Columbia 3: The People's Graduation

 

The People's Graduation: Cathedral of St. John the Divine 

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Hundreds  of students, faculty, parents and guests gathered at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on May 16 for a "People’s Graduation,"after Columbia University cancelled its on-campus commencement. They heard 93-year-old Reverend Herbert Daughtry urge young people to commit their lives to a great cause, and expect to sacrifice for it.  Offering prayers along with Jewish and Muslim clergy, Daughtry quoted Dr, Martin Luther King Jr. ---"if you haven't found a cause for which to die, you haven't found a cause for which to live."  Daughtry added, “they will call you names, but the idea of freedom cannot be destroyed.”

Rev Herbert Daughtry Sr. 

The Cathedral made its sanctuary available to all — including students who had been arrested, suspended, and evicted for protesting Israel’s war in Gaza.  Some came to continue their protest, others just to experience something like a college graduation.  The mood was celebratory. Cathedral Dean Patrick Malloy greeted the gathering, saying the church wanted to welcome a full range of people and opinions.  A parade of speakers then lambasted the university for misrepresenting and punishing the protesters — and praised the students for starting a movement that spread around the world.

Lacking the power to hand out degrees or diplomas, the ceremony ended with a song, adapted from the biblical Book of Ruth: 

“Where you go I will go my friend,
Where you go I will go ---

 your people are my people
your people are mine

Your people are my people
our struggles align.”

Copyright 2024 by Tom Phillips