Raspberry speaks at graduation

William Raspberry was the commencement speaker at the college's graduation this past weekend. He had a few interesting things to say, and like most speakers he promised to try to be brief, and wasn't. However, he made an excellent observation:

I want to offer an apology to your generation on behalf my generation, and the generation that followed ours, your parents' generation. We were so hell-bent on providing you with what we didn't have when we were growing up that we failed to provide you with what we did have when we were growing up: family and spiritual values, a sense of being members of a community, of a nation, and when you broaden your horizons, of a world.

Due to my poor memory, this is almost certainly not a verbatim quote, and it may not even be close, but it's not too different from what the newspaper recorded.

Dr. Raspberry also took the time to learn the names of two graduates who had faced special difficulties in the course of their studies. I'm not familiar with the second student, but one of these students is blind. It was an admirable gesture that I don't remember from past commencement addresses that I have heard.