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

unctuating his address with perhaps one of the most scathing rejection letters ever written, four-time Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach ’91 told members of Vassar’s Class of 2026 to prepare themselves for a serpentine ride through life. But the celebrated filmmaker said he was confident that Vassar had prepared them well for the journey.

“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 the graduates. While the sharp criticism had shattered him temporarily, it hadn’t deterred him from continuing to work on his craft because he loved it, he said. 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. “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.”

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 …

Vassar Student Association President Mariya Novosad ’26 shared similar 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. …

“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 for overcoming obstacles even before they had arrived at Vassar. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most were unable to visit college campuses, and those who did visit Vassar had to stay in their cars. “So, 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,” she told them. “And despite that, you have flourished on this campus.”

Bradley also praised the class for its athletic accomplishments—the class collectively earned 11 conference championships and two national championship teams—and for its artistic and comedic creativity. “Your 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 the graduates—“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, outgoing President of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC) and College Trustee, welcomed the graduates into a new community of the Vassar family, its 42,000 alums. “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.” —Larry Hertz

View a gallery of images from Commencement 2026.