At This Year’s Commencement, Filmmaker Noah Baumbach ’91 Reflected on Rejection, Uncertainty, and Resilience

“When I left college, I had a notion that there was a destination followed by an arrival and there were proper paths to get there,” Baumbach told the 623 graduates at Vassar’s 162nd Commencement. “And as I stand here 35 years since I was sitting where you are, representing somebody of accomplishment who has arrived, I realize I’m still arriving just as you are today. We’re always arriving, which is another way of saying we never arrive.”

Baumbach drew hearty laughs from the crowd of more than 2,000 who braved the wet, chilly weather on Sunset Hill as he shared the rejection letter he received as he was about to graduate. Baumbach said he had written and performed in a play during his senior year that had been well received by Vassar audiences, so he sent it to a theatrical producer in New York City. He said he had basked in the glow of praise after his play was performed. “I felt like a pretty big deal. I’d walk through the College Center and think, ‘I own this town.’ ’’

Then the rejection letter arrived. “ ‘Simply stated,’ he quoted, “ ‘your play doesn’t work on multiple levels. There is no dramatic content in the piece, no underlying credibility to the situation, strained dialogue, poorly conceived and underdeveloped characters, and a resolution which is inconsistent with the established behavior of the parties. The attempts at comic dialogue are forced and flat. . . .’ 

 “So why do I share this with you?” Baumbach asked: Because while the sharp criticism had shattered him temporarily, it hadn’t deterred him from continuing to work on his craft because he loved it. And years later, he looked up that producer, “and I discovered that he passed away, which also put to rest any hopes I had of reaching out to him and inviting him to the Oscars.”

The acclaimed filmmaker concluded his speech by urging the graduates to cherish the relationships they had forged at Vassar. “Over the years, you will be there for each other, and they will be there for you,” he said. “Today is an unequivocal triumph for all of you. When I stood here by Sunset Lake, each of you marching past your professors and me in procession . . . I was glad I was available to give this commencement address, not because I had any particular wisdom to share, but because I got to be here with all of you as you began that amazing walk into the rest of your life.”

Vassar Student Association President Mariya Novosad ’26 shared some of the same sentiments as she delivered her address to her classmates. “While I stand here today in front of you, I stand enmeshed in the things about this place—and about higher education more broadly—that have made me angry. Things that have frustrated me, disappointed me, and made me question what this space is and what it claims to be,” Novosad said. “At the same time, however, I stand here today in front of you as the person I am because of Vassar and the people it has brought into my life. How I think, how I question, how I listen, how I speak—that has all been deeply shaped by my time at Vassar. The boundaries of who I thought I could be and what I thought the world could look like have been expanded in ways I could have never imagined when I first arrived here.

“Our degree is power,” Novosad told her fellow graduates, “so go use it. Go challenge the systems you’ve learned to recognize. Go build the world you wish existed. Go take seriously the responsibility of having just experienced an education that so many people have fought for you to have, and so many people dream of having access to.”

President Elizabeth Bradley praised the Class of 2026 for overcoming some obstacles even before they arrived at Vassar. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most were unable to visit college campuses. “You are the class that had to tour or visit colleges when you were figuring out what you were going to do with your lives, when we weren’t really allowed to have campuses open. ... Most campuses were locked, but Vassar’s was open. You had to stay in your car. I’m curious, how many of you saw the campus for the first time from a car window? Did any of you see the campus before you got here?

“There is in you, born of that, an aptitude for risk, perhaps even some faith that you just have to leap even without knowing if the landing is totally suitable. And despite that, you have flourished on this campus. Asked what your class is known for, many reflect on your tremendous friendliness. I remember Mariya Novosad, the president of the Vassar Student Association, encapsulated that idea during Convocation. She highlighted how much this class looks out for each other and accepts each other with friendship and care.”

Bradley also praised the class for its athletic accomplishments (earning 11 conference championships and two national championship teams), and for its artistic and comedic creativity. "The drama, film, music, sculpture, poetry, and artistic programming of all kinds through the Loeb, the Powerhouse, the Shiva, and otherwise—this has all really helped our community express and live through a globally challenging time that has occupied all four of your college years,” the president told the graduates. “As we enter into this beautiful moment of Commencement together, let us be infused with gratitude for all we have shared and all that the Vassar education will bring to you and your future.”

Board of Trustees Chair Sharon Davidson Chang ’84, P’19 urged the graduates to celebrate their uniqueness. “Embrace your awkwardness; embrace your quirks,” Chang said. “Be fully yourself. Don’t become a prototype of what your industry, your peers, or society expects you to be. The very things that make you different may ultimately become your superpower.”

Chang concluded her remarks by saying she was convinced that the world needs people like them—“people who are thoughtful, compassionate, and curious, people willing to lead with both conviction and integrity. Our beloved Vassar has given you the tools to embody those qualities, and that gives all of us tremendous hope for a future that you will help shape.”

Monica Vachher ’77, President of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College(AAVC) and a College Trustee, welcomed the graduates into a new community of the Vassar family, its 42,000 alums, telling them they were likely to meet other alums virtually everywhere. “You will, of course, carry your own posse of Vassar friends wherever you go, but you may also encounter us randomly in graduate school, in your workplace, while traveling,” she said. “Vassar has been my special place since I first entered Main Gate, and I hope it has been, and will continue to be, yours. What I have come to realize over the intervening years is that Vassar is not just a place—rather, it’s almost a state of mind. There is something about Vassar that imbues our psyches; that becomes a part of our very beings; that helps define us and connect us.”

Following the Commencement ceremony, two alums, Trustee W. Kimathi Marangu ’88 and Michael Lopez-Jensen ’92, celebrated by ushering two new graduates into the alum family: Chase Marangu ’26 and Rey Lopez-Jensen ’26.

Chase Marangu, a computer science major from Burlingame, CA, said he had chosen Vassar, in part, for its open curriculum. “I took two physics courses, Physics in the Media and Renewable Energy, that were also listed under Media Studies from [Professor of Physics] Jenny Magnes that I loved,” he said. He added that he also took advantage of learning from distinguished speakers who had come to the campus, such as Terence Chi-Shen Tao, who is widely regarded as the most accomplished mathematician in the world.

Kimathi Marangu said his son had made his own decision to enroll at Vassar after completing two years at San Mateo (CA) Community College, “but having Chase here enabled me to experience parts of college life that I otherwise would not have been able to do. It was always a joy to have all these opportunities to return to the campus.”

Rey Lopez-Jensen, an American Studies major from Denver, CO, said they had almost decided not to enroll at Vassar four years ago, then changed their mind at the last minute and were glad they had done so. “When I got my letter of acceptance, I told Dad, ‘That’s nice, but I don’t think I’m going there,’ ” they said. “Then I finally decided to come, and I saw the enthusiasm Dad had for Vassar.”

They said they had taken full advantage of Vassar’s open curriculum and its many extracurricular activities, singing in the Vassar Choir and acting in three plays. They also wrote a play for their senior thesis and spent a semester studying human rights issues in Nepal, Jordan, and Chile. They said their experiences at Vassar and Baumbach’s address, “confirmed for me that life is a meandering path.”

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