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Veterans Day letter from Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne

November 11, 2022

Dear Stanford community and campus visitors,

Each year on Veterans Day, we lay wreaths in Memorial Court and Memorial Auditorium at 11 a.m., in recognition of the World War I armistice that ended fighting at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918. This Veterans Day, we again honor our nation’s veterans, including Stanford students, faculty, staff, and alumni who have answered the call to serve in our nation’s military.

Our student community includes 101 military veterans, 50 dependents of veterans, and 6 ROTC students. Our campus community also includes veterans who come to Stanford as faculty, staff, or postdocs. I’m deeply proud of Stanford’s veterans, and of the spirit of leadership and dedication that they bring to our campus community.

The wreaths laid in Memorial Court and Memorial Auditorium serve as a symbol of our respect and our gratitude. These are places of great meaning for our community. 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 Memorial Auditorium, plaques commemorate the servicemembers affiliated with Stanford who have died in service to our country since the founding of this university.

In the face of great challenges, our nation’s veterans offer an important example of courage, selflessness, and active citizenship. At Stanford, we have renewed our focus on citizenship and on what it means to engage deeply in our democracy, in civic responsibility, and in the community. Our nation’s veterans offer an inspiring example of these principles in action.

Today, I join the Stanford community in offering 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