
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 3, 1993                   TAG: 9305030102
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SCHOOLS HOLD GRADUATIONS

An American Indian chief told graduates at Eastern Mennonite College on Sunday to spread the traditions of service and peacemaking throughout the world.

Lawrence Hart, a Cheyenne peace chief, told the Harrisonburg school's 245 graduates that last year marked the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America and the Europeans' subsequent oppression of its native inhabitants.

"The purpose of my being here today is to look to the future," said Hart, of Clinton, Okla. "Let's work toward a new chapter of coexistence - a creative symbiosis of various cultures and races."

Hart is a Mennonite pastor and director of community services for the Cheyenne Cultural Center in Clinton, which works primarily with Cheyenne youth.

In addition to Eastern Mennonite, Virginia Union and Ferrum College also held graduation ceremonies Sunday.

Ferrum had about 250 graduates, with Robert L. Albright, president of Johnson C. Smith University, speaking at the ceremony.

by CNB