Lauren RubensteinJoshua Krugman '14, Megan Cash '14, and Prince Carter '14 delivered "Senior Voices" speeches on May 24 in Memorial Chapel. Below is the text of Krugman's and Cash's speeches; Carter's was unavailable at the time of publication. Joshua Krugman When I got to Wesleyan I thought I could get everything I needed out of the world on my own and by my own effort if I worked hard enough. I enrolled in six classes. Every day after class I would go to the practice rooms to play the piano. Then I would walk back to my single in Butt B…
Sarah Mahurin, visiting assistant professor of English, visiting assistant professor of African American studies, delivered the following baccalaureate address during the "Senior Voices" event on May 24: Thank you all for inviting me to speak today. I’m honored to spend a little more time with the class of 2014. When I was asked to do this, I tried to find some literature about graduating college – as a source of inspiration, maybe a point of departure – and as it turns out, there’s not a lot out there. Plenty about college – plenty about starting college, or about being in…
“Don’t wait to change the world,” Theodore Shaw ’76, one of the nation’s leading proponents for civil rights, told the Class of 2014 in his Commencement address May 25. Shaw’s speech recalled a Wesleyan commencement 50 years earlier, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded an honorary degree and delivered the baccalaureate sermon to the Wesleyan Class of 1964. “Martin Luther King, Jr. was twenty-six when he led the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1963, children, some as young as five years old, filled the jails of Birmingham, Alabama protesting against segregation. School children marched against apartheid in Soweto in…
Theodore Shaw '76, one of the nation's leading proponents for civil rights, delivered Wesleyan's 182nd Commencement Address on May 25. Watch the video, or read the full text below: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO4Ac-lehhA[/youtube] "President Roth, Fellow Honorary Degree Recipients, Dr. Helena Chmura Kraemer and Hayden White, Members of the Board of Trustees, Faculty, Administrators, Staff, Members of the Wesleyan Community, Family, Friends and all who are gathered here, but above all else, to you, the Class of 2014. And if you give me a moment of forbearance, I have to go home and shout out to the Patrick-Shaw clan. Fifty years…
Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78 made the following remarks at the 182nd Commencement Ceremony on May 25: Members of the board of trustees, members of the faculty and staff, distinguished guests, new recipients of graduate degrees and the class of 2014, I am honored to present some brief remarks on the occasion of this commencement. Although American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has been winding down ever since you arrived on campus, the scars of those conflicts will continue to be painful for years to come. On this Memorial Day Weekend, I begin by asking us all to take…
Olivia DrakeEvery year at Commencement, Wesleyan recognizes outstanding teaching with three Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching. These prizes, made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon. ’85, underscore Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers, who are responsible for the university’s distinctive approach to liberal arts education. Recommendations are solicited from alumni of the last 10 graduating classes, as well as current juniors, seniors, and graduate students. Recipients are chosen by a selection committee of faculty and members of the Alumni Association Executive Committee. This year, Wesleyan President Michael Roth honored Robert Steele, Petra Bonfert-Taylor…
On May 25, Wesleyan conferred 733 bachelor of arts degrees; 26 master of arts degrees; 44 master of arts in liberal studies degrees; 3 master of philosophy in liberal arts degrees; and 14 doctor of philosophy degrees. The entire Reunion & Commencement photo gallery is online here. Read the story here. (more…)
Manon Lefèvre '14 delivered the Senior Class Welcome at Commencement on May 25: I want to talk about what it means to question. We are taught here at Wesleyan that we have a responsibility to challenge structures of power, to stand up for what we believe is right, to envision a better world for ourselves and for others. Brilliant ideas, challenging theories, and profound, radical ways of thinking thrive on this campus. I have learned more in my four years here than I could have ever imagined possible. And today, I am truly saddened to be saying goodbye to my community…
During Wesleyan's Commencement Ceremony on May 25, Wesleyan President Michael Roth awarded honorary degrees to Hayden White, Theodore Shaw '76 and Helena Chmura Kraemer. Theodore Shaw '76 For decades, Theodore (“Ted”) Shaw has been one of the nation’s strongest advocates for equity and inclusion in our society. In courts throughout the nation, including the U.S. Supreme Court, he has argued cases involving voting rights, education, housing discrimination, capital punishment, and civil rights. He played a key role in initiating and drafting the admissions policy that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger, and he has often…
On May 23-25 hundreds of Wesleyan alumni flocked to campus to celebrate Reunion & Commencement Weekend. In addition to class reunions, alumni attended WESeminars, academic department open houses, a parade of classes, campus tours, an all-college picnic and festival, and an all-campus party featuring mamarazzi and Illegalize. The weekend culminated with the 182nd Commencement Ceremony featuring commencement speaker Theodore Shaw ’76. View the full schedule online here. Classes ending in “4” and “9” celebrated their reunions. For psychology major Sheryl Sturges '79 and theater major Jonathan Duell '79 of Cornwall, N.Y., being together on campus is all too familiar. "I…
Kate CarlisleFifty years after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave the baccalaureate address at Wesleyan, the university will welcome Ted Shaw ’76, one of the nation’s leading proponents for civil rights, as its 2014 Commencement speaker. Shaw has been named the Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law, and the Director of the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights after having served as professor of professional practice at Columbia University School of Law. He served for 23 years with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, concluding as director-counsel and president. He received his law degree from Columbia and started…
Two current state governors who proudly call Wes their alma mater will be back on campus during Reunion & Commencement Weekend, May 22-25. Both Gov. Peter Shumlin ‘79 of Vermont and Gov. John Hickenlooper ’74, MA ’80, Hon ’10 of Colorado will be celebrating their reunion years, and giving talks during the weekend. On May 24, Hickenlooper will give a WESeminar from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., titled “An Inside Look Into the Legalization of Marijuana.” He will address how the decision by voters to legalize small amounts of marijuana for adult use is affecting his state of Colorado, and potentially…