Gov. JB Pritzker delivered a commencement address focused on courage and humility to Knox College’s Class of 2025 on Sunday, striking a notably non-partisan tone.
Speaking for 23 minutes on the South Lawn of Old Main at the 10 a.m. ceremony, he told the more than 200 graduates and others in attendance Sunday, “I’m truly honored to be standing before you today at truly one of Illinois’ jewels of higher education.”
Making his second commencement speech as governor after Northwestern University in 2023, he offered words of real-world wisdom along with his best ‘dad-vice’ for the graduates.
Pritzker then told the graduates “We are sending you out into a world that is a little bit crazier, in fact vastly crazier that it has been in any time that any of us can remember. And I’m truly sorry for that.”
Lessons in showing up and doubt
Reflecting on his 60 years and six years as governor, he said, “The most critical thing that I’ve learned… is that there’s almost nothing more important in life than showing up.”
Pritzker urged graduates to balance confidence with doubt, noting, “Nowadays, people have become far too certain of what they know and far too unwilling to admit what they don’t know. Doubt makes us curious. Doubt keeps us humble. Doubt prompts us to ask good questions.”
He drew a laugh with a subtle dig at President Donald Trump, questioning, “Is it a good idea to accept a jumbo jet from a foreign country that would very much like to spy on us?” The governor also briefly poked fun at Elon Musk, saying he considers the United States Constitution “a mere suggestion.”
Lincoln’s legacy and a call to bravery
Recalling Abraham Lincoln’s bravery in opposing slavery during his Oct. 7, 1858, address at Old Main in the fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate, Pritzker’s said: “To be in public office right now is to constantly ask yourself how do I know I’m standing on the right side of history? The wrong side of history will always tell you to be afraid. The right side of history will always expect you to be brave. … So graduates, I expect you to be brave.”
Pritzker told the crowd he had received other invitations to deliver commencement speeches this year, “But I wanted to come to Knox College because no place in America feels more suitable to this moment.
“This college was established in 1837 in rural Illinois on the idea that slavery should be opposed in all its forms—physical, spiritual, intellectual’ and the notion that all people, regardless of race, sex or means, have the right to an education,” he said. “Ignore the coastal institutions who love to brag about their pedigree and history. You will hold a diploma from a college that outshines them in a heritage that is exceedingly rare—a community built around the concept that our lives should be lived every day… with courage.”
Celebrating the class of 2025
Pritzker received an honorary Doctor of Laws, alongside Theaster Gates (Doctor of Arts) and Mary Kent Knight ’60 (Doctor of Humane Letters).
Senior Class Speaker Pareesae Imtiaz called graduates “gloriously unhinged.”
“Now, as we head out into the ‘real world,’ whatever that means, let’s not forget what we’ve actually learned here,” Imtiaz said during her address. “We are adaptable. We are resourceful. And we are truly, gloriously, unhinged. And that’s our strength.”
President C. Andrew McGadney commended their post-COVID resilience.
“Graduates, many of us started our Knox journey together in 2021, and I will remember your class fondly as we navigated a new environment coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic,” McGadney said.
“You have left your mark on Knox, and all of us, in ways that few classes before you have done. You persevered, you challenged us and each other, you stepped into the unknown, sometimes with hesitation, and emerged on the other side, confident and strong.”
Burkhardt Distinguished Associate Professor of History Konrad Hamilton earned the 2025 Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence.
The South Lawn of Old Main remained free of any protesters or demonstrators during the nearly 2-hour ceremony.
