College Celebrates Eighty-Third Commencement

Commencement 2007 marked a major milestone for Queens College’s many new graduates—and for Queens College.

“This year’s Commencement marked the kickoff of our 70th anniversary celebration,” noted Alumni Affairs Director Nancy Rudolph, who coordinated a number of efforts to help mark the occasion. This included having two alums—one male, one female—from each of QC’s preceding six decades appear at the ceremony wearing red sashes emblazoned with the decade of their attendance as they marched in right behind the Jubilee Class. Following the ceremony, they attended the president’s VIP brunch, where they were presented with a certificate thanking them for their participation in this kickoff event.

The May 31 ceremony, which was webcast live over the Internet, began at 9 am on the Quad in sultry summer-like weather amid the familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” played by the Aaron Copland School of Music Wind Ensemble. It was the main event in a day filled with divisional and departmental events, as well as receptions and parties.

With the recent Don Imus debacle raising the issue of what is considered permissible speech in a free society, this year’s Commencement speaker, best-selling author and QC alum Susan Isaacs ’65, addressed the issue of freedom of expression. While disparaging Imus’s reportedly racist comments, she, nevertheless, defended his right to make them. “You don’t have to like it. You just have to tolerate it,” she said.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney also spoke at the event, as did Senator Chuck Schumer, who offered what has become his perennial anecdote to graduating QC students about how as a college student he gave up an opportunity to study abroad in favor of a romantic pursuit that ultimately fizzled.