Approximately 20,000 students, parents and friends attended the 130th Commencement ceremony at Boston University Sunday, which included a speech by columnist George Will and the awarding of seven honorary degrees.
The event began at 11 a.m. and ran until just after 1 p.m., beginning with the procession of 5,818 graduating students onto Nickerson Field.
After a call to order by Board of Trustees Chairman Christopher Barreca and an invocation by BU chaplain Rev. Paul Helfrich, John Degory, now a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, addressed his fellow graduates. Degory related the experience of college to an Italian dinner and said the experience of arriving at BU four years ago was like the antipasti, in that it is a “little taste of what’s to come.”
“This has been an expensive meal, but it has been the best tasting nourishment I could have asked for,” Degory said.
Degory was selected from some of the top academic achievers at the university and submitted essays before being selected to speak.
After Degory’s speech, the winners of the Metcalf Cup and awards for excellence in teaching were bestowed upon three winners. Patricia Johnson, an assistant professor in the Classical Studies department, was awarded the Metcalf Cup and a prize of $10,000. Chancellor John Silber said Johnson was a professor who loves her students and the material she teaches them.
“Professor Johnson’s teaching assignments are daunting,” Silber said. “She teaches two ancient languages, literature in many genres, 2,000 years of history and varieties of religions and mythologies.”
Robert Devaney and Ann Howard Jones both received Metcalf Awards, which are accompanied by a $5,000 prize.
BU then awarded honorary degrees to seven candidates, including former President Emeritus Jon Westling, who received a standing ovation from faculty and students. Silber, in his account of Westling’s life, announced that Westling would be returning to the classroom in the fall after spending a year away from the university.
Silber discussed Westling’s brief time in jail after disobeying a law he felt was unjust in the early 1960s, and said the former president was “a connoisseur of not only scholarship, but also of classic motorcycles.”
Silber also announced that a position of chair in medieval studies, which the Board of Trustees financed, would be created in honor of Westling, who will be the first to fill the new role.
Gerald Tsai Jr., a major contributor, alumnus, Trustee and associate founder of the university, was also awarded an honorary degree.
Tsai donated funds to BU so the school could renovate what is now known as the Tsai Performance Center and has also donated money to the new fitness center at the John Hancock Student Village.
Silber called Tsai an “exemplar of the American way, financial innovator [and] faithful son of alma mater.”
Another honorary degree went to Wall Street Journal publisher Karen Elliott House, who also spoke at yesterday’s Baccalaureate ceremony. Silber said he was “deeply honored that [she is] a trustee of Boston University.”
The other honorary degree recipients included composer Lukas Foss, pianist Van Cliburn and Nasser David Khalili, a scholar and art collector.
Will, a columnist for The Washington Post, delivered the commencement speech and focused on race relations in America’s past and present. Will’s speech made numerous references to baseball, of which he is considered an expert.
The ceremony closed with the presentation of candidates for degrees, in which each college stood up as they were called. Each individual college and some majors had separate convocations at other locations throughout the day.
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