Cooper addressed the paralysis many graduates feel about choosing the right path. He confessed that as a political science major who focused almost entirely on the Soviet Union and communism, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 left him professionally 'screwed.' But he learned that life doesn't require finding the perfect path on the first try. You will go down many paths that go nowhere, he said, and that's how it should be. The speech was particularly meaningful given its setting — addressing the class that chose Tulane after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.