A Model of Perseverance
	Terry Anderson, the former chief Middle East corre-spondent for the Associated Press who was held hostage in Lebanon for nearly seven years, will be the main speaker at Ithaca College's 103rd Commencement on Sunday, May 17. In addition to teaching journalism, Anderson is currently chairman of the Vietnam Children's fund, which builds elementary schools in Vietnam, and vice chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which monitors attacks on journalists worldwide. "For many people, Terry Anderson symbolizes perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity," said Ithaca College president Peggy R. Williams. "His lack of bitterness toward his captors, as well as his continuing commitment to serving and teaching others, makes a strong statement that I'm sure our graduating seniors will take to heart." On March 16, 1985, Anderson was snatched at gunpoint from the streets of Beirut while reporting on the civil war in Lebanon. Joining six Americans and Britons who had been taken hostage by radical Shiite Muslims in a yearlong kidnapping spree, he was often kept chained and blindfolded, sometimes beaten, and even subjected to a mock execution. Relying on his own wit and toughness, Anderson grew to understand and manipulate his captors, as well as assist his fellow hostages. He was finally released on December 4, 1991. "It gives me great pleasure to announce to my fellow graduates that Terry Anderson has agreed to speak at our Commencement," said senior class president Eric Schnabolk. "He endured cruelties that few of us can imagine and has demonstrated to the world the remarkable potential of the human spirit to triumph over any hardship. In sharing his story, he can help put into perspective the uncertain future we face after graduation." An associate professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism since 1996, Anderson recently accepted an appointment as a Scripps Howard Visiting Professional at the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. While no longer an active journalist, he has written a weekly syndicated newspaper column and hosted a radio talk show. Anderson and his wife, Madeleine Bassil, are coauthors of the national bestseller Den of Lions, the story of his years of confinement. In 1996 he traveled to Lebanon for the first time since his release to make Return to the Den of Lions, a documentary for CNN about Lebanon today. A native of Lorain, Ohio, Anderson grew up in Batavia, New York, and graduated from Iowa State University. He joined the Associated Press in 1974 after serving for six years in the Marines, covering the Far East and southern Africa for the AP before being assigned to the Beirut bureau in 1982. He became the longest held of 92 foreigners abducted during Lebanon's civil war: most were freed, 11 died or were believed killed in captivity.