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| Vol. 18, No. 17 | Jan. 21, 1999 |
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| Vol. 18, No. 17 | Jan. 21, 1999 |
Believe in yourself" was the advice Charles Lewis gave the newest members of the Class of 1998 at Winter Commencement, held Jan. 9 in the Bob Carpenter Center.
Lewis, a 1975 UD graduate, is the founder and current executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C., that concentrates on ethics and public service issues.
University President David P. Roselle welcomed the 6,200 graduates and guests to the morning ceremony and then introduced the featured speaker.
A native of Newark, Lewis told the graduates, "I love this town, where I grew up and still have many relatives." He noted that his late father was a fourth-generation resident; his grandmother participated in sleigh races on Main Street around 1910, before it was paved; and, to the delight of the audience, said his great-great-grandfather owned the Deer Park Hotel in the 1880s, "back when it was a hotel."
Since he graduated from UD and left his hometown, Lewis said the most important thing he has learned is "believe in yourself."
"I say 'believe in yourself' because you must be strong and have a clear sense of direction about where you want to be-or at least where you don't want to be-or you'll be swept away in the currents," Lewis said.
Recounting his own experience of being told by a middle-school guidance counselor that he shouldn't think about going to college, being told at college orientation that he would probably flunk out during the first semester, being told after graduate school that he had no chance of getting a job with ABC News and being told he was nuts to quit his network television job to start a nonprofit watchdog organization, he said, "The message here is 'believe in yourself,' because sometimes in life, no one else will."
For graduates still uncertain about future plans, Lewis reassured them that they would find their way at some point and that even then, they might change course and start all over again later in life.
"But, whether the first epiphany is in your 20s or 30s, or renewal in your 40s, 50s or 60s, follow your passion and believe in yourself, and your past and present can meet the future in exciting, amazing ways," he said.
Edmund N. Carpenter II (left) receives an honorary doctor of
laws degree from UD trustee William T. Allen.
In a rapidly changing world filled with both opportunities and challenges, Lewis asked, "Whom can we trust, ultimately, to protect our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
"Well, we have no choice but to trust our government to safeguard the broad, public interest. Unfortunately, however, only one in four Americans trust their government today," he said.
"Over the years, our ethically challenged politicians have done their best to earn our disgust and our distrust. Democracy itself is threatened, though, when the candidates we elect and the laws we enact hinge on how much money is spent. Actually, 96 percent of the American people do not contribute a dime to any candidate at the federal level, and less than 1 percent gave $200 or more to congressional candidates or the political parties in the 1996 elections," Lewis said.
Noting that 40 percent of U.S. citizens cannot name the current vice president, Lewis said, "Most Americans know more about their toasters today than about their public servants, even though they can be badly burned by both."
After quoting the words of Revolutionary leader Thomas Paine, who said, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo...the fatigue of supporting it," Lewis asked the University's newest graduates, "Will your generation undergo the fatigue? Whatever your political inclinations are, will you get engaged in your communities, in the affairs of this nation and this world? Will you help to break the cycle of cynicism and distrust in this country, and hold our public officials more accountable to the truth about those crucial issues that affect our daily lives? Only then can we possibly contemplate a government truly of the people, by the people and for the people."
Concluding his remarks, Lewis congratulated the new graduates. "Now you are armed with a college degree from one of the most respected institutions of higher learning in the most powerful, developed nation on Earth. And so, as you continue on the excellent adventure that is life's journey, I say to you today...believe in yourself and have a great life!"
Also at the ceremony, Edmund N. Carpenter II of Greenville was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. Carpenter, a former president of both the Delaware Bar Association and the American Judicature Society, is retired from the law firm of Richards, Layton & Finger, where he worked as an associate, partner, directory and president.
William T. Allen, a member of the University's Board of Trustees and chair of the Honorary Degrees and Awards Committee, read the citation honoring Carpenter, hailing him as a "treasured friend of the First State [who has] made the pursuit and attainment of justice your life's work and have, thereby, enriched countless lives in the state of Delaware, the region and the nation." Allen also praised Carpenter's compassion, dedication and service to his country and the legal community and called him an "exemplary citizen."
"Recognition by this great University is a rich privilege, and I am enormously fortunate to have received this honorary degree," Carpenter said. "I have always had a deep affection for the University of Delaware, especially since my father, some 30 or 40 years ago, served as chairman of its Board of Trustees.
"Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, 'The man who finds the work he loves, the gods have smiled on him.' I, through chance, landed in the work I loved, the practice of law, and that was extremely lucky for me. I had a passion for it, and apart from my wife, Carroll, who is here today, and my family and my friends, nothing has given me more pleasure, intellectual stimulation, sheer delight than that," he said.
Carpenter concluded by congratulating the new graduates and wishing that they, too, find the work they love.
-John Brennan
