, Student Speaker
Newark College of Arts & Sciences and
University College
Welcome fellow peers and beloved family members. Greetings to distinguished administrators, faculty, staff, and yes, distinguished parents, guardians, grandparents, aunts and uncles. We owe all of you so much. At this time I would request that the class of 2009 please stand. Class of 2009, please give the people I mentioned applause so we may recognize their hand in getting us to this ceremony.
My fellow classmates, we have finally joined the ranks of the educated citizenry. We are a special breed.
Parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins: you should be incredibly proud of your hard work and support that you’ve given to your graduate. Many of you have struggled to bring your children here from your native lands to this great nation of opportunity and higher education, and if not you then those before you. In addition to being proud, we should all be grateful. Out of the 6.5 billion people that inhabit our planet only 306 million people live here in the United States of America. A small figure, indeed. Out of that 306 million, only 29% hold a degree in higher education. We have had the privilege of being educated in one of the greatest nations in the world -- a nation that promotes the exchange of free ideas, and sends legions of men and women into the world to break grounds with their innovations in science, politics, industry and beyond.
Many of you will become doctors, researchers, lawyers, engineer, and leaders in your fields. As you stand upon mountains and look below at green valleys, remember where you came from, as your duty is to never forget your family, your communities, and your university. Never forget the people in this room that gave you an extra hand, a shoulder to cry on, and an encouraging smile in a time of need. And never forget that we Rutgers- Newark graduates hail from a city that struggles with social ills that confront urban districts around the nation and the world.
I’m happy to announce that I will be attending law school in August, a farfetched dream of my grandparents, who were refugees from Uganda of Indian decent. As I look towards the future I’m confronted with a moral question. I am not sure if I plan to work in the private sector or the public sector. Many of you may be facing similar moral questions, and like me, wish to have a place in your life for public service. When pondering this question I came to realize, private sector or public sector, I can still commit to public service. My fellow classmates, we should all in one way or another use this diploma as a tool for social progress, and sticking with the theme of our times, the need to be agents of change.
It is imperative that we meet this calling of service and community oriented work. For if not us, then who? After all, there are only a fraction of us, out of 6 billion. You see we are all the leaders of the free world, not just our new commander-in-chief.
Politicians will continue to do their politics but we are the ones who will continue to build this country now and into the future. This is a beginning, not an end. We are not celebrating the end of our education here, but the beginning of our lives, and the hope of a better tomorrow. After all, we are all here for a better tomorrow.
Before we do all of these things and more, we must know what we were a part of, for the few years that we’ve spent at Rutgers-Newark. We belonged to an institution that cares.
Mr. Ramon Rodriguez will be graduating soon. His father passed away when he was a child and left him with two little brothers and his mother to care for. The Educational Opportunity Fund, better known as EOF, a program which I had the honor to come through, recognized his challenges and brought to him to our university. You see, Mr. Rodriguez put his little brothers through football, tutored them and kept them in high school, beating the statistics for young Latino men without fathers in the urban neighborhoods of our nation. He worked full-time as a waiter to support his family and most importantly he enrolled as a full time student here at Rutgers. In addition to all of this he gave back to us, by joining student organizations and leaving his legacy for future students to experience in organizations like the University College Student Government.
The University College, a college that is dear to my heart as I served as president of your class for two years, is full of working parents who go to work during the day, school during evening, and attend to their families at night. Roxanne Knights, former legislative vice president of the University College Student Government Association, is a single mother. She served with such dedication and vigor, challenging university policy, and challenging students like you and me to do better. Through all of this Roxanne and Ramon did not give up by saying “I’ve had a tough life.” Stories like theirs are common ground here. Trials and tribulations are not new to this community but common, and it is fortunate because these are the circumstances that mold the most elite of human beings.
It brings rise to compassion...
Brings strength to the human will, and
Illuminates our responsibilities as people.
There is one thing that I ask of you all before I close. And it’s not easy. As you climb that mountaintop you must be resilient against apathy, against ignorance and never be afraid to agitate with your actions.
To create change these things are necessary.
Mahatma Gandhi liberated hundreds of millions of Indians against an oppressive British Crown with non-violent resistance.
In Tiananmen Square, China, a single man, a student, stood in front of a row tanks, risking his life to protest oppression.
During the civil rights movements communities resisted against attack dogs, church bombings, water cannons, and at our own Rutgers-Newark, students just like us took over Conklin Hall by bravely chaining the doors and demanding equal access to this institution. These moments in history have changed our country and the world. The actions at Conklin Hall made it possible for many of us to proudly call ourselves Rutgers-Newark graduates.
Because of this movement we can claim to the most diverse university campus, but most importantly we can walk from this ceremony and the past few years we’ve spent at Rutgers with a unique understanding of tolerance. But the fight isn’t over, and it is not just based on race. It’s about truth, and our never-ending quest in its acquisition. So I ask you, be resilient against ignorance with your actions. With this you can commit to your own degree, a degree of justice for everyone.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my mother and father for guiding me and being such great parents. Also my little brother Jay and cousin Suja, my dear friends David, Viktor, and Alopi. Thank you to the good people on the first floor of Bradley Hall, EOF, who commit to social justice daily and have made me and so many others feel right at home since day one, and Dean Walton and Vice Chancellor Brown who have invested so much time in my development as a young man, and my brothers from Sigma Lambda Beta who have warmed my heart and expanded my horizons.
Thank you all for this honor, God bless all of you, and congratulations class of 2009.
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