Thousands packed Brooklyn’s Barclays Center June 4 as Hunter College conferred degrees on more than 5,500 graduates at its 227th Commencement.
“Today, we celebrate every one of you,” Hunter President Ann Kirschner said. “You embody the ambition, the energy, and the sparkling diversity of New York City.”
Kirschner congratulated the class — 265 of whom earned degrees in Nursing, 638 degrees in Social Work, 80 in Public Health, 1,027 in Education, and 3,401 in Arts and Sciences – on joining the family of more than 178,000 Hunter alumni.
“Graduates, you think you know your story. You think that your career will be linear,” Kirschner said. “It isn’t. Some of the plot twists in your life will bring joy, some will bring sorrow. Always be prepared to write yourself a new story.”
She counseled them to “say yes to that unexpected new opportunity. Your ability to say yes is your superpower.”
CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez noted that the Class of 2024 started college during the pandemic.
“The CUNY community is enormously proud of you,” he said. “Despite the many hardships and disruptions, you stayed focused and made it here today. Looking out and seeing you in your caps and gowns gives me immense pride. You are not only joining the Hunter College alumni family but you are part of the great story of The City University of New York.”
Hunter conferred honorary degree on Johnetta B. Cole, a former president of two historically black colleges; Dr. David Julian Hodges, an esteemed anthropologist and promoter of civil rights; and Judge Carlton W. Reeves, a trailblazing federal judge known for his landmark civil-rights rulings. Cole and Hodges are both veterans of Hunter’s faculty. Reeves delivered the Commencement’s keynote address.
Reeves evoked the example of Hunter alum and civil-rights pioneer Pauli Murray ’33 in charging students to go out and make a better world.
Raised under Jim Crow, Murray, the author of the civil rights “bible” States’ Laws on Race and Color, “learned to create that change right here at Hunter,” Reeves said.
The ceremony, which combined the winter and spring commencements, ended with a speech by one of Hunter’s 20 Valedictorians, Naiomi Sampson.
“With hearts full of appreciation for all who helped shape our journey, we now look forward to the new roads that await us,” Sampson said. “We will confront new problems and barriers to achieve our goals. However, I am confident we will overcome these hurdles in the same manner we have these last four years so that we can stand here today poised to throw our graduation caps in the air in utter jubilation!”
Then President Kirschner intoned the magic words:
“With the authority granted by the Charter of the State of New York to the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, and delegated to me, I confer upon you the bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, doctorate degrees and certificates you have earned — with the rights, privileges and responsibilities which accompany them.”
The crowd went wild.
