Bryan Stevenson – News

‘Get proximate to people who are suffering,’ Bryan Stevenson tells �ֲ��ý Commencement audience

Doug Hubley — Sun, 27 May 2018 18:45:25 +0000

At the start of his undergraduate career, Bryan Stevenson loved college. In fact, he would say it to people all the time. “I was a very uncool college student,” he told a �ֲ��ý audience on May 27.

But as a senior, he looked at different choices for graduate study and wondered if he’d find one that he could love and one that would align with his concerns about advancing social justice. Stevenson got his answer at Harvard Law.

Rakiya Mohamed '18 of Auburn, Maine, hugs her brother Mohamed Mohamed, who just graduated from UMaine-Augusta, after graduation on May 27, 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

Adedire Fakorede '18 of Newark, N.J., listens to President Clayton Spencer during Commencement. (Theophyl Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

Piper Tom Ryan has a commanding view of the Quad and the processional during Commencement on May 27, 2018. (Theophyl Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

Brooke Drabkin of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., celebrates her �ֲ��ý Commencement on May 27, 2018.

Lindsey Beauregard of Hollis, N.H., listens to President Clayton Spencer speak while �ֲ��ý celebrates its 152nd Commencement on May 27, 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

In the context of a course, he spent a month working with death-row inmates. “I got proximate” to the prisoners, he said. “In proximity to the condemned, everything changed for me. I found a calling.” And that experience set Stevenson, now a nationally esteemed human rights lawyer, on the path he still follows.

Offering an address that was a riveting mixture of reminiscence, humor, and urgent exhortation, Stevenson was the featured speaker and one of four honorary degree recipients at �ֲ��ý’ 152nd Commencement. He spoke to 473 graduating seniors, their loved ones, faculty, and staff on a cool gray morning under the trees of the Historic Quad.

�ֲ��ý granted degrees to 473 members of the Class of 2018 during Commencement on May 27. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

Also receiving honoraries were:

Lynsey Addario, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist;
Jill Lepore, historian, professor, and New Yorker staff writer;
and Bob Ludwig, whose expertise in the field of audio mastering has made him a music industry legend.

There may be no shortage of “change the world” messaging at college graduations, but Stevenson and Senior Speaker Rakiya Mohamed of Auburn, Maine, tackled the concept in ways that were disparate but equally convincing and appealingly personal. Stevenson offered four steps to making the world a better place, of which “getting proximate” was the first.

Video playlist of the �ֲ��ý College Commencement on May 27, 2018:

Meanwhile, Mohamed, a double major in biological chemistry and African American studies, recounted how, at �ֲ��ý, a first-year slump led her to really understand Gandhi’s well-known maxim, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” in a new way.

She told her fellow seniors that she set her sights on �ֲ��ý early on. She was inspired by the students (including her mother) studying in Ladd Library, and by her Big Brothers Big Sisters mentor, who was a �ֲ��ý student.

“I never thought of �ֲ��ý College as just any ordinary school,” she said. “As a child, to me, it was a magical place where only the best of the best went.”

Lindsey Beauregard ’18 of Hollis, N.H., listens during Commencement on May 27, 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

And it was the place, she believed, where she’d become a “certified world changer.” So it was — but not as easily as she thought.

It was only after a bad grade, serious thoughts about quitting college, and some helpful mentoring from Assistant Dean of Students Jessica Perez that Mohamed really grasped Gandhi’s meaning. “If I was going to make a change in this world, I needed to make a change in my world,” she told her fellow graduates. “Before I could be the change, I had to change myself.”

“This is what �ֲ��ý, and more important, the people in it, have instilled in us during our four years” — people like faculty, friends, teammates, like-minded peers in student organizations, and �ֲ��ý’ “small but strong community of black people.”

“We have taken it upon ourselves to make sure we change one another for the better. For that I am immensely proud to be a part of this class.”

Rakiya Mohamed ’18 of Auburn, Maine, delivers the Senior Address during Commencement at �ֲ��ý College on May 27, 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which has, among other achievements, won freedom or reduced sentences for more than 125 wrongly condemned death row prisoners.

His �ֲ��ý appearance came about a month after he opened two institutions in Alabama that are dedicated to keeping alive the truth about the history of racial injustice in the U.S.: the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a monument to the victims of lynchings; and the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.

Before Stevenson presented his prescription for bettering the world, he offered a few numbers clarifying what needs fixing, at least in the criminal justice system. He noted that 2.3 million people are in American jails and prisons — up from 300,000 in 1972 — making ours the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

One of four honorary degree recipients at �ֲ��ý’ 152nd Commencement, human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson delivers the keynote address to the Class of 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

The percentage of women in prison has increased 646 percent in last 25 years, and 70 percent of those women are single mothers with minor children, with all that implies for family stability and child-raising.

“The statistic that keeps me up latest at night,” he said, comes from the U.S. Justice Department, which “predicts that in the United States, one in three black male babies born in this country is expected to go to jail or prison during his lifetime.”

None of Stevenson’s four steps toward bettering our world sounds easy, but their necessity was obvious. “Wherever you do, find ways to get proximate to people who are suffering,” he began.

The Commencement Choir, conducted by Lecturer in Music John Corrie, sings “Who Is Wise” during Commencement on May 27, 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

“When you get proximate to the excluded and the disfavored, you learn things that you need to understand if we’re going to change the world,” he told the �ֲ��ý seniors. “Our understanding of how we change things comes in proximity to inequality, to injustice.”

“Proximity will empower you,” he said — noting that it was a lesson he learned in part from a grandmother whose fiercely loving hugs help keep her memory alive in him.

Step Two is to change prevailing narratives intended to justify and perpetuate injustice. A fundamental one is the narrative of racial inequality that accompanied the genocide of Native Americans during colonization, that excused slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath, and that persists today.

Lynsey Addario listens to the citation for her honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during Commencement at �ֲ��ý College on May 27, 2018. Behind her is mace bearer Michael Murray, Phillips Professor of Economics. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

“I don’t think we’re free in America. I think we’re burdened by our history of racial inquality,” he said. “It’s in the air in Maine, just like it’s in the air in Mississippi. It doesn’t matter where you go, there is this contaminant that we’re all breathing in.”

“I don’t think the great evil of American slavery was involuntary servitude and forced labor,” Stevenson said. “I really believe that the real evil of American slavery…was this narrative of racial difference, this ideology that we created that black people aren’t like white people.”

“In our new world, we’ve got to make it so that no black or brown person is ever presumed dangerous or guilty because of their color,” he said. “We’ve got to break all of the ceilings that will limit some of you graduates from achieving your dreams.”

Elliot Chun ’18 of Bedford, N.H., receives his diploma during Commencement at �ֲ��ý College on May 27, 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

Next, Stevenson urged, stay hopeful. “Your hope is your superpower. Hope is what will get you to stand up sometimes when other people say, ‘Sit down.’ Hope is what will get you to speak when other people say, ‘Be quiet.’”

“I believe that hopelessness is the enemy of justice, and injustice prevails where hopelessness persists,” he said.

The fourth and final step in Stevenson’s formulary was that “to change the world, you’re going to have to be willing to do things that are inconvenient and uncomfortable. You cannot change the world if you insist on only doing what’s comfortable and convenient.”

Bryan Stevenson (center) accepts his honorary degree from President Clayton Spencer during Commencement at �ֲ��ý College on May 27, 2018. At left is mace bearer Michael Murray, Phillips Professor of Economics. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

Which isn’t to say comfort has no place at all in the good fight. In one of a number of stories that leavened his talk, Stevenson recounted arriving in a Mississippi town where he was going to speak. He was greeted by event sponsors who had inferred from his rigorous approach to justice work that he wouldn’t want to be coddled by staying in “the luxurious Double Tree Inn.”

“I said, ‘What is wrong with you? Of course I want to stay in the luxurious Double Tree Inn,’” he replied. “I like those chocolate chip cookies just like everybody else.”

The many emotions of a �ֲ��ý Commencement are seen on May 27, 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

If we’re going to effect meaningful change, Stevenson concluded, it can’t be measured “just by looking at how well we treat privileged people and powerful people and celebrated people. Our true test, our true reflection is going to be measured by how we treat poor people, excluded people, marginalized people, disfavored people.”

Jill Lepore receives an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during Commencement at �ֲ��ý College on May 27, 2018. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

In her welcome, �ֲ��ý President Clayton Spencer presented a few facts about the graduates-to-be. The 473 seniors, she pointed out, represent 39 states, plus the U.S. territories and District of Columbia, and 42 other countries.

One in nine was the first in their family to graduate from college. Two-thirds of the class studied abroad, 20 percent are double majors, and 41 individuals received departmental honors for a yearlong thesis. And 13 — plus two recent alumni — received 2018 Fulbright fellowships.

Bob Ludwig receives an honorary Doctor of Music degree during Commencement at �ֲ��ý College on May 27, 2018, as mace bearer Michael Murray prepares to present Ludwig’s honorary hood. (Theophil Syslo)

Senior Gift Committee chairs Pratap Khadka and Ainsley Jamieson reported that the committee raised $6,450 dollars from 398 members of the Class of 2018 — reaching the goal of 84 percent participation.

Just before the Atlantic Clarion Steel Band sent the new graduates and their loved ones dancing away toward a campus picnic and their next chapters of life, Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf offered a few words of blessing:

“Remember that you are capable of incredible feats,
You are strong and courageous,
You are a piece of something expansive and transcendent.”

Adedire Fakorede ’18 of Newark, N.J., listens to President Clayton Spencer during Commencement on May 27, 2018. (Theophyl Syslo/�ֲ��ý College)

Video: 2018 �ֲ��ý Commencement

Jay Burns — Sun, 27 May 2018 18:09:17 +0000

The playlist of �ֲ��ý Commencement on May 27, 2018, features the processional; awarding of honorary degrees to Lynsey Addario, Jill Lepore, and Bob Ludwig; and the conferral of degrees to the 473 graduates.

Human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson to deliver 2018 Commencement address, joined by honorands Lynsey Addario, Jill Lepore, and Bob Ludwig

�ֲ��ý News — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:00:34 +0000

Acclaimed human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson, whose work has freed wrongfully convicted death-row prisoners, reduced excessive sentences given to others, and brought greater equality to the U.S. criminal justice system, will deliver the �ֲ��ý College Commencement address and receive an honorary degree on Sunday, May 27.

For its 152nd Commencement, �ֲ��ý welcomes Stevenson, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and three other honorary degree recipients:

Lynsey Addario, a Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist who has documented the human impact of war and conflict around the world, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Jill Lepore, an intellectual and political historian, Harvard professor, and New Yorker staff writer who reveals the present through insightful explorations of the past, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Bob Ludwig, a multiple Grammy Award–winning mastering engineer and music industry legend based in Portland, Maine, will receive a Doctor of Music degree.

“These four inspiring individuals live and work with integrity, commitment, and purpose, and each in his or her own way has opened new worlds to others. We are thrilled to welcome this brilliant class of honorands to �ֲ��ý,” said President Clayton Spencer.

“It will be our particular privilege to welcome Bryan Stevenson as keynote speaker,” Spencer added. “In his fight against wrongful incarceration, he has essentially created a new body of law — and forced a necessary reckoning with institutionalized racism and injustice.”

Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson, who has fought against racial and economic inequities in the U.S. criminal justice system for more than three decades, will deliver the �ֲ��ý Commencement address on May 27. (Photograph by Michael Collopy)

Bryan Stevenson has for more than three decades. As founder and executive director of the in Montgomery, Ala., Stevenson has dedicated his life to exonerating innocent death-row inmates, reducing excessive sentences given to others, and challenging the convictions of individuals unjustly prosecuted as adult offenders, including children and the mentally ill.

Operating on the principle that “each person is more than the worst thing they have ever done,” Stevenson and the EJI have reversed more than 100 death sentences. Stevenson chronicled this work in Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, named one of the best books of 2014 by , The Washington Post, and Esquire, among other publications, and selected this past summer as the Common Read for the �ֲ��ý Class of 2021. In 2012, Stevenson successfully argued before the Supreme Court that mandatory life sentences, without the chance of parole, for crimes committed by juvenile offenders were unconstitutional, even for crimes of murder.

A graduate of the Harvard Law School and Kennedy School of Government, Stevenson serves as a professor of clinical law at New York University Law School. He takes no salary from the EJI, and donated the award from his 1995 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” to the organization. Stevenson’s other honors include the ACLU National Medal of Liberty and the SALT Human Rights Award. On April 26 in Montgomery, the EJI will open the nation’s first memorial dedicated to lynching victims, , and a companion museum, , devoted to dramatizing the enslavement of African Americans, racial terror lynchings, legalized racial segregation, and racial hierarchy in America.

Lynsey Addario

Lynsey Addario, a Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist who has documented the human impact of war and conflict around the world, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Photojournalist has witnessed, documented, and shared the human stories of the major conflicts and humanitarian crises of our time, traveling to Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, South Sudan, Somalia, and Congo. She has been kidnapped twice while on assignment, including being held for six days in Libya in 2011.

Admired for her intimate, empathetic studies of humanitarian issues, especially involving children and women, Addario was one of the New York Times journalists whose series in 2009. She was also part of a team nominated for a 2016 Emmy for a New York Times Magazine series that followed children displaced by war in Syria, Ukraine, and South Sudan. In 2010, Addario received a MacArthur “genius grant,” and in 2015, American Photo Magazine named her one of the five most influential photographers of the past 25 years.

Addario’s best-selling memoir, It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War, was as a book “about the difficult, and often unattainable, balance that most photographers struggle with in their professional and personal lives.”

Jill Lepore

Jill Lepore, an intellectual and political historian, Harvard professor, and New Yorker staff writer, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. (Photograph by Dari Michele)

Distinguished is a masterful guide through American history, culture, and identity, telling captivating stories about the past that resonate powerfully with the present. Author of nine nonfiction books, Lepore is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University.

Lepore’s award-winning books include The Name of War, about King Philip’s War and the emergence of American identity; Book of Ages, about Jane Franklin, sister of Ben Franklin; and The Secret History of Wonder Woman, a best-seller that has been called a “tour de force of intellectual and cultural history.”

Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014, Lepore is widely respected for her ability to articulate broad truths about American life and culture by and personal stories of her subjects. Her recent have fixed on such topics as free speech on college campuses, the legacy of Rachel Carson, and the rise of dystopian literature. Her forthcoming book is titled These Truths: A History of the United States.

Bob Ludwig

Bob Ludwig, a multiple Grammy Award–winning mastering engineer and music industry legend based in Portland, Maine, will receive a Doctor of Music degree.

Millions have been touched by the work of Bob Ludwig — though they probably don’t know it. A , he is one of the world’s most in-demand mastering engineers, an artist-technician who applies the final sonic polish to a recording before its release.

Boasting 11 Grammys, two Latin Grammys, and , Ludwig founded in Portland in 1992. Along with major names in classical and jazz, he has worked on musical recordings from an A-to-Z list of rock and pop icons: Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, U2, Jimi Hendrix, Dire Straits, Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, Mumford & Sons, Beck, Pearl Jam, and many more. His artistry is rooted in a profound musicality and an encyclopedic grasp of acoustic science and recording technology.

Ludwig earned degrees at the Eastman School of Music and was assistant to recording legend Phil Ramone, taking part in sessions with Frank Sinatra, the Band, and Neil Diamond, among others. Ludwig worked at the mastering studios Sterling Sound and Masterdisk before founding Gateway and making Portland a record-industry destination that treats residents to glimpses of visiting clients like Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton. Ludwig’s industry honors include the inaugural Les Paul Award, in 1991, recognizing excellence in the creative application of recording technology.