{"id":1262,"date":"2009-05-09T15:36:01","date_gmt":"2009-05-09T20:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/?p=1262"},"modified":"2014-09-23T08:36:14","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T13:36:14","slug":"grad09recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/grad09recap\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsman Bob Schieffer Challenges Graduates to Remain Committed to ‘America’s Strength’"},"content":{"rendered":"

UM marks 156th commencement, last for Chancellor Khayat
\n<\/h3>\n
\n\"grad?crowd01.jpg\"<\/p>\n
\nThe 156th commencement ceremony at the University of Mississippi was moved to Tad Smith Coliseum because of heavy rains in the area Saturday morning.<\/b> UM photo by Nathan Latil.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

OXFORD,
\nMiss. – The University of Mississippi’s place in history is not defined
\nby the events of fall 1962, but by the progress that has been made in
\nthe decades since, veteran CBS newsman Bob Schieffer told graduates
\nSaturday morning in Tad Smith Coliseum.<\/p>\n

Schieffer, who first
\ncame to Oxford on Sept. 30, 1962, to cover the admission of James
\nMeredith as the university’s first black student, returned to speak at
\nthe school’s 156th commencement. He recounted how he got “roughed up”
\nduring the riot and watched the next day as federal marshals escorted
\nMeredith to the Lyceum.<\/p>\n

The event is regarded as a turning point
\nin the civil rights movement, but the memorable part is how the UM
\nfamily responded, he said.<\/p>\n

“They went to work the next week,
\ndetermined as the years would go by to see that it would not be that
\nnight, but the years after that this university would be remembered
\nfor,” said Schieffer, who visited campus last fall to cover the year’s
\nfirst presidential debate.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\"RKJ?1198-D.jpg\"<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0Chancellor Robert Khayat listens as CBS News correspondent Bob Schieffer delivers the university’s commencement address during ceremonies Saturday morning in Tad Smith Coliseum. <\/b>UM photo by Robert Jordan.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“So it wasn’t that night that was better remembered; it is what has happened since that is remembered, and it is remembered all over America. We came to really understand that, Mr. Chancellor, when that debate was held. People began to understand what had happened here at the University of Mississippi, and it is a proud moment for all of us.”<\/p>\n

For the first time in nearly a decade, the university’s main commencement ceremony was moved from the Grove to the coliseum because of heavy rains in the area.<\/p>\n

“Good morning and welcome to the Grove,” Chancellor Robert Khayat joked to open the ceremony. “We thank all of you for being flexible.”<\/p>\n

This year’s graduating class included 2,229 candidates for degrees. More than 7,000 graduates, family members and university faculty filled the coliseum to hear the speeches, minus some of the usual academic pageantry.<\/p>\n

This was the last commencement ceremony for Khayat, who retires June 30. During the ceremony, senior class President Barrett Glenn Beard praised Khayat for his leadership and dedication to students, calling him “the greatest chancellor ever at the University of Mississippi.”<\/p>\n

Following the general ceremony, the College of Liberal Arts and seven schools held separate ceremonies across campus to present baccalaureate, master’s, doctor of pharmacy and law diplomas. Ceremonies for the schools of education, engineering and law, originally planned for the Grove and Circle, also were moved indoors. Recipients of doctor of philosophy degrees were honored at a hooding ceremony Friday evening in the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n

Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and host of the network’s “Face the Nation,” is a native of Austin, Texas. As a rookie reporter for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth, he covered Meredith’s admission to UM. Moving on to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he became the first reporter from a Texas newspaper to report from Vietnam. He moved to television as news anchor at WBAP-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth and later joined CBS News.<\/p>\n

He is one of the few broadcast or print journalists to have covered all four major beats in the nation’s capital: the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

\n\"SKB?1038-AApr.jpg\"<\/p>\n
\nCBS News correspondent Bob Schieffer delivers the commencement address as Chancellor Robert Khayat and others look on Saturday morning in Tad Smith Coliseum.<\/b> UM photo by Kevin Bain.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Schieffer waived the usual honorarium for his commencement address, but Khayat announced that Ole Miss will send a gift in the newsman’s name to the Schieffer School of Journalism at his alma mater, Texas Christian University.<\/p>\n

Last year’s presidential debate at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts was “perfect in every way,” he said.<\/p>\n

“As I watched that debate unfold, I thought that night back to that evening in 1962, and it made me understand that we may still have a long way to go in this country, but in less than my lifetime, we have come a very long way, and I will tell you today from the bottom of my heart, that moment made me proud to be an American,” he said.<\/p>\n

The university’s progress toward racial equality is reflected in the country as a whole, he said.<\/p>\n

“America came through those days, not a weaker nation but a stronger nation and a better nation. America leads best, America is strongest when we lead by example and we practice what we preach.<\/p>\n

“The core of America’s strength will never be our weapons. The core of America’s strength is our values, the values that my parents worked hard to pass on to me, the values that the parents of the graduates here today worked hard to pass on to them.”<\/p>\n

Charging graduates to remember the lessons of the past five decades and to pass them on to future generations, Schieffer expressed optimism that they are up to the task.<\/p>\n

“The lessons that were learned in those years and what has been accomplished here are not permanent,” he said. “Yes, the circle did begin to close, and one of the great wrongs did begin to be corrected, but the circle never closes completely. No lesson learned, however hard, is learned forever. The historian Will Durant once said that ‘Civilization is not imperishable. It must be relearned by every generation.'”<\/p>\n

During the ceremony, John Neff, associate professor of history, was honored as recipient of the 2009 Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award, presented annually to the campuswide outstanding teacher.<\/p>\n

Larry Walker, professor of pharmacology and director of the National Center for Natural Products Research, was named recipient of the university’s second Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award.<\/p>\n

The university also recognized the winners of this year’s Frist Student Service Awards: Ellen Meacham, career coordinator and instructor of journalism, and Michael Johansson, director of International Programs.<\/p>\n

Video of the ceremony, including Schieffer’s full speech, is being rebroadcast on the university’s Web site. View the video here.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UM marks 156th commencement, last for Chancellor Khayat The 156th commencement ceremony at the University of Mississippi was moved to Tad Smith Coliseum because of heavy rains in the area Saturday morning. UM photo by Nathan Latil. 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