The responsible man or woman will calculate the consequences of his or her risk-taking with as much care as the evidence permits. And it should be a part of a liberal education to help us do so.
But the responsible man or woman also knows that there is nothing accomplished of any real importance without taking risks. And you will not take risks unless you have a sense of confidence in yourself, a belief that you can make a difference, and a willingness to live with the results without despair. Those attributes, too, should be a part of what a liberal education is all about.
Personal development and social change are both impossible without risk-taking. This is true in simple, everyday encounters and local campus issues in just the same way that it is true of momentous issues of world politics. Rooming with someone very different from you can help you learn a great deal about yourself. It involves risk-taking. Reaching out across racial, ethnic, class, and national lines to experience a different culture can enrich you, sometimes almost beyond measure. It involves risk-taking. Speaking strongly against things you think are wrong–alcohol abuse or destructive activity or hazing that demeans individuals, excessive noise that violates the rights of others–is necessary if we are to become a better place. It involves risk-taking.
Standing up for things you really believe in, strong academic standards, good race relations, respect for the rights of others, appropriating DCGA money wisely, promoting debate on important issues - these things too are important if we are to become a better place. It involves risk-taking.
Naturally we have to calculate the consequences with the utmost care when as government or institutional leaders we take actions that carry great risk. But the first thing to learn is that nothing of consequence can be achieved without taking risks. Go then and be good risk-takers!