Shannon Griffin ’16, a Chinese and psychology major from Philadelphia, gave this year’s Senior Address at Commencement and offered hopeful words about the value and power of a �ֲ���ý education:

Together we harness the power of questions; we ask questions that lead to creative problem solving, shift perspectives, create conversation, build leadership, establish empathy and catalyze action…. Thank you, �ֲ���ý for a wholesome education where we do not fear tomorrow or our greatness, but strive to delve into it with heartfelt participation.

�ֲ���ý’ far-reaching effect on the civil rights movement — Huffington Post

Civil rights icon John Lewis’ Commencement address was widely covered by the news media, with considerable focus on Lewis’ message and his deep appreciation for another civil rights icon, the late Benjamin Mays ’20.

The Huffington Post’s delivered a “stirring message about making change in the world by getting into trouble.“

Lewis, a Georgia congressman, told the grads that “you must find a way to get in the way and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. To save this little piece of real estate that we call earth for generations yet unborn.”

Portland Press Herald reporter by saying that Lewis “recalled the impact of a �ֲ���ý College graduate on his own life and urged those graduating in 2016 to serve humanity.”

Quimby described Mays as “a preacher, civil rights activist, president of Morehouse College in Atlanta and mentor to both Martin Luther King Jr. and Lewis.”

Quimby quoted Lewis saying that he heard Mays “speak about �ֲ���ý College many, many times…. It was �ֲ���ý College that gave him the tools to become emancipated.” The congressman added that “if it hadn’t been for Dr. Mays, I am not sure there would have been a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

Maine Public Broadcasting reporter Jennifer Mitchell said that that colleges such as �ֲ���ý have played in progressing civil rights in America.”

Mitchell reported that Lewis told the grads that “you must stand up. You have a moral obligation to speak up and speak out, when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just. You move your feet.”

The liberal arts are a ‘business imperative,’ Spencer says — NECN’s CEO Corner

President Clayton Spencer was the guest on NECN’s CEO Corner show on May 29, and she .

“�ֲ���ý is the leading institution in New England that figured out that diversity, inclusion, rigorous academics for all human beings are the key to the American dream and to success in life and work — and we figured it out in the mid-19th century,” Spencer said.

Principles of “inclusion, equality, equity, and access to education [are] deep in our identity,” she said. By the late 1960s, “the Ivy league caught up with us, and Williams and Amherst caught up with us but we were there 100 years earlier.”

Today, a liberal arts education is “not only relevant but a business imperative,” Spencer said.

“We live in a knowledge-based, creativity-driven economy” and what employers are saying is they want students who can “think critically, creatively, collaboratively.”

She talked about Purposeful Work, “a powerful value proposition in the contemporary world and contemporary economy” and the college’s new Program in Digital and Computational Studies, far more than a typical “computer science major bolted onto a math department as a sideline.”

Instead, the �ֲ���ý DCS program is “perfectly designed for the age we are in.”

The ‘interesting moment’ for LGBTQ rights reflects ‘partial’ nature of U.S. political change — KPFA

The Letters and Politics podcast from radio station KPFA featured Stephen Engel, associate professor of politics, who talked about his book Fragmented Citizens: The Changing Landscape of Gay and Lesbian Lives.

Engel addressed the “interesting moment” for LGBTQ rights in the U.S. where expansion, such as the 2015 Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, is matched by infringement, such as

Stephen Engel on the KPFA podcast Letters and Politics, on June 9, 2016:

Engel says that we tend to view this dynamic “of a win followed by a loss” as typical of social movements, a push followed by a backlash.”

However, he says, “we’re also seeing how political change in the U.S. is always partial.”

It’s a key idea that animates Engels’ book, that when a law is changed “in one domain, it will raise to the surface tensions with law and policy in other domains,” he explains.

In Pennsylvania, among other states, a gay couple “could essentially be married on Sunday, and potentially fired on Monday” for being gay.

The Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling has “exacerbated that tension.”

While laws related to marriage have been altered, “these changes have only highlighted new tensions, because there have not been corresponding changes in either employment law in one domain, or in public accommodations, to name another.”

An a cappella group with a ‘flair for fun’ on Sing That Thing — Lewiston Sun Journal

The Sun Journal on Sing That Thing, a televised singing competition produced by WGBH in Boston.

“As their name implies, the Manic Optimists are all about fun,” wrote Cindy Larock ’75, “and recently that flair for fun has earned them fame well beyond the borders of the campus at �ֲ���ý College.”

Dan Murphy ’18 of Lexington, Mass., captured the group’s camaraderie when he told Larock that “it’s easy to do well when you love what you do and you love who you’re with.”

Founded about a decade ago as a sketch comedy group before making the move to a cappella, the on Episode 3 (featuring interviews with the group) and on Episode 7, the semifinal round, won by Doo Wop Shop of the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

Taped in January, the shows ran in April and May on public television stations in New England.

The Manic Optimists’ first Sing That Thing performance is below. Note that this performance features the late James Jhun ’16 (at right, singing lead), who died in late January and received his degree posthumously at Commencement in May.

Discoverer of a new mechanism for wound healing — Science Daily

Science Daily reported identified by Vicki Losick ’01, an assistant professor at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.

Vicki Losick ’01 is an assistant professor at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. (Photo courtesy of MDI Biological Laboratory)

Wound healing typically involves growing more cells, through cell division. But Losick has identified another response to injury or disease: the growth of cell size. She calls this phenomenon “wound-induced polyploidy.”

The capacity of cells to grow in size “has been known for some time,” says Science Daily. “But what wasn’t previously known is that these cells are a mechanism to respond to injury.”

Losick says that “our findings suggest that the cellular damage caused by cell loss or wounding leads to different mechanisms of tissue repair — cell proliferation or cell growth — depending on context.

“Now that we have discovered that WIP is a widely used part of the body’s healing arsenal, we can look for genes or drugs that promote healing by boosting the body’s ability to generate these extra-large cells.”

Losick’s research, co-authored with researcher Albert Jun of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medical School, has been .

At �ֲ���ý, Losick did an honors thesis in biochemistry, investigating the hepatitis A virus under Dana Professor of Chemistry Glen Lawson.

Her work put a plastic-bag ban on the Freeport ballot — Keep Me Current

Keep Me Current reports that Elly Bengtsson ’19 is the co-organizer of a in her hometown of Freeport, Maine.

The question will be on the June 14 ballot in Freeport, according to Keep Me Current reporter Larry Grard, and a ban would make the town “the first in Cumberland County to ban plastic shopping bags in stores whose sales are more than 2 percent in food.”

Bengtsson and a friend, Meredith Broderick, were Freeport High School seniors when they proposed the ban to the town council. Broderick now attends Elon University.

At a May 17 council meeting, Bengtsson said that “micro-plastics never leave the environment. One hundred twenty-five towns in the U.S. have bans or fees on plastic bags. All of Hawaii has it. York just banned them. We know that we have a lot of support from Freeport citizens.”

The mace bearer is an attention-grabber at Commencement, so when the mace gets a new bearer, as happened this year, it’s like getting a new James Bond.

With the retirement of Professor of Sociology Sawyer Sylvester — the Sean Connery of mace bearers, some said — the mace went to Phillips Professor of Economics Michael Murray, and he interpreted the role in his own way.

Need a hug? We got ’em. In a great �ֲ���ý tradition, professors greet the graduates during the Commencement Recessional on May 29, 2016. Here’s a montage:

Moments from Commencement Day 2016, from the diplomas emerging from the Registrar’s safekeeping to the serving of lobster rolls and other celebratory edibles at lunchtime.

7:53 a.m.

Held by the Registrar until Commencement morning, the day’s precious cargo of 462 diplomas is delivered by Facility Services to the Coram Library stage.

https://youtu.be/bwGUqWc-U8M

8:43 a.m.

Thirty-seven minutes before the start of the academic procession, seniors hang with friends on Alumni Walk before heading to their prescribed alphabetical stations.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

8:57 a.m.

Regalia in hand, President Clayton Spencer arrives at Alumni Walk.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:01 a.m.

Anytime on Commencement morning is the right time for a hug. Matthew Proto ’16 (left) of Chatham, N.J., and Robert DiFranco ’16 of Melrose, Mass., have been friends since their first year.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:08 a.m.

Regalia in place, President Spencer strikes a pose.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:12 a.m.

Shannon Griffin ’16 of Philadelphia, who will deliver the day’s Senior Address, meets Rep. John R. Lewis, who will deliver the Commencement Address.

In her speech, Griffin recalled a �ֲ���ý history class, in which Associate Professor of History Hilmar Jensen asked his students if they would be as brave as those Northern students who joined the Freedom Riders in 1964.

“Would we be brave enough to speak up in the face of injustice? Congressman John Lewis, an American hero and civil rights leader, is here today as I continue to reflect on that question — that is the power and magnitude of a �ֲ���ý education.”

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:17 a.m.

The academic procession gets going, including these members of the platform party. Foreground, from left, are Charles Nero, professor of rhetoric; Rep. John Lewis, Commencement speaker; and Geri FitzGerald ’75, �ֲ���ý trustee.

Behind them are Jack Keigwin ’59, �ֲ���ý trustee emeritus; University of Alabama System Chancellor Bob Witt ’62, honorary degree recipient; and Jim Callahan ’65, �ֲ���ý trustee emeritus.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:22 a.m.

Blake Reilly, assistant director of residential life, congratulates seniors as the academic procession moves onto the Historic Quad.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:23 a.m.

Members of the Facility Services’ custodial staff, who get to know many seniors during their work in college residence halls and academic buildings, cheer on the grads.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:25 a.m.

The seniors wind their way around the Historic Quad, passing by Gomes Chapel (1913).

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

9:27 a.m.

Lecturer in Psychology Susan Langdon and Professor of French and Francophone Studies Kirk Read march in the colors of their respective doctoral institutions, Boston University and Princeton University.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:37 a.m.

As the academic procession assembles before them, members of the platform party regard the goings on: Associate Professor of Politics John Baughman, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Matt Auer, and Alumni Association President Michael Lieber ’92.

Each had a role: Baughman served as the host for honorary degree recipient Robert Witt ’62; Auer presented the honorary degree candidates and bachelor’s degree candidates; and Lieber welcomed the grads to ranks of alumni.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:44 a.m.

Family and friends do their best to spot their grads as the seniors make their way to scene of their graduation.

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

9:41 a.m.

Friends cheer on their friends as the academic procession moves toward Coram Library.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

9:51 a.m.

Yessenia Saucedo ’16 of Oakland, Calif., joins her classmates as they settle into their seats for the ceremony.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

10:08 a.m.

Bestselling novelist and neuroscientist Lisa Genova ’92 listens to the reading of the citation for her honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. The conferral stated:

“Lisa Genova, your alma mater has delighted in your successes and found inspiration in your deeply personal and purposeful work. Trained to understand brain disorders as biology, you changed direction and set out to explore them from the geography of the heart. Countering fear with empathy, you bring all you are to all you do. You are a riveting storyteller, a mighty advocate, and a brilliant model for our students.”

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

10:20 a.m.

The �ֲ���ý faculty joins the entire Commencement audience in giving Rep. John R. Lewis a standing ovation as he receives the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. The conferral stated:

“You have never given up and never backed away from taking bold and brave steps toward the realization of the Beloved Community. You have worked tirelessly to heal the wounds of slavery, segregation, and oppression, devoting your life to bridging the great divide in our nation and striving to make us whole.

“How do we honor such a hero? We continue your march. We carry your banner. We believe in the best of ourselves — and each other — practicing faith and patience, seeking justice and peace.”

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

10:25 a.m.

John Lewis begins his address by recognizing the role of a founding father of the modern civil rights movement — the Rev. Benjamin E. Mays, Class of 1920 — and �ֲ���ý’ role in shaping that civil rights theorist and King mentor.

“I feel more than honored, I feel more than lucky, I feel blessed to be standing here on this campus to speak to you, the graduates, where a man by the name of Benjamin Mays once stood,” Lewis said. “Many, many years ago I got to know Dr. Mays. He was part of my inspiration, he was my friend, my leader.”

Lewis cited Mays’ statement that �ֲ���ý did not emancipate him, but instead enabled him to emancipate himself.

“This is the great power of education, and Dr. Benjmain Mays is a shining example,” Lewis said. “I want to thank �ֲ���ý College for what you did, and continue to do, to free and liberate humankind.”

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

10:58 a.m.

At stage left, seniors walk up the ramp to receive their diplomas. At stage right, they depart with sheepskin in hand.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

11:04 a.m.

Phillip Dube ’16 of Norton, Zimbabwe, hugs President Spencer as he receives his degree in environmental studies.

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

11:16 a.m.

President Spencer congratulates a newly minted grad. In her welcoming remarks, Spencer pointed out that the Class of 2016 began at �ֲ���ý the same year she did.

“What I am most proud of, beyond these impressive facts and figures, are the human qualities you embody — your creativity, your generosity, your drive for justice, your wacky humor, and your joy in, and caring for, one another.”

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

11:26 a.m.

Christopher Pelz ’16  and Jonathan Pelz ’16 of New York City were among 13 sets of twins who were students at �ֲ���ý in 2016.

Christopher majored in neuroscience; Jonathan majored in economics, Japanese, and East Asian Studies.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

11:28 a.m.

Dapper and coordinated, these family members take photos of their grad.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

11:29 a.m.

Like clockwork, the flow of grads across the stage has a few moving parts.

As his classmates await their turn to step forward, Teddy Rube ’16, a summa cum laude honors major in classical and medieval studies, accepts his diploma from President Spencer.

At left, faculty marshal John Creasey, professor emeritus of geology, checks each diploma before he hands the next one to Spencer.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

11:35 a.m.

Some 460 graduates crossing the stage means there are almost as many emotions crossing their faces, including surprise and joy as Tucker Trimble ’16, a magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa rhetoric major from Cape Neddick, Maine, receives her diploma.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

11:56 a.m.

As caps go skyward during the recessional, mace bearer Michael Murray and President Spencer happily follow their trajectories.

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

11:58 a.m.

The Recessional is a traditional time for the grateful grads to thank their proud professors.

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

12:06 p.m.

Diplomas prove to be a powerful symbol of �ֲ���ý achievement as grads and families come together.

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

12:06 p.m.

William Cleaves ’16, an honors English grad from South Portland, Maine, gathers with family members, including cousin John McDevitt ’04 (right) and McDevitt’s daughter, Norah, 7 months, for post-Commencement photos on the steps of Hathorn Hall.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

12:12 p.m.

Kelsey Berry ’16, a rhetoric major from Hollis, N.H., and her mom, Kristen, approve of Kelsey’s diploma.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

12:14 p.m.

Yessenia Saucedo ’16, a politics major from Oakland, Calif., holds her mortarboard after the ceremony.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

12:20 p.m.

Jalen Baker ’16, a sociology major from Cedar Hill, Texas, and Associate Dean of Students James Reese pose for a photo after Commencement.

Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College

12:47 p.m.

The emotional intensity of Commencement now fading away, families, friends, and their graduates adjourn to the Library Quad for the Commencement Lunch.

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

When U.S. Rep. John R. Lewis was a child in Alabama, he was puzzled by the evidence that he saw around him of the South’s Jim Crow laws — segregated rest rooms, segregated movie theaters. He wanted to know why that should be.

His mother discouraged his curiosity, saying, “Don’t get in the way. Don’t get in trouble.” But, as Lewis told the audience at �ֲ���ý College’s 150th Commencement on May 29, he went in the other direction instead.

“I was inspired to get in trouble. I was inspired to get in the way.” It was that attitude — along with the example of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — that made Lewis a true hero of the civil rights movement, a man whose personal story is virtually a history of the movement.

Inspiriting, droll, and captivating, Lewis’ address to the Class of 2016 was the centerpiece of a �ֲ���ý Commencement that also included goodbyes to two members of the class who passed away too young.

Lewis was one of four recipients of honorary degrees during the ceremony, along with best-selling author Lisa Genova ’92 (Still Alice); psychologist and renowned happiness researcher Daniel Gilbert; and Robert Witt ’62, the highly successful chancellor of the University of Alabama System.

President Clayton Spencer began her welcome with a memorial moment of silence for two members of the class, Troy Pappas and James Jhun. (Jhun, who died in January, had completed his graduation requirements and received a posthumous degree at Commencement.)

Spencer then looked back to July 1867 and �ֲ���ý’ first Commencement — whose eight graduates were all men from Maine. Thanks to a self-appointed class historian, Spencer said, there is much we know about the class, such as their height, weight, and the fact that “seven parted their hair on the right side, and one parted his on the wrong side.”

Spencer also offered information, less personal but more meaningful, of the class graduating Sunday. The 462 members of the Class of 2016 included three triple majors, 42 students who completed an honors thesis, and 18 who have won a combined 41 All-NESCAC honors while at �ֲ���ý.

She noted that the class included 11 recipients of Fulbright fellowships, two Watsons (both from Alaska), and two more of the Davis Project for Peace Award.

Pointing out that the Class of 2016 began at �ֲ���ý the same year she did, the president said, “What I am most proud of, beyond these impressive facts and figures, are the human qualities you embody — your creativity, your generosity, your drive for justice, your wacky humor, and your joy in, and caring for, one another.”

A dynamic speaker, Lewis dedicated most of his time to autobiographical episodes intended as inspiration and exhortation for the �ֲ���ý students. But he began by recognizing the role of a founding father of the modern civil rights movement — the Rev. Benjamin E. Mays, Class of 1920 — and �ֲ���ý’ role in shaping that civil rights theorist and King mentor.

“I feel more than honored, I feel more than lucky, I feel blessed to be standing here on this campus to speak to you, the graduates, where a man by the name of Benjamin Mays once stood,” Lewis said. “Many, many years ago I got to know Dr. Mays. He was part of my inspiration, he was my friend, my leader.”

Lewis cited Mays’ statement that �ֲ���ý did not emancipate him, but instead enabled him to emancipate himself. “This is the great power of education, and Dr. Benjmain Mays is a shining example,” Lewis said. “I want to thank �ֲ���ý College for what you did, and continue to do, to free and liberate humankind.”

Typical of Lewis’ humor was the story he told about raising chickens on his parents’ farm in Alabama. Wanting to be a minister, he’d preach to the birds in the chicken yard while his siblings and cousins watched.

“Some of those chickens would bow their heads, some of those chickens would shake their heads, but they’d never quite say amen,” he said. “But I’m convinced that some of the chickens that I preached to in the ’40s and the ’50s tended to listen to me much better than some of my colleagues listen to me today in the Congress. Some of those chickens were a little more productive.”

Recounting his first meeting with King, Lewis said that the great civil rights leader “inspired me to stand up, to speak up, and speak out. And I got in the way, I got in trouble — good trouble, necessary trouble.”

So, he told the graduates, “You must find a way to get in the way and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. … You have a moral obligation, a mission and a mandate, when you leave here, to go out and seek justice for all. You can do it. You must do it.”

Senior speaker Shannon L. Griffin of Philadelphia devoted her talk to the power of questions and the power of the �ֲ���ý community.

“�ֲ���ý has allowed me to develop the courage to ask questions,” Griffin said — “to continuously engage with the unfamiliar, the uncomfortable, and to challenge my convictions.”

When she was younger, “I stopped asking questions out of fear of being perceived as incompetent. It had terrible consequences, such as me confusing Nair hair remover for body lotion, because I was too stubborn to ask. That day I lost every piece of hair on my body.

“You would think that not having eyebrows would have compelled me to start asking questions again. Only �ֲ���ý was transformative enough to restore my desire to question.”

“I have never met a community that is so loving and inspiring,” she said. “Curiosity is innate in all of us, but it is the support of the community that ignites the courage in us to believe in, feel, and see our potential and to dare to pursue it.”

“There is a common occurrence in our classes,” she said, “where professors pose questions that spur us to gaze into the deep crevices of our capabilities and fears. In a history seminar, professor Hilmar Jensen once asked, ‘Would you, as a Northern college student, travel to the south during the Freedom Summer of ’64?’

“Our class left that evening, pondering what would we do for others. Would we be brave enough to speak up in the face of injustice? Congressman John Lewis, an American hero and civil rights leader, is here today as I continue to reflect on that question.

“That is the power and magnitude of a �ֲ���ý education.”

Prior to the closing benediction from Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf, the ceremony featured a welcome to the �ֲ���ý Alumni Association from Michael Lieber ’92. “Visit often,” he told the graduates. “You’re always welcome home.”

The Commencement Choir, directed by Lecturer in Music John Corrie, sang Stephen Paulus’ “The Road Home”; and class gift co-chairs Rebecca C. Dobbin of New Canaan, Conn., and Katherine M. Kaplan of Boston, announced that the Class of 2016 had donated $8,456 to the college.

Three hundred and forty-nine students, or 76 percent of the class, contributed to the gift — beating the participation goal by six percentage points.

Video clips of the college’s entire 150th Commencement on May 29, 2016, from the Processional to the Benediction and Recessional.

Table of Contents

1. Processional
2. Welcome by President Spencer
3. Senior Address by Shannon L. Griffin ’16
4. Conferral of Honorary Degrees
5. Commencement Address by Rep. John R. Lewis
6. Presentation of Candidates for Degrees
7. Commencement Choir “The Road Home”
8. Alumni Association Welcome by Michael Lieber ’92 and Senior Gift
9. Benediction by Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf and Recessional

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

If you do something 150 times, you’re bound to get pretty good at it.

Accordingly, the May 29 ceremony marking �ֲ���ý’ 150th Commencement is something special, featuring a Commencement speaker called “one of the most courageous persons the civil rights movement ever produced.”

That would be Rep. John Lewis of Georgia who, along with three other notables representing the fields of psychology and neuroscience, literature, and higher education itself, will receive an honorary degree during the ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. on �ֲ���ý’ Historic Quad.

Livestream

If your heart is with �ֲ���ý but you can’t make it to campus, the college’s Commencement livestream is the next best thing to being here, with a four-camera setup that promises to bring viewers right onto the Quad.

Resources for Attendees

�ֲ���ý’ Commencement page presents a host of resources for anyone attending Commencement, including a schedule of events, campus map, and a list of FAQs.

On Stage

Rep. John Lewis offers �ֲ���ý’ 2016 Commencement address.

Hailing from 32 states and 43 nations, some 461 �ֲ���ý students will receive bachelor’s degrees on Sunday, and President A. Clayton Spencer will confer honorary degrees on four notable Americans, including two �ֲ���ý alumni.

Commencement speaker Lewis is esteemed as one of the most effective and enduring leaders of a civil rights movement that can claim as one of its founders a �ֲ���ý alumnus: the Rev. Benjamin E. Mays ’20.

“We are thrilled that the Commencement address will be delivered by Congressman Lewis, whose life and work exemplify the animating values of this institution,” said President Spencer.

The history of Lewis’ involvement in the civil rights movement is virtually a history of the movement itself. And Lewis continues to dedicate his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building a society ruled by justice and compassion — the “Beloved Community” described by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

In addition to Rep. Lewis, �ֲ���ý’ 2016 honorary degree recipients are:

• Lisa Genova ’92, neuroscientist and author of the bestselling novel Still Alice, whose empathetic insights into the workings of the brain have touched millions;
• Daniel Gilbert, renowned psychologist and author of Stumbling on Happiness, whose work resulted in new understandings of human emotions;
• Robert Witt ’62, a higher education leader who transformed the University of Alabama into one of the country’s best public universities.

Senior Speaker and Other Grand Grads

Senior Speaker Shannon Griffin ’16 of Philadelphia continues the tradition, begun in 2013, of a senior address at Commencement, and she will remind listeners of the immense power, intellectual and moral, of questions.

Shannon Griffin ’16 of Philadelphia is the Senior Speaker at Commencement 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“When I was very young I incessantly asked questions like any other kid — ‘Why can’t I ride the dog’s back?’ … But early on in the education system the magic of asking questions was lost for me. I stopped asking questions out of fear of being perceived as incompetent.”

Griffin represents a highly accomplished �ֲ���ý class. Among other achievements, the class conducted some 75,000 hours of community-engaged service or academic work during their �ֲ���ý careers.

Eleven seniors graduating on Sunday will begin their next adventures overseas as Fulbright researchers or teaching assistants. Two received Watson fellowships, and two will spend this summer in India undertaking a Davis Project for Peace addressing arts education.Nearly half played a varsity sport — and there could be national champions among the class for a second year in a row (so to speak), depending on the outcome on Saturday as �ֲ���ý’ women rowers defend their NCAA title.

The class consists of 366 single majors, 92 double majors, and three triple majors. Sixty-two students are graduating with economics degrees, making that the most popular major. In second place is politics, with 59 majors, followed by psychology, with 51.

Commencement weekend happenings also include Baccalaureate, a senior-designed celebration for friends and family that brings together many faiths and many arts; at 2 p.m. May 28 on the Historic Quad.

It’s a Social Occasion

Fans of social media are invited to participate using #batesgrad and #batescollege, but with social media channels abundantly abuzz during the weekend, you can keep abreast of the action at a single site: bates.edu/commencement/social/.

The first �ֲ���ý Commencement was in 1867, which makes the 2016 edition the 150th in college history. Or have there been more?

In the spirit of trying to make things count, here are 15-plus facts and stories from �ֲ���ý Commencements.

The first Commencement was on July 31, 1867

A detail of the cover of first �ֲ���ý Commencement program, in 1867. The words “Tenth Anniversary” at upper right allude to the September 1857 opening of the Maine State Seminary, which became �ֲ���ý. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Eight students received bachelor’s degrees at the first �ֲ���ý Commencement, which was held at a Baptist church on Main Street in Lewiston.

Frank Sleeper, a senior from Lewiston, was the first speaker, delivering the Latin Salutatory, a graduation tradition of the day that �ֲ���ý adopted for its ceremony.

The program titles his address Disquisitio Salutatoria, which “we could translate very loosely as ‘Opening Remarks,'” rather than ‘Address of Greeting,'” says Tom Hayward, lecturer emeritus in classical and medieval studies.

“You have labored to found a college which shall be an ornament to our state.”

Delivering his salutatory in the required Latin, Sleeper praised �ֲ���ý president and founder Oren Cheney.

“Joyful indeed to you must be the day which brings to you the fruits of years of patient toil and sacrifice,” Sleeper said. “The faithfulness with which you have labored to found a college which shall be an ornament to our state is known to all, and as long as this institution shall exist so long will your name be remembered with blessings and honor.”

A featured Commencement speaker is a post-World War II phenomenon

Before World War II, the featured speakers at Commencement were students. The 1936 slate features talks on “The Juvenile Court,” “The Novelist Sits in Judgment,” “Creative Thought,” and “Stability in China.”

During the war, �ֲ���ý was on an accelerated academic calendar so would confer some degrees at special convocations in fall and winter. Featured guests spoke at those gatherings, including Joseph Drew, the diplomat who had been interned by the Japanese at the start of the war, in January 1943.

The custom of having a featured speaker then took hold and has been a staple of Commencements in 1944.

The first African American speaker at Commencement was Coretta Scott King

In her 1971 address, Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated three years before, delivered a blistering attack on violence, racism, and more in America.

She took on one of the most controversial issues of that year, the arrest and pending trial of activist Angela Davis on weapons charges.

Coretta Scott King marches in the 1971 academic procession at Commencement. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

“While I sharply disagree with the politics of Miss Davis, I must say that if her blackness, her politics, and her womanhood are being judged, and not the crime, then all Americans will lose some of their liberties along with her.”

She also paid tribute to Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920.

“From the earliest days of the Struggle, until my husband’s last rites on the campus of Martin’s beloved Morehouse, Dr. Mays was at our side. The friendship, which he and my husband formed when Martin was a Morehouse student, grew, deepened, and ripened with the years….

“So I am happy this morning to be present at the alma mater of my friend and colleague. My happiness is doubled when I realize that in 1917, a period rife with the inherent inferiority of the black man and the inherent superiority of the white man, �ֲ���ý College accepted a young black man from South Carolina and allowed that young man to emancipate himself and accept with dignity his own worth as a free man.

“I make bold to state that Dr. Mays is without a contemporary peer in the inspiration and motivation that he has given to thousands of young blacks, men in particular, in their quest for emancipation from the myths of racism.”

The first female graduate was Mary Wheelwright Mitchell, in 1869

�ֲ���ý graduated its first woman, Mary Wheelwright Mitchell, at its third Commencement, in 1869. She was a determined student. Offered a scholarship, Mitchell turned it down: “I can take care of myself.”

While six women started as members of �ֲ���ý’ first college class, none graduated until Mitchell, a fact that reflects how difficult it was for �ֲ���ý founder Oren Cheney to turn radical theory into sustainable practice, as Tim Larson ’05 wrote in his honors thesis, “Faith by Their Works.”

Larson notes that Cheney “obviously saw �ֲ���ý as a pioneer in breaking gender barriers in the field of higher education.”

Cheney also “accurately foresaw the future of American higher education in predicting that ‘all the colleges of our country will welcome women.’ This was a bold assertion to make when Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Williams, Tufts, and all the other New England colleges were still closed to women.”

Nevertheless, Larson writes, the first female students “obviously faced prejudices, from their male counterparts and society in general,” that may have contributed to their leaving the college before graduation.

In the end, “despite hostility and some well-meaning paternalism by certain individuals, �ֲ���ý was among the more progressive institutions in admitting women alongside men, when many other colleges refused to do so for another century.”

Years later, �ֲ���ý granted degrees to two of the women, Francena Stanton Morrell and Sybil Chase Ballard: Morrell in 1931 and Ballard in 1932. Here’s a clip of Ballard, age 87, at Commencement 1934:

The first African American graduate was Henry Wilkins Chandler, in 1874

Henry Chandler, Class of 1874, was the college’s first African American graduate. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

“The abolitionist ideals of �ֲ���ý’ founder, Oren Cheney…were largely acted out as he recruited the earliest African American students for the school,” writes Larson in his honors thesis noted above.

Cheney’s recruitment included Henry Chandler, the first African American graduate of �ֲ���ý, in 1874.

While six of the first nine African American students to attend �ֲ���ý were former slaves, most recruited by founder Oren Cheney during and after the Civil War, Chandler was born free.

Ten years before Chandler’s graduation, Cheney had written in his diary about stopping in Bath, Maine, to see an African American acquaintance. Cheney recorded that the man’s “son and daughter will ‘go through’ the college.” That son was most likely Chandler.

After graduating from �ֲ���ý in 1874, he studied law at Howard University, then practiced law in Florida; he also edited The Ocala Republican and The Plain Dealer newspapers.

In 1880, Chandler was elected to the Florida state senate and held office for two terms. He was also a state delegate to the Republican National Conventions.

Commencement and Reunion used to take place on the same weekend

The tradition of welcoming alumni back for Commencement had been formalized by the late 1890s, and by the 1930s, these class gatherings were their own thing.

And a big thing, as alumni built out the event known today as Reunion with dinners, class outings, presentations, and, of course, the popular Alumni Parade.

Long held during the same weekend, Commencement and Reunion were split around 1980.

Here’s the Class of 1914’s “Round Up” at the 1934 Alumni Parade at Commencement.

The U.S. Navy was part of the awarding of degrees during World War II

During World War II, �ֲ���ý was on a 12-month schedule, and undergraduates could choose an accelerated program, so diplomas were awarded a few times a year (three times in 1943).

Also during the war, the Navy had 120,000 student sailors stationed at 131 U.S. colleges, including �ֲ���ý, for officer training and accelerated college instruction.

In this clip, the sailors of the �ֲ���ý V-12 program lead the way to the Oct. 24, 1943, convocation, where 13 students received bachelor’s degrees.

A Senior Speaker returned to Commencement in 2013

While student speakers were long the norm at Baccalaureate, the day before Commencement, students had not had a featured speaking role at graduation since the mid-1900s.

That changed in 2013 when Tommy Holmberg ’13 became the first Senior Speaker in the modern era.

The Commencement Concert was the “big event of the season” in the 1870s

Opera singer Madame Nordica, seen here in an undated photo, sang at the 1877 Commencement Concert. (George Grantham Bain Collection / Library of Congress Prints and Photographs)

In its early years, �ֲ���ý “concentrated its musical efforts on the commencement concerts,” said the Lewiston Evening Journal in 1939, and the concerts became “the big musical and social event of the season for the Twin Cities.”

Some of the concerts were held at the new Music Hall on upper Lisbon Street, “the best opera house east of Boston,” according to one account. It’s now home to the district court.

By the mid 1870s, a �ֲ���ý Commencement Concert could cost upwards of $1,200, the equivalent of about $21,000 today.

The 1877 concert brought “two of the most famous singers that New England has ever given the world,” according to the Journal.

One was opera singer Annie Louise Cary, a native of Wayne, Maine.

George Loring White, an 1876 graduate, recalled that “when Miss Cary sang ‘Coming thru the rye,’ smiles became distinctly audible all over the house. I felt like coming thru the rye myself.”

The second singer at that 1877 concert was the even more famous Lillian Norton, a native of Farmington, Maine, who would gain worldwide recognition as “Madame Nordica.”

The Commencement Dinner was once catered by a well-known local name

In the early 1900s, the Commencement “Dinner” was not in the evening but right after graduation, at noon. This is the older use of the word, in the sense of the main meal of the day.

The 1916 Commencement Dinner was catered by a name familiar to �ֲ���ý students and alumni.

Note that the 1916 menu was catered by “Alton L. Grant.” His business became Grant & Grant Caterers, which became Grant’s Bakery on Sabattus Street, the go-to spot for parents sending sweets to their students.

Here’s a peek at this year’s spread, now known as the Commencement Luncheon:

• Summer slaw salad with lemon vinaigrette
• Cavatappi salad with sundried tomato basil and fresh spinach
• Edamame hummus with tortilla chips
• Lobster salad rolls
• Chicken salad rolls
• Olive oil and garlic roasted vegetable medley with portobello mushrooms, summer squash, and zucchini
• Sliced watermelon
• Cookies and brownies
• Italian ice
• Assorted beverages, including Summit Springs Water

The 2016 edition is actually the college’s 153rd Commencement

Strange, but true. In the mid-1960s, President Charles Phillips implemented an aggressive three-year graduation option. To make it work, he created a third academic term, which became Short Term.

By spring 1968, the first cohort of three-year grads was ready to graduate. On April 22, the college held a Commencement for its traditional four-year cohort. Then the three-year group graduated on June 28, after they had finished their final Short Term.

The same was true in 1969 (April 28 and July 4) and 1970 (April 20 and June 12).

The academic procession in April 1969 for the first of two Commencements that year. This one was for four-year graduates; the second, for three-year grads, was on July 4. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

So unusual was the setup that when �ֲ���ý, under President Hedley Reynolds, returned to a single-Commencement format in 1971, it was hailed by the Lewiston Sun Journal in its lead editorial. “The change is preferable to the confusing, double Commencements” of the past several years.

There have been seven locations for �ֲ���ý Commencements

Until the Chapel was built in 1914, �ֲ���ý held Commencements downtown at a Baptist church at the corner of �ֲ���ý Street and Main Street, near where the venerable Sam’s Italian Restaurant is.

Here are all the venues:

• 1867 to 1913: Baptist church on Main Street (except in 1876)
• 1876: Lewiston City Hall
• 1914 to 1948: Gomes Chapel
• 1949 to 1966: Lewiston Armory on Central Street
• 1967: Alumni Gym
• 1968: Alumni Gym and Chapel
• 1969: Alumni Gym and Chapel
• 1970: Alumni Gym
• 1971 onward: Historic Quad in front of Coram Library (rain site: Merrill Gymnasium)

The first outdoor Commencement was in 1971

Alumni Gym was to be the site of the 1971 event, but lore tells us that students asked President Reynolds if it could be moved outdoors.

His assent is about the best “yes” a president has ever made.

A scene from the first outdoor �ֲ���ý Commencement, in 1971. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

In 1989, the late Peter Gomes ’65 praised the �ֲ���ý Commencement tradition that had evolved under Reynolds. “When I took my degree, in 1965, [Commencement] was in the overheated and underventilated Lewiston Armory, a day or two after the circus had come and gone,” wrote Gomes.

Then came 1971, the start of the modern Commencement tradition, with the “bucolic setting of the Coram Quadrangle, the Portland Brass, the piper and the procession, and most of all the elegant austerity of the ceremony itself,” Gomes wrote.

“There is neither a wasted word nor gesture on Commencement Day. It is rich in its austerity….”

The Coram “stage” also used to host a Commencement play

In chronicling its design by New York City architects who had shaped the Broadway theater district, Phillips Professor of Art and Visual Culture Rebecca Corrie noted, “Is it any wonder that the facade of Coram has become such a perfect stage for the College’s most public and important ceremonies?”

For many years, the student theater group put on a Greek play as part of Commencement Weekend.

This clip shows the 1934 performance of Aristophanes’ The Birds, staged by the 4-A Players (now The Robinson Players). The play was chosen as part of that year’s celebration of the centennial of Jonathan Stanton, famed professor and ornithologist.

The first female Commencement speaker was U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith

In this clipping from the Lewiston Daily Sun, U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith is flanked by new �ֲ���ý president Hedley Reynolds (left) and President Emeritus Charles Phillips at Commencement 1967.

U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine talked about pragmatism in her 1967 address, the first by a woman.

She defined pragmatism as exercising personal freedom without being responsible to society.

“There are two sides to this glorified modern pragmatism,” Smith said. One is the attitude that “I’ll get mine in whatever way I can,” while the other is “the creed of ‘not getting involved.'”

She concluded, “If our nation is to maintain the moral fibre that is necessary to the survival of our way of life, then we must reject the glorified pragmatists who advocate cutting corners, who preach the propaganda of expecting ‘something for nothing,’ who espouse the doctrine that the ‘end justifies the means,’ and who caution against ‘getting involved on matters of principle.'”

The mace joined the academic procession in 1949

As the senior member of the faculty, Phillips Professor of Economics Michael Murray will lead the 2016 Commencement academic procession.

At Commencement 1949, Professor of Biology William Sawyer, Class of 1913, holds newly given mace as its creator, Leverett Cutten, Class of 1904, and President Charles Phillips look on. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

The mace symbolizes academic authority — an understandable connection, since ancient warriors used maces to bash their foes. The �ֲ���ý mace was fashioned by Leverett Cutten of the Class of 1904 and given to the college in 1949.

While many maces are topped with a crown, Cutten wanted his design to leave “no doubt about �ֲ���ý College’s being in the state of Maine,” as he said in 1949, so he fabricated pine cones and tassels to form an arch to support the garnet that sits at the top.