By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan told Princeton University seniors on Monday to chase their realities as they look to improve the world.
Mr. Nolan, the keynote speaker at the annual Class Day ceremony, told an audience sitting in the university Chapel and watching by video feed that speeches like the one he was giving usually end with the speaker urging students to chase their dreams.
“But I’m not going to say that because I don’t believe in it,” he said. Instead, he urged them to pursue their realities, “not at the expense of your dreams, but as the foundation of your dreams.”
Afterward, he was made an honorary member of the class of 2015 and donned the black and orange class jacket that other seniors were wearing for the occasion.
Class Day is a university tradition, said school president Christopher L. Eisgruber, dressed in an orange tie for the occasion. It is usually a light-hearted, sometimes funny, celebration that the seniors organize, including inviting a guest speaker to address them. In recent years, the list of speakers has included former Vice President Al Gore, New Yorker magazine editor David Remnick and actor Steve Carell.
Given that Mr. Nolan made a series of Batman movies, students were given Batman masks as they entered the chapel; some put them on when he got up to speak. Mr. Eisgruber stuck to that Batman theme through most of his attempt at dry humor during his remarks prior to Mr. Nolan’s speech.
He said he suspected that students invited Mr. Nolan to speak to find out if, in fact, Batman went to Princeton. He noted that in March 2011, fellow Ivy League school, Yale University, published a list of famous alumni that included Bruce Wayne.
That Yale reference drew a playful hiss from the audience. Later, university archivist Dan Linke walked down the center aisle with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist, two university security guards protecting him.
He handed the school president what was supposed to be an academic record for Batman at Princeton. As it turned out, the school had the address to the Batcave, known only to “Bruce Wayne, Robin, Alfred and the Princeton office of annual giving,” Mr. Eisgruber said.
Student speakers wove in humor to their remarks, on a day when some were recognized for achievements in and out of the classroom. Among the honorees was Blake Dietrick, a point guard on the woman’s basketball team, as the school’s top sportswoman. She helped lead the team to an undefeated regular season and a berth in the NCAA tournament, and signed a contract to go to training camp with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.
The rainy weather helped break another university tradition. Class Day is usually on Cannon Green, behind Nassau Hall, but it had to be moved indoors.
