On May 25, one of the wettest graduation programs in recent memory, President Richard C. Levin bestowed degrees on nearly 3,000 students during Yale's 297th commencement ceremonies.
Thunder rumbled several times during the academic procession, and each thunderclap produced an echoing roar from the students. Students chosen for special honor carried their residential college or professional school banners, as robed graduates and faculty members streamed onto Old Campus through the great gates, marching to music by Nino Marcelli, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Sir William Turner Walton and Yale's own Thomas C. Duffy, director of university bands.
Just as the Reverend Frederick (Jerry) Streets began his invocation, the skies opened up, and rain pelted the 2,989 assembled degree candidates and their 10,000 guests, who tried to keep dry under umbrellas, plastic sheets and newspapers. President Levin announced, "We are determined to let nothing dampen our spirits," and the ceremonies went forward, but not entirely as planned.
When Dean Richard H. Brodhead presented 1,238 Yale College candidates for the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, the undergraduates cheered on cue -- having rehearsed at Class Day the previous afternoon, with coaching from their foresighted dean. Undergraduate prize-winners were acknowledged individually, but briskly.
Then, President Levin announced a change in the schedule. He asked the candidates of Yale's 11 graduate and professional schools to rise together and, in one sweeping gesture granted 1,751 degrees, conferring upon doctors, lawyers, nurses, environmentalists, musicians, artists, architects, researchers and other deserving candidates all the privileges and responsibilities that accompany a Yale degree.
Rain continued to fall as honorary degrees were given to nine distinguished honorands. Among the recipients was entertainer Lena Horne. When her name was announced the Yale University Concert Band struck up "Stormy Weather," Horne's signature tune -- and a particularly appropriate tune for the ceremony, given the day's downpour. Also honored were His All Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church and spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians; historian Gerda Lerner, pioneering scholar and award-winning writer in the field of women's history; author and historian David McCullough '55, who spoke at Class Day in 1997 and whose monumental biography, "Truman," won the Pulitzer Prize; humanitarian Sadako Ogata, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, working to improve conditions in Bosnia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Central Africa and the former Yugoslavia; philanthropist, volunteer and business leader Frederick P. Rose '44E, who was a guiding force in the creation of the Association for Yale Alumni and who has served on the boards of New York's premier cultural institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; conductor Robert L. Shaw, winner of 14 Grammy Awards and long-time musical director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; scientist and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward O. Wilson, renowned for his research on ants and for his interdisciplinary writings, most recently "Consilience: Unity of Knowledge"; and economist Muhammad Yunus, developer of a system of "micro-lending" to the poor that has changed the lives of more than 2 million people in Bengladesh alone.
The Right Reverend Victoria Matthews, fellow of the Yale Corporation, gave a benediction urging the new graduates to "live in hope and bring hope to others." After a recessional led by the University Concert Band, everyone took shelter.
Diploma and awards ceremonies were held at the residential colleges
and professional schools for their respective students. Among those
honored at these ceremonies were alumni of the Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences who -- along with outgoing Graduate School Dean Thomas Appelquist
-- were given Wilbur L. Cross Medals in honor of their professional
accomplishments.
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