A Time of Honor

National Urban League President Marc H. Morial told an audience of alumni, students and guests at this month’s Founder’s Day ceremony that voting is a responsibility, not a privilege, and urged every eligible voter to exercise their right to vote on election day.  In a reference to the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v Board of Education decision, which ended separate and unequal education in America, Morial said that the class of 1954 was not guaranteed the right to vote. However, it is guaranteed to the class of 2004. “Voting is not a privilege, it’s a responsibility,” he said.  Morial is a former mayor of New Orleans and also the son of New Orleans’s first black mayor, the late Ernest “Dutch” Morial. He told the audience that today’s generation of youth should focus on three areas in their lives: the ballot, the buck and the book. The ballot is power, he said. The buck represents wealth.  “As African-Americans we must close the economic gap,” he said, while also acknowledging that there are more middle-class and educated African-Americans than ever in the history of America. Eighty-two percent of businesses in the African-American community have only one employee, he said. “We must claim economic power.”  The book represents education. Atkins (the founder of WSSU) understood the value (of education), Morial said.  The convocation ceremony took place in the Kenneth R. Williams auditorium. The annual honors the founder of Winston-Salem State University, Simon Green Atkins as well as alumni. Winston-Salem State University was founded on September 28, 1892 and this year’s convocation marked the university’s 112th anniversary.  Rev. Cedric S. Rodney opened the program. Chancellor Martin then gave a welcome and congratulations to all distinguished guests, speakers, and students. He also recognized the class of 1954 for donating a gift of $38,000 to the university. The chancellor’s welcome was followed by four additional speakers, including Vivian Burke, Winston-Salem’s Mayor; Kevin A. Myatt, ex office chairman of the board of trustees of the WSSU Foundation; Catherine Pettie Hart, president of the WSSU National Alumni Association, and Ajeane A. Knibye, a political science major at WSSU and president of the Student Government Association. During his greeting, Myatt asked that each audience member close his or her eyes and imagine a single room with one person standing in front of 25 individuals. Next, he asked the audience to imagine that these 25 individuals gambled everything to gain an education, and then imagine what they had gained as a result of the gamble.  Then he explained that this is what happened 112 years with Green and 25 students, the predecessors to today’s WSSU, which, according to U.S. News & World Report is the top public comprehensive university in the south.  Hart acknowledge several alumni who currently work at WSSU, and Knibye announced the student government association’s theme for the school year, “Confronting the challenge, making the change.”   Knibye stressed the importance of looking to Alumni as examples of success and what we can achieve. Knibye proudly expressed that “Alumni are examples of what we can accomplish.”   The university choir also performed and there was a candle lighting ceremony led by Martin.