The All University Supper has been an annual event in University of Kansas history since 1872. Over time, the event has evolved into a dual purpose: (1) to contemplate the school year just past, and (2) to honor distinguished people associated with KU. Usually this association arises because the distinguished honoree graduated from the university, but not always, and if the honoree did not, the association arises from the admirable life that the distinguished honoree has lived, apparently overcoming the handicap of not possessing a KU degree.
Tonight upholds tradition. We have three honorees who are graduates of KU — and therefore meritorious by definition — Wes Jackson, Christine Knudson, and Dana Crawford, and two honorees who KU would be glad to claim, even if the honorees graduated from Missouri institutions, which is, in fact, what Jim and Virginia Stowers did.
I will explain the implications of all of this in a moment, but in keeping with tradition, let me proceed with a brief review of the year just past.
The university has done this year what we do every year. We accepted $252 million from the State of Kansas as an investment, and we turned it into $1.1 billion dollars of educational goods and services. For every dollar that the State of Kansas invested in KU, it received three dollars in return.
We are glad to be held accountable for the results of this stewardship and the return on investment that we created.
What else has happened this year?
Once again we have record enrollment, just short of 30,000 students. Fifty-two National Merit Scholars enrolled at KU this year, making us 19th in the country. We now have some 300 National Merit Scholars attending KU.
A good student body deserves a challenging faculty. What has happened to faculty this year?
Professor Thomas Taylor was named by President Bush to the National Science Board this year. Tom is one of eleven National Academy members at KU, as is Dr. Barbara Atkinson EVC of the KU Medical Center. Provost Richard Lariviere was elected this year to the Council on Foreign Relations, the most prestigious honor that a foreign affairs professional can receive. He joins a Council that includes former presidents, and former Secretaries of State.
KU has a special advantage when it cites successful faculty, because 19 KU faculty have joined KU through the prestigious Stowers Institute for Medical Research. They are based at Stowers, but they are also fully empowered and recognized as KU faculty. This partnership between Stowers and KU works well.
Let me illustrate. Robb Krumlauf and Olivier Pourquie, two distinguished Stowers and KU faculty, are both on a list of scientists who have made the 24 most important discoveries in developmental biology in the past century.
So you can see why Kansas University is very proud of its partnership with the Stowers. With the mapping of the human genome an entire universe of knowledge has opened. For KU to fully participate in this universe, we must reach out to partners whose strengths complement our own. In this new world, scientific talent is a commodity of discovery that opens the door to life saving cures. The discoveries of the basic scientist can contribute to the development of new drugs and new treatments for such diseases as cancer.
To make certain we are training doctors fully capable of taking advantage of modern science we are also reaching out to respected research hospitals to forge new and stronger affiliations, affiliations that can broaden the scope of our success in health research and enhance our ability to educate doctors to speed the delivery of new cures to patients.
One of the university’s greatest contributions to this brave new world is to demonstrate the meaning of a commitment to science.
Research universities like the University of Kansas promulgate, teach, and defend scientific principles. Sometimes this is controversial. As Al Gore has reminded us, science can create inconvenient truths. For years, for example, politicians have resisted the reality of global warming, even as polar ice caps melted. The scientific facts of evolution pose problems for politicians because they know constituents who are uneasy with the theory. Science can have an unsettling effect on religious faith because it requires such deep testing of one’s belief.
KU has announced its intent to establish an NCI designated, comprehensive cancer center as its highest priority, but Kansas is not immune from the political winds that sweep our nation. Much of our national discourse has focused on the complex set of issues found at the intersection of science and politics.
A university has both the privilege and the responsibility to demonstrate the benefits of science. Science is built around the objective search for truth, not political expediency. Scientists share their results. They publish their findings and they subject their results and their behavior to the scrutiny of their colleagues.
Peer review — having your colleagues judge your work — is central to the university’s trust in science. KU feels a responsibility to represent medical science in a way that promises a commitment to treating cancer.
We know what it takes to practice medicine with a vision that cancer can be cured. The people of Kansas deserve access to effective cancer care.
We cannot fail to practice good medical science — science that does not serve political opinion but science that has been proven to heal by the accumulated results of scientific observation.
KU has a vision of healing and hope. We cannot turn away from our vision. We will continue to move forward and establish a statewide cancer center that seeks NCI designation.
There have always been those who would stand in the door of the gateway to progress. The university is expected, as always, to lead. For the patients and their families who count on us, who suffer today from cancer and who end each day with a prayer for recovery, we will not allow this dream to be denied or deferred. The University of Kansas will continue its work to establish a comprehensive cancer center deserving of National Cancer Institute recognition.
All of which brings us back to the honoring of these outstanding people.
Consider for a moment how their accomplishments are intertwined with profound hope for the future. Wes Jackson expresses his faith in science. For over 30 years he has conducted scientific research on “Natural Systems Agriculture” and taught us what it means to pay attention to the science of sustainability.
Dana Crawford has historically preserved downtown Denver, demonstrating how a vision that preserves the past is the salvation for the future.
Christine Knudson has traveled the world to protect the unfortunate in duress, caring for people at risk from illness and crisis.
Finally, Jim and Virginia Stowers have committed their lives and their resources to make available to others a quality of life that only comes through medical research, and the commitment to improve life’s quality through innovative approaches to the causes, treatment, and prevention of disease.
It is an honor to be in the presence of such people. Their inspiration makes the university a better place, and it makes us better people to be in their presence.
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