Asks Class of 2000 at Princeton University to commit to service of others
By: Jennifer Potash
Invoking Princeton’s motto of “in service of all nations,” Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, a university alumna, appealed to the class of 2000 on Sunday to commit to the service of others, whether in or outside their careers.
“Today’s realities, both the challenges of the world beyond the Fitz Randolph gates and the possibility of your world, heralds a call to service,” Queen Noor said.
Dressed in an elegant black suit with large pearl and diamond earrings, the queen donned the traditional black academic gown for the baccalaureate address, which was presented on a large-screen television for the families of the graduates as well as simulcast to other sites on the campus.
One of the university’s oldest traditions, the baccalaureate service was held inside the Princeton University Chapel. The interfaith service featured readings by members of the class of 2000 representing a diversity of faiths, including Islamic, Christian, Jewish and Hindu. There were secular readings as well.
“(The multi-faith readings) reaffirm that the three Abrahamic faiths and all religions teach common principles which should be a unifying force among people,” she said.
Queen Noor said her experience as a member of the class of 1973, the first coeducational class to graduate from Princeton University, prepared her for her later careers as an architect and urban planner, as well as the responsibilities of royal life in the Middle East.
“These studies also provided me with some very practical skills — a reduced need for sleep and practice thinking on my feet when faced with merciless public critiques of my work,” she said.
She also noted that despite 25 years of public life and dealing with world leaders, giving a speech at her alma mater was more intimidating.
“In fact, this visit, if anything, is more reminiscent than usual because while you have been relaxing after finishing senior theses and exams, I have been working on what to say to you,” Queen Noor said.
“I thus return to Princeton so long after my own commencement still feeling as if I have a paper due.”
Internationally, Queen Noor has campaigned against land mines, advocated environmental protection and long supported United Nations social programs for women and children. She has worked for greater understanding of the Middle East and of Arab-Western relations, and sponsored many projects aimed at increasing educational and work opportunities for Jordanian women.
Queen Noor said she views her post-Princeton career as a logical extension of the influence of the Kennedy Administration’s idealism and the social-change movements of a quarter-century ago.
“For many, a tear gas-bombed protest line may seem a strange starting point for a journey to a palace, yet the same ideals and concern that sparked my involvement for the movements for social justice and peace and environmental conservation here in the 1960s and 1970 have motivated my work in the Middle East in the two and a half decades since,” she said.
Queen Noor cited the example of her late husband, King Hussein, as proof of an individual making a difference in the lives of others.
By making his humanitarian principles the hallmark of his policies, he was able, in spite of limited resources, to promote national development and international cooperation to an extent that confounded those pragmatists and cynics who constantly predicted his failure, she said.
While Princeton University and its rich campus and academics may have been the focus of the graduates’ four years at the university, Queen Noor encouraged them to put it all in perspective.
Using the example of how a version of a famous New Yorker magazine cover shows Princeton University landmarks dwarfing other national cities with the rest of the world nonexistent, Queen Noor pointed out the poverty, violence and disease that afflicts many of the world’s peoples.
“Twelve children a day are killed by handguns in this country alone and elsewhere in the world children are taking up arms in local militias killing and dying for causes they barely understand,” she said.
But there is reason to hope, as “never before have concerned world citizens had such unprecedented power to do good,” Queen Noor said.
Born Lisa Najeeb Halaby to a Christian Arab-American family in Washington, she took the name Noor al-Hussein — the light of Hussein — when she converted to Islam and married the monarch in 1978. She had four children with King Hussein.
Far from aloof with onlookers Sunday, Queen Noor often stopped for a moment to say hello or express appreciation.
“It’s my privilege (to be here),” she said after a woman in the crowd thanked her for coming for the event.