As the 1,238 soon-to-be graduates of the Class of 1998 inched one day closer to receiving their hard-earned diplomas, NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw told the seniors that while their Yale degree will always be a great achievement in their lives, the true measure of their success will be the values they embrace and the concern they show for one another.
The award-winning journalist addressed the seniors and their families and friends, who gathered on Old Campus under cloudless skies for Class Day exercises on May 24. As a soft breeze rustled the leaves of the tall trees towering above them, the near-graduates listened in rapt attention as Brokaw told them they are entering an American economy of "unparalleled opportunity," at a time when most of the world is at peace, and with a "whole new century to shape and the tools to do it." Their legacy, he urged the seniors, could be "to lead the nation out of the quagmire of racial hostility" and to balance their quest for personal fulfillment with a sense of duty to the "common welfare" of their fellow citizens.
Seeing through prism of pigmentation. "Far more than we care to admit on the street, in the workplace, in our homes, in our social lives and yes, even in the academy, we still see life through the prism of pigmentation," Brokaw told the nearly 5,000 people in his audience. Noting that some progress has been made since his days growing up in what he described as "apartheid America," the news anchor said that the people who have left the greatest impression on him have not been the many famous world leaders he has met, but unknown yet brave American citizens who risked their lives fighting for civil rights.
"We are increasingly a land of many colors, a geography of Asian and Latino and African hues, against a diminishing backdrop of white European stock," he stated. "If we allow racism, expressed either as utter bigotry or dressed up as excessive ethnic pride, to metastasize at current rates, we'll soon find ourselves at incurable stages, unable to build walls high enough, schools private enough, industries insulated enough, to withstand the ravages of this pernicious cancer called racism.
"[I]f we fail to achieve and embrace tolerance, if we fail to make the common welfare central to our individual dreams, we will have failed ourselves and the others who still look to us to show the way," he continued.
Remembering Memorial Day. Brokaw reminded the seniors that their graduation celebration was taking place on Memorial Day, as others across the nation were paying tribute to American citizens who served in the armed forces and died fighting for their country. He told members of the Class of 1998 that they are the "beneficiaries" of the sacrifices made by "the greatest generation any civilization has ever produced at any time" -- those who fought in World War II. "They are your grandparents," Brokaw told the class. "They did no less than make this world safe for you. They did no less than give you the opportunities you've had here for a Yale education and the opportunities that lie before you."
After living through the Great Depression, fighting abroad and facing the challenge of rebuilding their lives, their own country and the nations of their enemies, the men and women of this generation spoke little of the sacrifices they made, said Brokaw, noting that he has been traveling the country to hear some of their tales for the first time in connection with a book he is writing about that generation. "Most of all, they didn't whine, they didn't whimper, they didn't ask for anything, and they believe in duty -- two concepts that seem to be out of season in the cycles of contemporary life," the journalist commented. "... They ask nothing in return of you except that you spend a little more time embracing and bringing to life the values that made all of this possible."
His hope for the future of the Class of 1998, Brokaw told the seniors, is that in another 50 years, a Class Day speaker will be able to say of its members: "They were the children of privilege in their education and in their opportunities. They inherited a world of rising prosperity and expanding freedoms and they did not take any of them for granted. They dedicated their life not just to their personal well-being but to the twin concepts of duty to fellow man and honor to the fundamental values that we all cherish."
In keeping with the Class Day tradition of high-spiritedness, Brokaw peppered his serious message to the Class of 1998 with jokes that drew loud laughter from the seniors. As the audience booed in jest at his mention of speaking at Harvard's Class Day ceremony two years ago, Brokaw responded: "I know, I know, there are significant differences, of course. At Harvard I did have to speak more slowly and use shorter words."
He also commented on an observation, made by Yale School of Drama alumnus Meryl Streep, that "the real world is not college, but high school." Joked Brokaw: "Well, allowing for devolution since her remarks, the real world now more closely resembles, on many occasions, junior high. How else do we explain Jerry Springer and his great popularity?"
"Traditional" headgear. Class Day officially began with a procession of the seniors onto the Old Campus as parents and family members rose from their seats in the hopes of catching a glimpse of their graduating relative. Guests in the audience laughed and pointed at the assortment of headgear that some students donned as part of the Class Day tradition. These included a model peacock with real plummage, cardboard replicas of Harkness Tower, jester hats, sombreros, Beanie Babies and even a video camera taped to baseball caps, and a stuffed "Big Bird" from Sesame Street.
Rebecca Friedman, secretary of the senior class, welcomed her classmates by reminding them how much the phrase "Class of 1998" has come to be a symbol for the graduating seniors of the bonds that grew between them. "Upon entering Yale we were the Class of '98 in name only," she said. "Since that time, particularly this time, the '98 has taken on a much greater meaning. ... Our '98 gives each of us a place, something to distinguish us from the hundreds of classes that came before and the hundreds that will follow. ... The collective sights, sounds and people that we know as Yale are our own."
Seventeen students were honored for scholastic, personal or athletic achievements during the Class Day ceremonies. In addition, six faculty members were honored with teaching prizes.
More Class Day traditions. Following another Class Day custom, seniors Kavita Mariwalla and Jonathan Weinbach presented a half-serious, half tongue-in-cheek history of the Class of 1998. They used as their theme the sounds of their undergraduate years, which they recounted by playing a tape of an excerpt from the address Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead made when they were freshmen, and by playing snippets of popular songs during their four years on campus. As the music played, many of the seniors clapped, rocked to the beat or sang the lyrics, sharing in the listening one final time together as a large group. Some of the events recounted by Mariwalla and Weinbach in the class history included Yale's 32-13 win over Harvard in football during their freshman year; the "Blizzard of '96" during their sophomore year; Chelsea Clinton's visit and application to Yale during their junior year; and the victories of Yale's hockey team in the senior year, including its run to the NCAA tournament. They also recalled newsworthy events outside of Yale, such as the not-guilty verdict in the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson, Yitzak Rabin's assassination in Tel Aviv, the Summer Olympics in 1996 and the arrest of "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in a Montana shack.
The Ivy Ode, which is traditionally read in an "esoteric" language, was presented in Gaelic by James O'Connor in recognition of the historic peace accord in Northern Ireland. The ode was then translated into English by its author, Alexandra Robbins. Traditionally, the Ivy Ode describes the connection between the growth of the ivy vine and the flourishing of the graduating class. Part of this year's symbolic ode reads:
"And so the ivy stands, uncertain still,
yet plainly taller, stronger than before
and so we bend to plant new ivy feet
in shifting soil hardened by the years.
Throughout the climb from ground to sky, we know--
as prior vines left shadows on the wall--
that when those old blue leaves turn ivy green,
with ripened minds, we'll take our leave of you,
our constant friend, we'll take our leave of you."
As the ode was read, Class Day cochairs Preston Hopson III and Jennifer Sikes planted the ivy in honor of their class and dedicated a stone in Miller Gate which is engraved with the numerals for the Class of 1998. The planting of the ivy follows a tradition dating back to 1852.
"Bright College Years." As is custom, the Senior Class Day ceremony concluded with the singing of the alma mater, "Bright College Years," and the waving of white handkerchiefs in the air during the last line of the song, "For God, for Country, and for Yale!" As their arms and heads swayed in unison, family members and friends captured the scene with their cameras, helping to create mementos of the occasion for themselves and the soon-to-be graduates. At the song's conclusion, smiling seniors laughed together or looked anxiously for their guests, most still clutching their Class Day programs as yet another memento of their celebratory day. As they filed out of the Old Campus, then nearly in full shadow as the sun retreated lower in the sky, one student paused to read in the program a stanza from Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses," which for many seniors captures the feeling of their bittersweet farewell from Yale, and may someday serve as an even greater reminder of the time they shared together on campus:
"Though much is taken, much abides,
and though we are not now that strength which in old days
moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are:
one equal temper of heroic hearts
made weak by time and fate but strong in will
to strive, to seek, to find but not to yield."
-- By Susan Gonzalez
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