Reggie Love—former special assistant and personal aide for President Barack Obama—stressed the importance of having a strong ethical code during the Orientation Week closing address Saturday night.
Love, Trinity ‘05, played for the Duke men’s basketball team during his time on campus, winning a national championship in 2001. After graduating with degrees in political science and public policy, Love worked in the office of Barack Obama—a senator at the time—before becoming his close personal aide on the campaign trail in 2007, a position he kept through much of Obama’s first term in the White House.
Love left in 2011 to pursue a master's in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His address to the Class of 2020 focused on having patience and perspective in college as well as in life.
“It’s the beginning,” Love said in his speech. “It’s the beginning of independence. It’s the beginning of relationships. It’s also an endless opportunity.”
Love noted that he expected to be a “big man on campus” when he first arrived but was met with rejection and struggles. He also discussed how he changed his mind regarding his career. After two years in the National Football League, for example, Love decided to pursue another career path because he said he did not like how short football careers typically are.
“I really liked Mr. Love’s comments about patience, especially during Orientation Week when everything is moving so fast, and you are meeting so many people who you think are super good at everything,” said freshman Alex Shang. “It’s really inspiring to see how good things happen to people who wait.”
Another theme of Love's speech was integrity and maintaining one's ethics, which he related through recounting his journey to Washington.
While waiting to start a job at Goldman Sachs, Love said he decided to intern for Senator Obama. He recalled that his integrity helped him make an impression on his bosses, eventually leading to him becoming Obama’s personal aide on the campaign trail and then in the White House.
One of the anecdotes he shared was a meeting between Obama and then-President George Bush, where the latter asked for Obama’s advice on how to best deal with the economy weeks before the market crash.
Realizing that it would be beneficial to Obama’s campaign if the market were to crash, Love asked Obama why he would decide to help Bush at a cost to himself. Love said that it was a “beautiful moment” when Obama—showing integrity—acted on what was best for the American people even though it did not benefit him personally.
“After his introduction, I thought he’d be like a superstar,” said freshman Trishul Nagenalli. “But he presented everything in a really humble way. It makes [his story] more relatable.”
Love also outlined a set of guidelines to follow through five words—patience, passion, persistence, perspective and purpose. He said he was grateful to have been exposed to great leaders in his lifetime, including men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and President Obama.
“I think it was cool that he was someone from Duke because he can relate to us more,” said freshman Hannah Shepard. “I thought it was all good advice.”
Love also cautioned the Class of 2020 to not be afraid or resistant to failure. He noted the importance of learning and experience, as well as failure, in order to achieve personal success.
"People have the best opportunity of growth when they fail,” Love said.
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Class of 2019
Editor-in-chief 2017-18,
Local and national news department head 2016-17
Born in Hyderabad, India, Likhitha Butchireddygari moved to Baltimore at a young age. She is pursuing a Program II major entitled "Digital Democracy and Data" about the future of the American democracy.