June 7, 1999 Volume 21, No. 16

Maya Angelou Exhorts Graduates to Have Courage Demonstrating the depth and breadth of her talents, Maya Angelou graced Ithaca College’s 104th Commencement with an address that included Creole cadences, a French song, a selection from her poetry, and a rousing call for the new graduates to be composers of a climate where all people can live without fear. "Each of us has the possibility of being a composer, to compose the climate in which one lives," Angelou told the 1,425 new graduates and their special guests. "To indeed compose the neighborhood, to compose the melody of life, to compose the richness of it. To decide, ‘I will have a climate in which all men and women must be treated equal. I will compose that.’ " Angelou, a leading playwright, author, poet, Broadway performer, film director, and civil rights leader, has an intimate knowledge of the creative process. It starts, she said, with developing compassion and respect for others and having the courage to act on those feelings. "I don’t know about you," Angelou said, "but I will not stay in any company and hear racial pejoratives, nor sexual pejoratives, . . . nor age pejoratives. I will not. Now I encourage you to develop a little courage, and just a little courage will help you develop more courage so that you can compose more and more." Courage is the vital virtue, Angelou stressed, because it’s the foundation of all the others. "Without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently," she said. "You can’t be consistently fair, consistently kind, consistently generous or merciful, and certainly not consistently loving without courage. I would encourage you to try first just to compose the atmosphere in which you live so that people would be hesitant to revile and reduce other people to nothing in your presence." Angelou began her address by singing a medley from Creole, French, Hebrew, and Negro traditions and ended with a reading of one of her poems, "A Brave and Startling Truth." The greatest wonder of the world, the poem suggests, isn’t natural grandeur or human works but the human ability to forge "A climate where every man and every woman/Can live freely without sanctimonious piety/And without crippling fear." Angelou had touched on these same sentiments earlier in the day when she met with a group of students and teachers from the Frederick Douglass Academy, with which Ithaca College has formed a partnership (see box below). The ceremony, which began with chairman of the board of trustees Herman E. Muller Jr. welcoming the new graduates into the fold of Ithaca alumni, was also a time to honor faculty members. Three were recognized for earning awards for excellence (see story, page 2), while Barbara DeWall, a retiring associate professor of therapeutic recreation and leisure services, was acknowledged for her many years of service to education. In addition, Howard Gardner, professor of cognition and education in the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences — that individuals have at least seven intellectual capacities they employ to approach problems — has become the framework for many successful strategies to enhance student success. In 1996 he was the keynote speaker for a conference on musical intelligence hosted by the Ithaca College School of Music. In accepting his degree, Gardner reminded the assembly that computers and developments in genetics are forcing us to redefine what it is to think and be human. "This is a very exciting time in which to grow up and live," Gardner said, "but at the same time I think we should pause and try to make sure that, despite these changes in human nature, we preserve what is best about human beings." Dominic Cottone, president of the senior class, agreed. After college president Peggy R. Williams was presented with the class gift of $8,285, Cottone thanked his fellow seniors for setting a donor participation record. He appealed to his classmates to never lose hope or vision and to keep searching for the truth in themselves and others, and he reminded them that "the fact that you could wake up one morning and totally change someone else’s life just by being yourself is something to be proud of." Cottone’s sentiment reflected the inscription on the commemorative medallions the graduates received earlier: "If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities." Those words, written by Angelou in her 1981 autobiography The Heart of a Woman, inspired President Williams’s closing remarks. "Many of the great social transformations have been born in the hearts of individual persons," Williams said. "But never forget that even more important than the great social transformations are the small acts of personal commitment that, in the end, can have a tremendous impact. For example, if you plan to be a teacher and can impress upon a mere 100 students to excel in school and they do the same for 100 of their students and they for 100 of theirs, then your students’ students will transform the lives of a million souls." This ripple effect, Williams added, can occur not just in teaching but in medicine, law, research, the arts, and any other career this year’s graduates may choose. "As you leave Ithaca," Williams said, "know that you each have the potential to transform one million realities through your actions and deeds. Never stop dreaming and fantasizing about how your knowledge, your continuing ability to grow and learn, and your sense of social responsibility can make your community a better place for all."