“We are all made of the same things just vibrating differently…” : DePauw University Community Assembles for Trevor Noah Ubben Lecture
Extra Credit Article: Event Review - Trevor Noah Ubben Lecture, 4/30/26
BY JUSTINE VANDENBERG
The Neal Fieldhouse of DePauw University was filled by a healthy crowd of several thousand attendees on the Thursday evening of April 30 as people turned out in droves to hear Ubben Lecture guest speaker Trevor Noah. Not only were DePauw students, faculty, staff and local Greencastle residents in attendance, but friends of DePauw and regional community members also drove in from beyond Putnam County for the chance to hear from such an internationally renowned public voice.
Trevor Noah is an award-winning comedian, author, and political commentator. He is widely known for his role as host of “The Daily Show” from 2015-2022, in addition to being a consistent host of the Grammy Awards. Originally from South Africa, Noah published “Born a Crime” in 2016, an autobiographical memoir chronicling his experiences growing up as biracial under apartheid South Africa.
After a notable wait and unexplained delay to the event’s scheduled start time, Noah began the Ubben Lecture by speaking to the fundamental adversity he faced in his childhood as someone who grew up feeling like an “outsider.” In many ways, the pressures of non-belonging in his youth were forces that shaped his personal values of introverted introspection, human connection, and authenticity.
Noah spoke of how he considered the adversity of being “born a crime” something that ultimately became a defining driver of his personal growth, urging audience members to “resist the allure of being on the inside.” Instead, he argued for the recognition that it is often being “on the outside” and walking one’s own authentic path in life that leads to the moments of discovery and fulfillment, even if it is not without its lonely or difficult moments.
Facilitated by discussion moderators Jeff Dunn, associate professor of philosophy and Phyllis W. Nicholas Director of the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics, and Deepa Prakash, Frank L. Hall Professor of Political Science, Noah was also prompted to speak to his profession as a comedian and political commentator. In response, Noah expressed his value of comedic and talk show settings as a form of conversation that often cut through curtains of performance or insincerity, instead allowing for more authentic and honest dialogue.
“Someone asking you a question that is ‘wrong’ is beautiful. Kids, for example, always ask that kind of question,” Noah mused. He was adamant that unabridged curiosity was a recipe for the most meaningful moments, urging audience members to “ask the dumbest questions that have never been asked.”
However, Noah also positioned satire in the modern global moment in an interesting light, remarking that satire’s job is to render something in the extreme in order to illuminate something of insight or value from the situation, but in a world that is now “always extreme,” he admitted that it was often hard to distinguish what was satire and what was not.
After Prakash posed several questions that students had submitted in advance to ask of Noah, the topic turned to activism. Noah offered students his own insight to how they might consider their role within the future of the world to come.
“We are all acting in a certain way that pushes society in a certain direction whether you know it or not,” Noah contextualized. “And to me, anything you’re doing to push power in a certain direction makes you an activist.”
After a night characterized just as much by witty humor and punchline laughs as it was moments of profound insight and inspiration, many attendees remarked that the evening had certainly been a memorable one. Noah’s talk marks the last installment of the Ubben Lecture series, drawing to a close a 40 year tradition and history of bringing some of the world’s most influential leaders and speakers to DePauw University.