Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990 TAG: 9006080111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By KEVIN KITTREDGE SHENANDOAH BUREAU
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
As threatening clouds rolled in, then slowly rolled out again, 382 seniors took diplomas and advice from W&L President John Wilson - the commencement speaker.
"You inherit an imperfect world, precious to be sure, but flawed. Keep your hopes up and your minds working," said Wilson, who also handed out the sheepskins. "We have faith in you and in the power of rational, caring people to restore sanity to our world."
The two-hour ceremony beneath the century-old sugar maples on the W&L lawn was interrupted only by cheers for some of the graduates and the occasional pop of a champagne cork. Unlike in 1989, which saw the graduation of the first women to enter the formerly all-male school as freshmen, the 1990 commencement was all but ignored by the media.
Some 3,000 friends and family members were on hand, sitting on the shady lawn or the steps of nearby buildings, as Wilson told the graduates to "go now and do well in the world."
"Repay your parents and your teachers in the only way you possibly can," Wilson said, "by living useful lives, and by helping your children and others, too, to start out well along the path of achievement and magnanimity."
Earlier, graduate Jonathan Sheinberg - vice president of the students' executive committee - had joked that the class of '90 might have picked a good year to leave.
After some early party years, said Sheinberg in his remarks to the crowd, "We have had grain [alcohol] banned, liquor banned, and today kegs are on the way out.
"Maybe we are getting out of here just in time," Sheinberg said to laughter.
Sheinberg also said W&L had helped prepare its graduates to wrestle with world problems such as AIDS, hunger and poverty.
"We have no choice but to accept these challenges, for if we do not, our children may not have a hell of a lot to inherit on this day in their lives," Sheinberg said.
The university also conferred four honorary degrees at its 205th commencement ceremony Thursday. Recipients were the Rev. James Fenhagen, president of The General Theological Seminary, New York, of the Episcopal Church; state Sen. Elmon Taylor Gray, D-Sussex; 1936 W&L graduate and former state Sen. Omer Lee Hirst; and U.S. District Judge Robert Merhige Jr.
Commencement activities began Wednesday with a baccalaureate service, also on W&L's front lawn. Fenhagen, a one-time W&L student, was the speaker for the service.
Thursday's activities began with a commissioning ceremony by W&L's Army ROTC unit in front of Tucker Hall.
by CNB