The promise of our democracy
Photos by Tammy Woodard, M.A. '98
The sun came out on sunday, May 21, gloriously interrupting a weekend of rainy spring weather—and just in time—as Clark celebrated its 102nd commencement under its welcomed rays. The University awarded 472 bachelor's degrees, 505 master's degrees and 23 doctorates. The ceremonies were a showcase for Clark's intercultural community, with graduating students hailing from more than 38 countries. Ankit Tambe '07 of Bangkok, Thailand, presented the senior address.
Education advocate Blenda J. Wilson addressed the Class of 2007, saying that they "represent the continuing hope and optimism of our culture."
Wilson, the former first president of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation who became familiar with Clark as a foundation executive, lauded the University for its work with the University Park Campus School and for significantly advancing educational opportunity and equity, especially for students from low-income families, students of color and first-generation college students.
"While there are many higher education institutions in the region committed to that goal, none was as passionate, as successful or as eloquent in transcending the conformity of contemporary higher education as Clark University, " she said.
Wilson has a long and distinguished career as a leader in higher education. She served as senior associate dean at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and went on to become chancellor at University of Michigan, Dearborn, and president of California State University, Northridge. She has been a trustee of the Getty Foundation and the College Board, and is a past chair of the American Association of Higher Education.
Wilson, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, said she is troubled by the fact that the prevailing, conventional appeal for support of education in our society is made almost solely on economic grounds.
"Economic gain is neither the only reason, nor the most important reason, to get a university education, " she warned. Wilson said the essential argument for high quality education for everyone is its role in sustaining a vital and ethical democracy.
"I believe that our national character is threatened by a culture that extols money, material goods and a primary interest in oneself, rather than a commitment to one another, to justice and to serve the greater good. No amount of education or intellectual achievement can compensate for the absence of moral purpose and integrity, " said Wilson, citing the dishonest accounting practices and ethical flaws of corporate executives, boards of directors, World Bank officials and even some higher education officials.
"We need to understand that these transgressions are not the result of lack of knowledge or lack of education, " she told the graduates.
Wilson used the words of the late Robert F. Kennedy to remind the graduates that "moral courage" was the "one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change. "
"Let it be said, 50 years from now, that you carried the ideals of Clark University throughout your life and in whatever work you did. Your heart and spirit are the promise of our democracy, " she said.
Clark University President John Bassett reminded the graduates that they had all seen a decade of relative peace and prosperity turn to war, economic dislocation, political turmoil and increased terrorism.
"You go out with plenty of opportunity to challenge convention and change your world for the better, to make a positive difference, " he said. "I call on you to work for justice, to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to educate the child —to believe in ideals but not to make the ideals themselves more meaningful to you than are those diverse and imperfect and at times lost human beings for whose lives the ideals have their only significance. "
Other honorary degree recipients were: Peter Piot, undersecretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of UNAIDS, who received a Doctor of Humane Letters; Hervey Ross, a civic champion, philanthropist and business leader who attended Clark University before being drafted during the Korean War, who received a Doctor of Humane Letters; and Lee S. Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, who received a Doctor of Humane Letters.
Find more information about the honorary degree recipients, transcripts of commencement speeches, photos and a video of the commencement ceremony online.
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Clarknews Summer 2007
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