CSI grads urged to be trailblazers
During commencement, honorary
doctor of laws degree conferred on retiring state Sen. John Marchi
Staten Island Advance - Friday, June 02, 2006
 Under a blazing June sun that one speaker joked was
prepared ahead of time as an "example of global warming," graduates
of the College of Staten Island were warned repeatedly yesterday
about the overweening problems of the world they are entering, then
reminded of their roles as its champions.
Almost every speaker touched the same themes,
beginning with the invocation, in which the Rev. Dr. Victor Brown
said, "This world is in utter chaos and is in need of more
trailblazers, more transcenders."
CSI president Dr. Marlene Springer ran down a list
of the world's current ills, including outsourcing, global tensions
and the potential of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, in
which case, "there could be 12 million people instantly killed, and
up to 7 million more fatal casualties," she said.
Then, seeming to note the grimness of her words, she
joked, "This is a nice, light speech for a graduation, isn't it?" to
laughter.
 Svetlana Rabinovich, the student speaker, told her
fellow classmates that "the future of our borough, our city, our
country, our planet and, even by some measures, our universe, lies
at our fingertips. Every choice from this day forward will have an
influence on every one of those entities."
Yet just as most of the long procession of speakers
counseled against ignorance in the face of impending doom, so did
they take time to spread sunshine.
Dr. Springer ended on a note of hope, reminding
graduates that the ceremony marked "another milestone for you,
another passage of the many to come."
The college, part of the City University of New York
(CUNY), also conferred an honorary doctor of laws degree upon
retiring state Sen. John Marchi, an honor long-delayed by a statute
on the CUNY books barring a sitting politician from receiving an
honorary degree from a city-subsidized university.
For the first time in its history, Dr. Springer
said, CUNY lifted that rule, to allow Marchi, the longest-serving
legislator in American history, to receive the honor this year.
"If you had not championed our cause, we would not
be standing here now," she told Marchi, before officials robed him
in the purple and black hood of his honor.
Marchi chuckled in near glee as he approached the
microphone.
"I'm overwhelmed and very grateful," he told the crowd, and reminded
the graduates to "enjoy every single moment" of their lives.
Also receiving honorary degrees were Dr. Vishakha N.
Desai and David Randolph.
Before the graduates broke into more intimate
ceremonies for each of their respective departments, and much unlike
the somber beginnings of the commencement, Dr. Springer celebrated
unofficial groups of graduates -- such as those who have a child or
grandchild, those who were graduating with a member of their family,
or those who are going on to graduate school (at which almost all
graduates stood).
"Welcome back to CSI," she quipped.
By Melissa Anelli
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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