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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
A Lower Key Commencement After last year’s hullabaloo over Hillary Rodham Clinton '73JD and U.S. president George W. Bush '68 both speaking on Commencement weekend, this year seemed tame. No major protests. No backs turned during anyone’s speech. No lines stretching across the Green as guests waited to pass through security checkpoints upon entering Old Campus. But for an academic year that began so tumultuously, a relaxed change of pace seemed welcome. As could be expected, September 11 served as a reference point throughout the weekend. At the Baccalaureate, the Reverend Robert Beloin read the words of Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic worker movement. In 1960, she wrote, “We are no longer protected by oceans separating us from the rest of the warring world … Anywhere, at any time, we can be reached … I certainly pray to be delivered from the fear of my brother and sister.” Beloin asked graduates to be leaders “for a future of hope,” and President Levin continued this message in his Baccalaureate Address. “We hoped and expected that our spectacular Tercentennial celebration last October would be the most memorable public event of your senior year,” he said. “But by the time it occurred, it had already been overshadowed by the events of September 11.” Levin spoke of the need to affirm “civilization in the face of anarchy,” and shared insights from several entries in his “personal bibliography” (including Thomas Jefferson and Walt Whitman) that offered him “solace, insight, and inspiration.” “We cannot build a perfect world,” he said, “But we must strive . to build a better one.” When Class Day exercises moved to Old Campus, the mood grew lighter as students donned the traditionally outrageous hats—including a version of Harkness tower and a stuffed octopus. The Ivy Ode, written by Peter Holman Jamison, captured the conflicted feelings about moving on (“These college years are full to bursting / with sunburnt joy”), and Nana Akua Agyeiwaa Asafu-Agyei read the poem’s translation into Twi. One of the most memorable moments was the announcement of a new student award to be given to an outstanding athlete who has “shown courage in transcending unforeseen challenges.” It was awarded this year to, and will be named in future years for, Amanda Walton. A former star of the lacrosse and field hockey team, Walton was severely injured in a hit-and-run automobile accident in 2000, but has recently returned to Yale as volunteer assistant coach to the field hockey team. Then came the Class Day speech. When New York governor George E. Pataki '67 was introduced, the mention of his undergraduate role as head of the Conservative Party at Yale elicited some hissing. But decorum returned when the audience was reminded that Pataki’s calming presence helped New York unite in the aftermath of September 11. Taking the lectern, Pataki said that the honor of being chosen as Class Day speaker didn’t go to his head. He quoted commentary in the Yale Daily News: “I hope Governor Pataki declines the invitation.” While he admitted that this statement was “a little bit deflating,” he said that it doesn’t bother him to have protesters. “I say we need people’s political enthusiasm,” he said, “especially when they’re registered in the state of Connecticut.” On a more serious note, Pataki turned to the events of the past year. “Grief was forced upon us,” he said. “We could not bear it alone. We did not have to bear it alone.” He noted that America is “united perhaps more than ever before.” He encouraged universities to respect different voices, asking all to “Keep your mind, imagination, and heart open to love.” Patriotic sentiments continued the following day, as the Yale Band offered renditions of “America the Beautiful” and West Side Story’s “America.” The biggest buzz during the ceremony surrounded the news that Hollywood had descended upon New Haven. “Ooh, Steven Spielberg!” said one woman, after quickly scouring the program as she stepped through the gates onto Old Campus. When Spielberg received his honorary degree, the band played John Williams’s Indiana Jones theme song. Many people stood—to snap pictures—and then quickly sat down. The surprise highpoint of the ceremony occurred during the awarding of an honorary degree to Judge Robert C. Carter. The Law School section began the standing ovation that spread almost instantly as President Levin informed the audience about Carter’s achievements, most notably being part of the legal team that argued Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case that resulted in segregation being outlawed in public education. Following Yale’s tradition of awarding honorary degrees to new presidents of Harvard and Princeton, Lawrence Summers and Shirley Tilghman were also commended, as was William Sloane Coffin Jr., who served as Yale’s Chaplain from 1958 to 1976, and was honored for continuing to address “matters of conscience.” At the end of the ceremony, as the band slipped in a bit of pop culture by playing the Star Wars score as a finale, and the mass exodus from Old Campus began, sunshine suddenly broke through the overcast sky. One fresh graduate proclaimed it “Beach weather!” Hoping for sun—and messages to “go out and change the world”—are as old as commencement itself. But this year, for a change, neither seemed trite. |
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Related Thinking About September 11 |
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©1992–2012, Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Yale Alumni Magazine, P.O. Box 1905, New Haven, CT 06509-1905, USA. yam@yale.edu |
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