NEWS
2024 Autumn Matriculation Ceremony
Update: September 4, 2023
On Tuesday, September 3, ICU welcomed over 285 new undergraduate and graduate students including those graduating from high schools abroad, international schools in Japan, and exchange students from partnership schools, at the Matriculation Ceremony held in the University Chapel.
The Ceremony started with a hymn and prayer by ALBERG, Jeremiah L., Acting Director of the Religious Center. Next, Yukiko Tsubakida Religious Affairs Committee read Luke 10:38-42.
As per the tradition that has been followed for over 70 years since the founding of the University in 1953, the students' names were announced individually and all new students signed the written pledge to uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in their student lives.
President Shoichiro Iwakiri gave words of encouragement to the newly gathered new students.
2023 Autumn Matriculation Address by Shoichiro Iwakiri, President
A warm welcome to all of you who are entering our College of Liberal Arts and our MA and PhD programs. At the same time, I extend my warmest regards to all your family members and friends who are joining us on screen.
The first students entered ICU 71 years ago, in 1953. Four years earlier, in 1949, it was decided at a meeting of our founders to create a university, and it was also decided at the time that the name of the university would be "International Christian University".
At that time, between 1945 and 1952, Japan was occupied by the Supreme Allied Command (GHQ) for seven years, following the country's defeat in the Second World War. During these seven years of occupation, Japan was deprived of diplomatic relations with other countries.
The decision to create a university with the word "international" during such a national situation showed the will to build new peaceful relations with other countries and with the peoples of the world. Expectations, hopes and openness to this new relationship must have been far greater than they are today.
More than 70 years later, today's world faces the challenge of sustainable development in the context of critical global environmental change, as well as intractable problems such as migration linked to economic disparity and ongoing conflict between nations, and between ethnic or religious groups. We humans create these problems.
The studies you will undertake at ICU are directly linked to a deeper understanding of the contradictory nature of the human being, and the society and history that are created from these contradictions. University studies involve a search for truth, and in the knowledge of truth there is both joyful and bitter wisdom. I hope that, through your studies, you will deepen your understanding of the truth, which will be the foundation of your future life, to prepare you to become people capable of contributing to building a better world in the future, on various levels.
Seventy-five years ago, when a new university was founded, there would have been no need to include the word "Christian" in its name if its objectives had been limited to achieving academic results, developing science and technology, and transforming and creating culture.
So what does the Christian spirit in the university's name mean? It means that, as the basis of the learning and knowledge that is studied and acquired at the university, there is decency, conscience, humility and sincerity of soul, which we try to cherish. It was the thought of people who had felt, through the tragedy of war, that they had had enough of arrogance, of ruling over others, of killing adversaries and dictating to nations when, in fact, we are equal as human beings and have the same human rights. As Christ did with humanity, we respect those who suffer, those who are discriminated against and those who are poor, as human beings loved by God, out of love for our fellow human beings, and together we seek peace and happiness. The desire to imbue the university with this spirit gave birth to this campus.
The creation of ICU was motivated by an appeal made some 80 years ago by Reverend McLean, a pastor in Virginia (USA). In his statement, Reverend McLean also wrote that this call was an action "to destroy the seeds of future wars".
It was in this spirit that our ICU was created, thanks to donations from citizens in North America and Japan. Today, you are students at ICU, and I hope you will take to heart the desire for peace and reconciliation that represents the foundation of ICU.
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Since its inception, ICU has always provided a "liberal arts" education. As a result of various changes, we have now adopted a system in which each of you will decide your own specialization from among 31 majors, on the basis of actual academic experience.
The process of discovering your intellectual interests to choose and decide on your field of study is an important training to prepare you for new challenges in your future.
When we try something new, we sometimes have to free ourselves from the common sense that constrains us.
The liberal arts support the spirit of challenging the unpredictable, and the freedom of learning in the liberal arts will support that spirit.
On the subject of challenges, I recently read a book on innovation and came across an interesting idea. The book quoted the economist Keynes:
'A large proportion of our positive activities depend on spontaneous optimism rather than mathematical expectations, whether moral or hedonistic or economic'.
Keynes also called this 'spontaneous optimism' 'a spontaneous urge to action', or 'animal spirits'.
We can think of Keynes' words as talking about decisions in life in general. Positive decisions in life often involve actions motivated by spontaneous, instinctive impulses, by "animal spirits", rather than actions derived from calculations stemming from multiplying interests and possibilities.
When we are doing something new, there are times when the novelty goes beyond the bounds of conventional knowledge. The liberal arts support you in those moments when you're trying something new.
While it's important to think logically and rely on evidence-based logic, it's also important to act with the spontaneous energy and optimism that drives you. I hope you will experience the fascination of combining the seemingly contradictory forces of critical thinking and spontaneity in the freedom of learning at ICU.
I congratulate you in the hope that, through the liberal arts at ICU, each of you will become a person with a deep understanding of humanity and a global citizen who will contribute to building peace.
Shoichiro Iwakiri,
President of International Christian University.