Apple CEO Tim Cook, who received his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in 1988, returned to Durham, North Carolina, this weekend to deliver a stirring commencement address to Duke University undergrads. And he touched on some of the hot-button issues dominating discourse in the country in the last year–from gun control and data privacy to #MeToo and climate change. Though he didn’t mention Facebook or Cambridge Analytica, his comments on privacy issues in tech echoed his earlier criticism of the social network:
“We reject the notion that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy, so we choose a different path: collecting as little of your data as possible, and being thoughtful and respectful when it’s in our care. Because we know it belongs to you. In every way, at every turn, the question we ask ourselves is not ‘what can we do’ but ‘what should we do.'”
He also told the graduates to be fearless like those fighting sexual harassment, immigrant rights, and the Parkland students:
“It’s in those truly trying moments that the fearless inspire us. Fearless like the students of Parkland, Florida, who refused to be silent about the epidemic of gun violence have rallied millions to their cause. Fearless like the women who say ‘me too’ and ‘time’s up.’ Women who pass light into dark places and move us into a just and equal worker.”
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