The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-03
N, Y. U. HAS 595 GRADUATES
TWO SESSIONS TO AWARD THE
DEGREES AND PRIZES.


-
Chancellor MacCrackcn suggests q Memo.
riai Tablet to the Seven First Public
School Teachers In New York and
|. 10 the Founder OF Columbia College.
Five hundred and twenty-five degrees
upon examination we're conferred at the
seventy seventh commencement Of New
York University yesterday. The dris-
cling rain and the mists that swept UP
to the heights did not serve in any way
TO cloud the glory Of academic parade
or smudge the panoply Of d~ootorate hood
and collegiate insignia. The class Of
1900 and the candidates for doctors do
grees made the final pilgrimage dripping
but undaunted.
The days ceremonies were divided into
two parts. In the morning at II O'Clock
there was q procession to the university
auditorium, where the college officers
bestowed the degrees and awarded the
prizes for various exoellenoes upon the
students who had spent the last four
years In the academic departments Of
the university that are situated out at
University Heights. At s o'clock in the
afternoon a second procession led again
to the auditorium and the degrees and
prize awards went to the seven other
departments Of New York University
that are not geographically a part Of the
institution in The Bronx.
When the mornings parade had ended
in the auditorium and the band had fin
ished the final flourish Of Meyerbeer's
Coronation" Benjamin Parke Dewitt
Of the class Of 90 delivered the salutatory
grafton, his topic being the Place Of the
Classics in Modern Culture Joseph
Henry and Modern Industrial Progress"
was the title Of the scientific address that
followed. Daniel Carroll Nolan Of the
School Of Applied Sciences being the
orator.
Prof. Francis Hovey stoddard and
Dean Charles h. Snow then awarded
the annual prizes attaching to excellence
in scholarship in university college and
in the school Of applied science. eleven
in all. Following the ceremony John
Charles Brodsky Of the graduating class
rendered the valedictory Grafton, his
subject treating Of the problems Of student
activities in their relation to university
training.
Prof. Borden Parker Bovine. dean Of
the Graduate School Of Boston Univer-
sity, was the faculty representative
who had the task Of giving the usual
final academic advice to the graduating
class. The speaker first recalled the
fact that he himself was q graduate Of the
class Of 1871 and that he could still re-
member the aw esome sensation which
possessed the graduate when he sat
waiting for his sheepskin.
III the millennium we're to come to-
morrow said Prof. Bovine in analysing
the oomplexity Of the workaday world.
1T would involve q tremendous fall in
some securities. many vested interests
would be seriously embarrassed and q
large number Of persons would find them
selves out Of q job
He continued to warn the graduates
Of their responsibilities in these words:
Your duties and problems will b In the
ethical and social lines. We are In the be-
ginning Of q period OF social criticism.
Many Of the first lessons In civilization
were given with a club. Society cyan
with a stage OF brute force and violence,
and much repression OF individuality was
necessary in order 10 produce some kind
Of uniformity on which the social structure
might begin. But with the development
Of society the age OF discussion has neces-
sarily come. In the last generation there
was an orthodoxy in economics and politi-
cal philosophy and International law which
scarcely any one dreamed Of questioning.
Now all Is In the melting pot again. This
Is the era OF discussion. II is at such q
time as this that the scholar has his great
opportunity and that the need OF him be-
comes so apparent.
You may well congratulate yourselves
on being born to-day, born 10 tho inheri-
tauce OF the past, born to the unearned
increment OF the ages. born to the high task
which We hand on to YOU as q sacred COM
mission as We received It from the genera
alton before us. You may go In anywhere,
for there is good fighting all along the line, "
II you are to help In this battle you must
contribute sincere and honest thought,
faith and courage. Not to be happy nor
yet to be miserable, but to live In a high and
worthy way, not to shuNie isnobIy through
life. but to fulfil a high commission and
achieve a noble destiny-this is the esse initial
thing.
After he conclusion OF Prof. Bowneis
address the ceremony Of confsrring
degrees upon the graduates OF the two
colleges OF arts and pure science and ap-
piled science followed. For almost an
hour the students in gown n mortar
board filed up to the platform at the
calling OF their names and received their
sealed and embossed diplomas.
At the noon hour Chancellor MacCraoken
entertained all Of the candidates for
honorary degrees at luncheon. Then at
3 O'Clock the academic procession through
the Butler Walk and over the fass Of
the Hall Of Fame to the auditoriu m
passed again. Chancellor MacCracken
here made his farewell address to the grad
uating class, He chose for his topic
York City" The subject had been sug-
sested TO him. the chancellor said, by the
coming tercentenary celebration in honor
Of Hudson.
Chancellor MacCraoken declared at the
outset that the three centuries easily
fell into the category Of Ditch. English
and American domination. In this oon-
nection he added:
The three centuries which we celebrate
were each marked by a great educational
beginning. In the Dutch century WAS in
augurated the governmental elementary
school. II was the mother OF every public
school Of this city until now-from the
kind ere arten and primary class up to the
City College and the Normal College.
In the English century the great eduoa-
tional beginning was the founding OF the
first college. which was known first as Kings
College. but now as Columbia University.
The educational epoch which I name for