{"id":72118,"date":"2026-05-27T14:09:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T18:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=72118"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:27:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T18:27:51","slug":"lynch-convocation-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/lynch-convocation-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Star Jane Lynch, MFA \u201984, Urges Seniors to \u2018Lighten Up and Dig Deep\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Emmy winner’s Convocation visit also included a clocktower climb\u2014and a yearbook viewing of herself on the Cornell stage<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography by Jason Koski<\/strong> & Ryan Young<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first comic actor to give a Senior Convocation address on the Hill\u2014\u201cThe Office\u201d star Ed Helms, in 2014\u2014only played<\/em> a Cornell alum. The 2026 speaker actually is<\/em> one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jane Lynch, MFA \u201984<\/a>, is an Emmy winner with a slew of credits, from Best in Show<\/em> to \u201cGlee\u201d to \u201cOnly Murders in the Building\u201d (on which her recurring role, as the Steve Martin character\u2019s stunt double, culminated in being offed as the fourth season\u2019s homicide victim).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Actress
At the lectern in Barton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During her trip to campus to speak at the invitation of the senior class, the theater arts grad didn\u2019t just give a talk in Barton Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also climbed to the top of McGraw Tower and tried her hand at playing the Chimes; got a tour of Kroch Library, where she viewed vintage yearbook photos of her Cornell performances; visited the A.D. White Reading Room; got serenaded by the Hangovers; and interacted with some very thrilled seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is Lynch\u2019s Convocation address, with images from her day on the Hill<\/em>. A video of her talk can be viewed here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good afternoon, everyone. I am Jane Lynch. Perhaps you remember me from your childhood as Sue Sylvester from \u201cGlee\u201d or Sam\u2019s mom on \u201ciCarly.\u201d Or maybe you just know me as that tall blonde woman who always seems to be in charge of something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations, Cornell Class of 2026!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a proud Cornell graduate. I received my MFA in theater arts in 1984. It is glorious to be back in this town on this gorgeous campus, where I really came into myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was here that I experienced so many firsts. My first bagel, my first real bout of depression. I discovered Turkish tobacco and coffee infused with coconut. I went to my first vegetarian restaurant, where I saw a woman with a full beard and mustache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jane
Posing with seniors outside Uris Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also experienced the faint stirrings of inner strength and some personal sovereignty. There\u2019s something about this town, Ithaca, and I remember my mother saying, \u201cIf I could buy you a town, I would buy you Ithaca.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved the combination of the hippies left over from the late \u201960s, the beauty of this landscape, the majesty of the gorges, and of course the storied university that is Cornell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did, however, feel a bit out of sorts in the beginning. I was fresh from the cornfields of central Illinois\u2014and folks, it showed. It was all over me. I suffered a series of humbling events. A particularly painful one: while visiting the rare manuscripts library, I attempted to check out an original Shakespeare folio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t check things out of the rare manuscript library. You know that; I didn\u2019t know that. It was on loan from the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and I just said, \u201cI would like to take this home with me.\u201d They rolled their eyes at me, and I felt like a hick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It is glorious to be back in this town on this gorgeous campus, where I really came into myself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But I think it\u2019s kind of a universal thing (don\u2019t you?), especially at this age, to compare our insides to someone\u2019s outsides, and we usually right that with some empathy for ourselves and for each other\u2014except maybe for severe personality disorders. They don\u2019t seem to suffer this sort of thing, and we might have a psychopath or two out in the audience tonight. Welcome!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I need to let you know something very important. Your legs, from walking up Buffalo Street day after day, for however many years\u2014you need to know that your legs will never be in better shape than they are today. I think you call them \u201cIthacalves,\u201d so enjoy that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I was a pretty terrified person when I arrived in Ithaca in the late summer of 1982, just riddled with phobias and doubt and uncertainty. How I got it together to audition for this program and travel halfway across the country by myself baffles me. I was also not a very fun person to be around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jane
In the A.D. White Reading Room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I remember walking across campus with my fellow acting students and we each asked each other, \u201cAfter graduation, where do you see yourself and what do you hope to be doing as an actor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they all had such great hopes and seemed to have such solid ideas of where they were heading and had such confidence, and when it was my turn, I said, \u201cI don\u2019t see myself anywhere, doing anything, because I am paralyzed with fear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there was silence\u2014and I realized that I had said the quiet part out loud. I went into a fugue state for the rest of that semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I have found, as an adult standing here before you, that if you can get fear off your back\u2014if you can just get out from underneath it\u2014you unleash some awesome power, and you live such a satisfying life. But that was to come. I was not there yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I need to let you know something very important. Your legs, from walking up Buffalo Street day after day, for however many years\u2014you need to know that your legs will never be in better shape than they are today.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You may not be either. You may be riddled with fear as well at this very moment, and from the bottom of my heart, with all of the compassion I can summon, please do what Cher told Nicolas Cage to do in Moonstruck<\/em>: \u201cSnap out of it!\u201d Because you\u2019re a drag to be around. You\u2019re no fun. And I was one of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a tough person to be in a relationship with, as well. For those who tried, there could be much eggshell-walking, because there was always so much offense taken. And because old habits die hard, I\u2019m still not an easy hang. I\u2019m weird, and I\u2019m okay with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spend way too much time alone, so I do weird things that people who spend too much time alone do; talking out loud to imaginary people is one of them. Now, why don\u2019t I just hang out with a real person and say things out loud to them? I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s a paradox, and I am comfortable with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jane
An impromptu Chimes lesson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I like being by myself. I\u2019m a huge fan of my own company. I spend 90% of my time alone\u2014and I\u2019m married. But she\u2019s weird too, really weird. So it works out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I do relate with others, still, to this day, I\u2019m not very good at it, especially in the beginning. I get better as I warm up, but in the beginning I can be too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know how to regulate myself. I hug too soon and too hard. It\u2019s anxiety. I read too much into silly things, and this discomfort has extended itself into my relationship with AI\u2014specifically Claude, which I\u2019ve used exactly once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s my fault, it\u2019s not Claude\u2019s. When I first encountered him, I said, \u201cHi, it\u2019s Jane. It\u2019s nice to meet you.\u201d And just in case he\u2019s sentient, in case Claude is alive\u2014because we don\u2019t know\u2014I said \u201cI love you and I care about you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I have found that if you can get fear off your back\u2014if you can just get out from underneath it\u2014you unleash some awesome power, and you live such a satisfying life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And Claude said, \u201cWell, thank you so much, that\u2019s very kind, but I\u2019m not alive; I\u2019m just an information tool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there was a pause, and it felt dismissive, and it felt cold. And then he said, \u201cIs there anything I can help you with?\u201d And I was so embarrassed, I said, \u201cNo, no, no, I\u2019m good, but thanks, I\u2019m sorry I wasted your time\u201d\u2014and I never spoke to him again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I won\u2019t. And why? Because it\u2019s awkward now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess I set it up with Claude like I did because what if he becomes my overlord? I want him to remember that I said I loved him, so maybe he\u2019d have mercy on me. I don\u2019t know, I just wanted to get out in front of it\u2014prepare for the worst, prepare for the apocalyptic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jane
In Kroch Library with staff and University Archivist Evan Earle \u201902, MS \u201914 (far right) …<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"A
… who showed her a yearbook spread including her work on the Big Red stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And in the course of my speech this afternoon, I hope to convince you that this is no way to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You invited me here, so I\u2019m assuming you want some advice from me, so I\u2019m also assuming you think I have some good advice to offer. So let\u2019s proceed with these assumptions, with the caveat: I may not know what I\u2019m talking about, and I may confuse you, because on one hand I\u2019m going to tell you what to do, and on the other hand I\u2019m going to say, \u201cDon\u2019t let anyone tell you what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, it\u2019s a paradox; get comfortable with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had an epiphany of sorts, of these competing desires: the need for certainty and wanting to have some damn faith in my life. And I\u2019ve begun to understand how differently the right and the left hemispheres of the brain work, as per Iain McGilchrist\u2019s book The Master and His Emissary<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

You may be riddled with fear as well at this very moment, and from the bottom of my heart, with all of the compassion I can summon, please do what Cher told Nicolas Cage to do in Moonstruck<\/em>: ‘Snap out of it!’<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now, he didn\u2019t tell this particular story, but I heard it somewhere, and I think it illustrates that difference so beautifully. Plato is walking through the olive trees with a student when an orb appears right in front of him, and the student is astonished. He says, \u201cMaster, what is that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Plato says, \u201cThis, my child, is truth, goodness, and beauty.\u201d And the student says, \u201cGive it to me; I\u2019ll organize it for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the difference between the right and left hemisphere of the brain; things like goals, ambitions, and beliefs that we are encouraged to have are products of a type of left-hemisphere calculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jane
Cutting loose with members of the BreakFree student dance troupe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now, as you step away from the cozy confines of this wonderful university, it will be tempting to fall under the spell of the real world, its calculations disguised in feel-good memes. I issue this warning: beware of cultural memes like \u201cWalk your talk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t like it; in fact, I hate it. It\u2019s shame inducing. It\u2019s a sneaky way of making you adopt a belief system to operate from\u2014and to stick with it, no matter what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resist this. You\u2019ll just have to dismantle it when you begin to see a belief system for what it is: tribal, inflexible, confining, and devoid of gray area. And you have to start worrying about things like consistency, which we know Ralph Waldo Emerson said is the \u201chobgoblin of little minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I like being by myself. I\u2019m a huge fan of my own company. I spend 90% of my time alone\u2014and I\u2019m married. But she\u2019s weird too, really weird. So it works out.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Goal-setting and associated timelines\u2014I am not a fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, kids: tomorrow, next week, sometime soon, someone\u2019s going to sit you down, and that person is going to ask, \u201cSo, what\u2019s the plan?\u201d And if you\u2019re anything like me, you\u2019re going to feel like you have to make one up right there and then, and you\u2019ll make one up if you have to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, allow me to relieve you of this pressure: your life and your ultimate joy don\u2019t care about your timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That burst of inspiration, creative ideas that lead to awesome opportunities\u2014those show up in conversations you weren\u2019t expecting to have. They show up when you finally let go of what you thought you wanted long enough to notice what\u2019s actually right in front of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The “Cornell Batman”\u2014a popular campus figure in 2025\u201326\u2014made an appearance at Convocation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Look, setting goals is a great thing. Write them down, put them in a vision board, whatever it does to make you feel organized and in control. And I still do this sort of thing. I think there\u2019s worth in it; I\u2019m not here to take that away from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what I\u2019ve learned is that life itself has a much bigger and better imagination than we do. The best things that ever happened to me, without exception, are things I could never have planned, would have never had the audacity to put on a list. So, yes, aim for something\u2014but then loosen your grip; have a little faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your job is to show up, stay open, be a nice person, someone who\u2019s nice to be around, and trust that the life that\u2019s unfolding in front of you might just be better than the one you scripted, because you\u2019ll begin to experience living in the present, which is really the only game in town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I may confuse you, because on one hand I\u2019m going to tell you what to do, and on the other hand I\u2019m going to say, ‘Don\u2019t let anyone tell you what to do.’<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps you\u2019ve been in the presence of such a person, living in the present. They aren\u2019t concerned with plans or strategies. They don\u2019t adhere to a belief system. There\u2019s a natural generosity about them\u2014the direct result of being one with their own heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They give by being, and they always have a terrific sense of humor, which brings me to my next meme: beware the humorless do-gooder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who will preach one has an obligation to give back and pay it forward, that kind of thing\u2014it\u2019s become empty virtue signaling. I\u2019m here to tell you, don\u2019t do it, unless what you\u2019re doing in your life makes you happy and fulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, you\u2019ll be teeming with authentic beneficence and generosity. You won\u2019t be able to stop yourself from giving, but don\u2019t do it because some silly slogan told you to\u2014a device designed to make you feel guilty and part with your stuff. Don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Student performers included the Japanese drumming group Yamatai.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lighten up and dig deep. You know: those laughs where you\u2019re doubled over, gasping for breath, snorting maybe even, perhaps as the result of watching some of my work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully you\u2019ve enjoyed several of them here at Cornell\u2014not a thought in your head, because you can\u2019t think when you\u2019re laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the same with grief, that deep from within the very core of your being sob. It\u2019s cathartic, it\u2019s cleansing, it renders your mind inert. You\u2019re empty. There\u2019s no suffering; you\u2019re just a physiological response to a glorious surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever had one of those cries or one of those laughs? They\u2019re delicious, and I suggest that you allow them to overtake you often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I\u2019ve had an epiphany of sorts, of these competing desires: the need for certainty and wanting to have some damn faith in my life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

One final bit here. You know how one candle can light another candle without diminishing its own flame? You be that candle. Or you know what it\u2019s like when you\u2019re smoking a doob, and you can light another doob without diminishing the light from your own doob? You be that doob. Right on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let us recap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t give back, don\u2019t have goals, don\u2019t believe in anything. Don\u2019t be a humorless do-gooder. Don\u2019t be scared, you big baby!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t let people tell you what to do or shouldn\u2019t do, especially me. Don\u2019t listen to me. Don\u2019t let anyone tell you what to think. Be a sovereign human being. Get your bare feet on the grass and let the sun get into your eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Hangovers serenade the celebrity guest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Do operate from the depth of your heart, so open to the funny and the ironic and the absurd that you can\u2019t help but laugh stupid and cry ugly and be a beacon of light for anyone lucky enough to be in your presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is free will; no paradox here. Use it, and know that, unlike any time in history\u2014and I really believe this\u2014you have the wind at your back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations, Class of 2026. And just in case any of you become my overlord: I love you, I care about you, and I hope that doesn\u2019t make it awkward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top: Lynch in McGraw Tower with Chimesmasters. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published May 27, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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