Veterans Day letter from Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne

November 11, 2021

Dear Stanford community and campus visitors,

This Veterans Day, we honor our nation’s veterans, including the members of our Stanford community who have answered the call to serve in our nation’s military.

Our community includes 102 military veterans, 46 dependents of veterans and 14 ROTC students studying as undergraduate or graduate students or as visiting fellows at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Hoover Institution. We also honor the many Stanford alumni who have served in our military and continue to serve today.

On Veterans Day, we are called to consider the meaning of their service and to reflect on the liberties we enjoy as a result of their sacrifices. I’m inspired by the courage and selflessness of our nation’s veterans. I am especially proud of Stanford’s veterans, who enrich our campus community with their talent, dedication and spirit of leadership.

As a symbol of our community’s respect and gratitude for our veterans, we lay wreaths in Memorial Court and at Memorial Auditorium each year on Veterans Day. Both Memorial Court and Memorial Auditorium represent the esteem with which our university holds our veterans. Jane Stanford established Memorial Court in 1900 to recognize Stanford veterans of the Spanish-American War. Memorial Auditorium, likewise, was dedicated in 1937 to members of the Stanford community who died in World War I.

In the lobby of the auditorium, plaques commemorate the 486 servicemembers affiliated with Stanford who died in service to our country: in the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Veterans Day and throughout the year, these spaces help us pay tribute to those who have served. Today, I offer my own deep thanks to all of our veterans for the peace and liberty we enjoy in this country.

With gratitude,

Marc Tessier-Lavigne
President