development news - Virginia State University

Spring
Commencement
2009
Bond Urges Graduates to
Continue Fighting toward
Equality For All
Drawing upon a career as one of America’s leading Civil Rights
activists, Dr. Julian Bond implored VSU’s 2009 graduating class
to “remember the work of the nameless marchers and protesters
who led the Civil Rights Movement and honor the modern
founders of democracy and how they fought for equality.”
Before the nearly 6,000 assembled family and friends in the
Richmond Coliseum, Dr. Bond told the graduates “it is your job
and responsibility to make these protections more secure.” His
life and mission, he said, “attests to the value of an education.”
Dr. Bond challenged the class to “strive to honor the promise
of greater victories.”
Dr. Bond, Chairman of the Board of the NAACP likened the
graduates’ degrees to bread, “where there are hungry minds,
you can feed them.” He said the value of an education is not
in the degree, but what a person does with their knowledge.
“When someone asks ‘what did you do with your education,’”
he said, “be sure you have an answer.”
Also at Commencement, VSU recognized Dr. Mildred Fitzgerald
Johnson as Alumnus of the Year and bestowed upon Dr.
Bond an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY