President Doug Bennet recently announced in an e-mail to the senior class that Professor Njabulo Ndebele, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, will deliver the principal address and receive an honorary doctor of letters at commencement in May.
William H. Donaldson, Robert Schumann ’44 and Yuri Kochiyama will be named Honorary Doctors of Humane Letters. The Baldwin Medal will also be presented to Joseph Lynch ’47
Ndebele is internationally recognized as a leader of social change, democracy and justice in South Africa. He has a Masters degree in English Literature from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, English and American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Denver.
“I think [Ndebele was selected for his] qualities of leadership as a university leader in a society that has been challenged in terms of equal rights,” said Director of University Communications Justin Harmon. “His stature as an academic is just extraordinarily accomplished.”
Ndebele was a joint recipient of the 1983 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa and of the 1986 SANLAM First Prize for his writing. His narratives, especially “Fools and Other Stories,” are recognized for their contributions to the new tone of South African narrative. For his combined contributions he has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates in Literature.
“Part of what he’s doing is to use education as a tool for social change. He’s also a poet,” Harmon said. “He’s used his poetry to [tell] his stories of people under apartheid. In every prospect his work has been about achieving social democracy in a country that had none. It’s a real heroism in what he’s accomplished.”
Students, staff and alumni nominate recipients for honorary degrees as well as commencement speaker over the course of the year. The nominees’ backgrounds are then researched and the list is narrowed down. This process is concluded by the Board of Trustees, who vote on the final decisions.
Kochiyama has been recognized as an influential voice for the importance of Ethnic Studies, workers’ rights and reparations for the Japanese-Americans incarcerated during World War II. At age 80, she has been an outspoken activist most of her life since her imprisonment in an internment camp in the 1940s. She is also noted for her activism in nuclear disarmament, international prisoners’ rights, South African apartheid and the Vietnam War.
Schumann, an environmentalist and philanthropist, has served as a director of the National Audubon Society and the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology. In addition, he has significantly contributed to the Olin Library renovation and the construction of the Freeman Athletic Center. The establishment of the Schumann Scholarship and the advancement of the Fred B. Millet Memorial Fund were enabled by Schumann’s donations.
Donaldson was appointed as the chairman of United States Securities and Exchange Commission in 2002 by President George W. Bush. Previous positions he held were chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, Dean of Yale’s Graduate School of Management, United States Undersecretary of State under Henry Kissinger and special assistant to Vice President Nelson Rockerfeller.
Lynch, the Baldwin Medal recipient, is known as a civic leader and attorney.
The Baldwin Medal is the highest alumni honor bestowed by the University. It is not awarded annually and only given in cases of extraordinary service to Wesleyan or the public good.
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