Higher Ed Utah

While we purpose ourselves with the task of advancing higher education, let us recall a quote from a century ago, a thought still very applicable today:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

As Teddy Roosevelt mentioned on yet another occasion:

“Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it.”

Higher education is … in all seasons… a “worthy cause” well worth our full energy and best efforts.  As both a public good and a private good, the value it adds to society and to individual lives makes it a cause well worthy of being “in the arena”.  May we continue to serve that noble cause, being open to critique as well as to accolades; but ever steadfast in our promotion of a quality higher education experience

Dr. Gregory Stauffer
Associate Commissioner for Finance & Facilities