New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

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NYU’s Class of 2019 Graduates With a Challenge to Foster Unity

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Julia McNeill
An NYU graduate, wearing his violet gown and a 2019 commencement cap, talks on the phone and waves the commencement program which he has folded into a fan. (Photo by Julia McNeill)

A sea of violet gowns replaced the white and navy pinstripes that typically fill Yankee Stadium. On Wednesday morning, NYU held its 187th Commencement ceremony for the class of 2019, made up of over 17,000 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. Students’ families and friends also attended the ceremony — although each student is limited to four guest tickets — coming from across the globe to see their loved ones turn over their tassels.

Graduates take a selfie in the stands as guests and fellow graduates begin to fill the tiers at Yankee Stadium. (Photo by Alana Beyer)

Before the ceremony began, Assistant Director for Visual Storytelling Sapna Parikh hosted the Commencement Preshow, in which she interviewed notable Class of 2019 graduates about their time at NYU and what life looks like post-graduation.

Among those Parikh interviewed was José Diaz, the first member of NYU’s Prison Education Program to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. The program provides educational opportunities for inmates at Wallkill Correctional Facility, located in New York’s Ulster County, to work toward an associate’s degree. Diaz graduated with a degree in Latino Studies and Social and Cultural Analysis, and will continue his education at NYU as a master’s student this upcoming fall.  

“The Prison Education Program took a leap of faith on me, which in turn I had to internalize and figure out ‘How do I take a leap of faith on myself?’ and make those changes necessary to push forward and progress in my life,” Diaz said.

NYU Pipes and Drums lead the platform party procession around the Yankee Stadium field. (Photo by Alana Beyer)

After the ceremony kicked off with the traditional procession of NYU Pipes and Drums, faculty members, school representatives and the platform party, Chair of the Board of Trustees William Berkley welcomed those in attendance and introduced Tisch Film & TV graduate and Henry Luce Scholar Alfonso E. Morgan-Terrero, this year’s student speaker.

Morgan-Terrero’s speech focused on self-worth and the unique background of each graduate. He started by highlighting some of the difficulties he faced as a new first-year trying to find his place.  

Gallatin graduate Kaitlyn McNab was chosen by the Gallatin faculty to be the school’s banner bearer. McNab along with other graduating students led the commencement’s procession. (Photo by Alana Beyer)

“I arrived at NYU Tisch after having driven down from my family’s small home in the Bronx in a minivan packed to the brim with bags of clothes,” Morgan-Terrero said. “But upon arriving, I quickly came to question whether or not I belonged. I spent my first year rooming in a suite with the sons of an Oscar award-winning filmmaker, a billionaire music producer and a very successful surgeon.”

While at NYU, Morgan-Terrero said he grew to realize that he did indeed belong. Along with filmmaking, he studied Mandarin, and will use those skills next year when he goes to Taiwan through his fellowship to study and film. He ended his speech with a message of confidence and belief in oneself.

“This week, I’ve been asking myself, ‘How did I get here?’ I think the answer is that I, like all of us gathered here today, have always been here,” he said. “The admissions committee saw us for who we were, in some cases before we saw that clearly for ourselves. And we, in turn, make this university what it is.”

Tisch graduate and Henry Luce Scholar Alfonso E. Morgan-Terrero was this year’s student speaker. He spoke about confidence and belief in oneself. (Photo by Alana Beyer)

Following graduation, Morgan-Terrero will be flying to the Dominican Republic, where his mother is from, to begin shooting his first feature film.

The university then awarded honorary degrees to Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally, who received a Doctor of Fine Arts; and Acting Director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute Douglas R. Lowy, who received a Doctor of Science and graduated in 1968 from the School of Medicine. Director of the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu Abdel Kader Haidara, Librarian of Congress Carla Diane Hayden and President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and poet Elizabeth Alexander were each awarded Doctor of Humane Letters degrees.

Poet Elizabeth Alexander gave this year’s commencement speech, which focused on the power of language and its connections to freedom. (Photo by Alana Beyer)

Alexander delivered this year’s commencement speech, centered around love, freedom and the power of language. She said her purpose as a poet is “to join common words in uncommon ways to illuminate realities tucked beneath the apparent,” and continued on to speak about different communities less present in dominant narratives of media and history.

“The power of language is to assert presence, is to speak truth to power, is to make space, is to see each other as human beings,” Alexander said. “Because our society, on this day that you graduate, is engaged in too many fraught conversations about who belongs, who merits our attention, who is seen as human.”

She then posed a question to the graduates.

“In the midst of a horrible laying bear of anxieties and violence taking form in the language of who is truly American and who belongs, I put this challenge to you: How do we understand the stakes of precise language? What is the power of your words once you are in the room? What can you do with your words to move us closer to beloved community?”

An NYU graduate holds up the Dominican Republic flag while in the stands at Yankee Stadium. (Photo by Alana Beyer)

Alexander closed her speech with an excerpt from Robert Hayden’s poem “Frederick Douglass” to sum up her thoughts on freedom and to urge graduates to work on behalf of others who “are not at the table, not in Yankee Stadium and excluded from necessary conversations.”

Alumni Association President and Board of Trustee Member Brian Levine (left), who escorts banner bearer Corey Blay, jumps and waves his hands as he makes his way to the platform. (Photo by Alana Beyer)

“Class of 2019, I believe that you can create this world ‘where none is lonely, none hunted, none alien,’” Alexander said. “I believe that you can create a world where all people have community and safety. Where we can all belong and be known.”

President Andrew Hamilton gave the final speech of the day. In his address to the graduating class, Hamilton revisited the state of the nation 50 years prior.

“Leading up to today’s ceremony, I have been thinking very much about the year 1969,” he said. “From the Stonewall uprising that took place just a few blocks from NYU’s Washington Square campus, to the surging protests against the war in Vietnam, to the momentous Apollo 11 moon landing.”

Hamilton said 1969 was one of the most financially difficult years for NYU, citing reduced federal funding and decreasing enrollment as the chief causes.

“The result was budget deficits so large that NYU’s very survival was in question,” he said.

President Andrew Hamilton tail ends the platform party procession, accompanied by Board of Trustees Chairman William Berkley. (Photo by Julia McNeill)

He elaborated on the actions the university took to combat this instability and emphasized how far it has come since then. He noted the drop in this year’s acceptance rate to 16% and the rising SAT scores of each incoming class. Despite all this, Hamilton recognized NYU may not be held in the same regard as other prestigious institutions.

“Compared to most of the world’s elite universities, NYU might seem an underdog,” he said. “We don’t have a very long history, we don’t have as large an endowment, we certainly don’t have as entrenched a pedigree as many other top institutions. But we have managed to turn those challenges into real advantages.”

As of the end of the 2018 fiscal year, NYU’s endowment is $4.2 billion. Columbia University’s endowment is over $10 billion; Yale University’s is nearly $30 billion, and the University of Southern California’s is $5.5 billion.

A Steinhardt graduate waits for commencement to begin. Like other graduates, she has decorated her cap with flowers. (Photo by Julia McNeill)

The celebrations concluded with the Ceremony of the Torch, in which a senior faculty member passes the university’s Tiffany & Company silver torch to the youngest member of the graduating class. This year, Tandon Biomedical Engineering Professor Mary K. Cowman passed the torch to NYU Abu Dhabi graduate Daniel Obaji, who is just 18 years old.

Each year, the Empire State Building is lit up in white and violet the night before commencement to honor that year’s graduating class. CAS graduate Daniella Levine saw the glowing spire last night from near her apartment building.

“I looked at the Empire State Building last night, and I just sat by the water for ten minutes,” Levine said. “I was like ‘wow.’ Just taking it all in because it goes by so fast. It’s like a rush.”

Email the management team at [email protected].

About the Contributors
Sakshi Venkatraman, Editor-in-Chief
Sakshi Venkatraman is a junior in CAS majoring in Politics and minoring in Spanish and Journalism. She hails from the sunny state of Texas, so she's still mesmerized every time it snows in New York City. She has been passionate about journalism for more years than she can remember and loves everything from writing to tweeting to podcasting. When she's not in the newsroom, she's reading, listening to Planet Money or scouring thrift stores for hidden treasures. Follow her on Twitter @sakshi_saroja.
Pamela Jew, Under the Arch Managing Editor
Pamela Jew is the Managing Editor of WSN's magazine, Under the Arch, and a junior in Gallatin studying 'Community Through Commodity' with a Anthropology minor. For a hot conversation starter, ask her about the summer she spent watching over 200 hours of Jake Paul videos because it's every day bro. She's from a town in the suburban outskirts of Atlanta, lovingly referred to as 'The Bubble,' but to burst your bubble, she unfortunately (or fortunately) doesn't have a southern accent. You'll find her social media if you hunt.
Bela Kirpalani, Sports Editor
Bela is a senior in CAS studying history. Born and raised on Long Island, her love for bagels knows no bounds (the same goes for blueberries, but that really doesn't have anything to with Long Island). She also loves all things sports — how fitting — and finds way too many unfunny things funny. When not in the newsroom, she is probably off playing FIFA or wishing she were playing FIFA.
Alana Beyer, Deputy Video Editor
Julia McNeill, Multimedia Editor

Julia McNeill is a senior studying Art History, Computing and Data Science, and Web Development. When she was a child, she used to study the pages of National Geographic and dream of becoming a photographer. You can usually find her eating mac ’n’ cheese, drinking seltzer, doing crossword puzzles and reading Wikipedia plot summaries before watching films. When she wants to relax, she resorts to meticulously organizing her Spotify playlists. She adores hiking and camping and would like to escape the city sometime soon. You can find her on her instagram @julia.mcneill.

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