May 12, 2007
A time for unreserved celebration
Virginia then and now
How Virginia has moved forward
What a wonderful occasion! And I’m so happy that Dr. Anderson asked me to come and just share a few minutes with you today. I’m so proud of Dr. Anderson and all she has done and feel close to this VUU family.
As she said, I’m a neighbor. My wife and I live about a mile and a half from the campus when we’re not temporarily relocated to the Executive Mansion. We’re also friends in other ways. I served on the Richmond City Council and part of the Union campus was in my council district. And so from 1994 until today, during my time in public life I’ve also had the pleasure to work with so many of you on matters affecting Virginia Union or affecting higher education in Virginia.
It gives me a great deal of pleasure to be with you at what will be one of the most memorable days of your life. I don’t delude myself, however, into thinking that my speech will be one of the most memorable parts of this memorable day.A time for unreserved celebration 
Graduation speeches are tough. I have graduated from high school, college and law school and I have to admit I don’t remember a single thing that any off my graduation speakers ever said. In fact I was the graduation speaker for my high school graduation and I don’t remember anything that I said.
Actually, from that graduation, my first from high school, there’s only two things that I remember. We were in an indoor auditorium and both of the things I remember from high school graduation happened outside in the hall after the graduation rather than during the service. The first thing was my girlfriend who had dumped me right before senior prom (laughter ) about ten days before graduation and I wasn’t happy about that. She came up to me in the hall after the graduation and gave me a big hug and kiss. And that was 35 years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday (laughter). I remembered it because I was not happy with her but there was something about that that just said, “Hey, we may not ever see each other again” and we haven’t. But we’ve enjoyed each others company and let’s part friends.
And so what I’ll say to you today if there’s anybody in this graduating class that you are not completely square with, you may not see each other for the rest of your lives. Today would be a wonderful time as you are celebrating right after this service to go over and shake somebody’s hand or give them a hug and wish them luck. So that would be my first piece of advice to you.
The second thing that I remember from my graduation is this. Immediately after Trish came over and gave me a hug, I found my parents. And I was an 18 year old then and you know, kind of cool like 18 year old males can be and I went over and gave my mom a very formal hug and I shook my dad’s hand and thanked them for being there. And I happened to look next to me out in the auditorium waiting room and the guy who was the All-State center on my high school’s football team was giving his parents this massive bear hug and they had tears of joy coming down their face and I remember thinking, “Why can’t I be like that? Why can’t I show my affection and appreciation for my parents in that kind of really unreserved and open way?”. And I felt like I was lesser of a person than my friend because I couldn’t really demonstrate how deeply I felt for my parents. So that would be my second bit of advice today. Advice I’m sure very few of you need but maybe one or two of you will.
Today isn’t the day for reserve or holding back. Today is the day to really show all who have gathered here for you, who supported you over all these years, and will support you in years to come how deeply, deeply you care for them. So I hope you’ll do that when this ceremony is over. And that sounds like an amen from the family and friends section! (applause)Virginia then and now
You graduate at a very interesting and momentous period in Virginia history. I came back from Jamestown Island last night and I’m going back after this. This is the weekend where we commemorate 400 years of modern Virginia history. 400 years ago tomorrow, the English settlers arrived on Jamestown Island and within a very few years the story of America, Native American culture, European culture, and African culture (Africans arriving in 1619), right on those few square miles began what has been the American story of the last 400 years.
Last weekend, as some of you know, my wife and I had the very unusual honor of welcoming Queen Elizabeth to the Capitol and then to Jamestown. And in the course of both last week and then this weekend, I’ve had cause to think about what’s changed in recent Virginia history. You may know the story. Queen Elizabeth came to Jamestown Island in 1957 as we were celebrating our 350th anniversary. And now at over age 80 she’s come back 50 years later.
Virginia’s changed a lot since 1957. We’ve changed a great deal. If we had been here as students of our age in1957, we would have been in a very, very different world, a world that so many in this audience remember.
The first and most obvious difference is that the opportunities for African Americans in this Commonewealth and in this nation in 1957 were very, very limited. Even though the Supreme Court had just struck down the laws in many states, including Virginia, compelling that schooling be segregated -- schools really weren’t integrated. They weren’t integrated for many, many years because of efforts to keep schools segregated here in Virginia and elsewhere.
And so opportunities in education and employment for African American students were extremely limited. Opportunities for women were extremely limited. Extremely limited. Most of the state’s public colleges at this time would not accept women students in 1957.
And it wasn’t just limitations for women and African American students. In 1957 Virginia was at the bottom of the 50 states in the percentage of school age kids who actually were enrolled in school. In 1957 Virginia students attended higher education institutions at only half the national average. In 1957 the economic opportunities available to us had we been here were dramatically less. Per capita income in Virginia was 36th in the nation. And in virtually every measure -- education, economic opportunity, health care -- Virginia was at the back of the pack. We were lagging behind. We were near the very bottom.
How do we look now? No state has had as great a change in its position in the last 50 years as Virginia has. We were 36th in the nation in per capita income when the queen came 50 years ago. Now we’re ninth in the nation. We were below, far below the national average in the percentage of our youngsters that attended higher education 50 years ago; now we’re near the front.
Our K-12 educational system -- because of spectacular teachers including hundreds and thousands that have been trained here at Virginia Union (applause) -- our K-12 system is one that most states admire and try to copy. In fact, get this: Earlier this year Education Week magazine did a survey ranking every state around this question: Where in America will a child born today have the best chance of life success over the course of their entire life? And they ranked Virginia #1 among all of the 50 states. (applause)How Virginia has moved forward
Now, although we still have so much work to do, and while there are still many, many pockets of the state that need greater success and greater investments -- I venture to say that moving from where we were 50 years ago to where we are today has been nothing short of remarkable. And I want to just spend a few minutes as I conclude by asking the question: Why?
What have we done that has changed Virginia so dramatically in the 50 years since Queen Elizabeth came to Jamestown in 1957 and today? And I would venture to say that there are two things that we have done as a Commonwealth that have helped us move and we need to continue to hold onto to move forward.
The first is this: We have wisely recognized the power of education. Of course, in 1957 there were pioneers who understood the power of education. The founders of this college from 1865 through all the years -- lean years and flush years, years where there were few dollars in the bank account and it was hard to pay the bills and folks wondered about whether the doors would stay open. And through good years. Dr. Anderson’s tenure has coincided with a significant increase in the endowment here at the University and so many other advances.
So there were pioneers like Virginia Union University early on. But much of the state --Governors, legislators, leaders -- did not value education. They valued segregation and other things more than education. But in the last 50 years Virginia has realized that the most powerful thing we can do if we want to be successful as a state is invest by investing in a powerful K-12 system, building a network of community colleges.
The community college system started in Virginia in the mid 1960’s. There were none. Now there are nearly 30. The government of India is studying what Virginia has done over the last 40 years to create a community college network. Our public universities are stronger with opportunities for women, minority students and foreign students. And our private universities like VUU continue to shine, forming a great network around the commonwealth.
It has been investments in education - to all you educators - you get the credit for this because it’s been investments and the understanding of the power of education that’s been the first thing that has brought us forward as a Commonwealth.
The second thing is this: We realized that we could not succeed if we were divided one against another. Those rules -- the rules of segregation and Jim Crow that were part of Virginia history literally from the first days at Jamestown -- have been dismantled over the course of the last 50 years, and Virginia Union-trained lawyers, civic leaders, political leaders have played a key role in doing that.
We’ve dismantled those rules that kept African American or women students from having opportunities. And while we have a long way to go to make the promise of equality really real in practice, thank goodness we’ve finally embarked upon that task because no commonwealth, no nation, no continent, no city can ever be as successful as it needs to be when it is divided one against another. And that’s why we’ve been able to come as far as we’ve come.
And so now ( applause ) the issue is, “What’s the challenge for the next 50 years?” If we’ve succeed in the last 50, how do we keep it going?
We do the same things. First, we continue to recognize the power of education and invest in great institutions like Virginia Union. For my part, I’ve been happy as Governor to work with the legislature to increase the Tag Grant Program so that students going to private colleges receive additional help in paying tuition. (applause)
And there’s more that we can do to make that happen. And I pledge to work with Union and others to make that happen. For your part, what you can do is, as alumni, be financially supportive of this institution. We need to invest as private citizens, as alumni, and as policy leaders to keep our education system strong.
And the second thing we’ve got to do is to keep breaking down barriers. We broke down the barriers between each other over the last 50 years. Now the barriers we have to break down are the barriers between us and the rest of the world.
It’s interesting just looking through your graduating class. You’ve got representatives of at least 7 or 8 different nations as well as states all across this country who are part of the graduating class. We’ve got to continue to break down the barriers between Virginia, between our nation, and the nations of the world because we truly live in a global economy these days as is evidenced by things we see every day.
And you know that’s not new. That’s not new. The Jamestown expedition 400 years ago was about global trade and finding new lands and new economic opportunities. So as we break down those barriers between us and the rest of the world, we will be true to an old value and we will continue to thrive in a global world.
Let me just say this and I’ll conclude. As we think about the legacy of Jamestown, it’s easy to think about these explorers 400 years ago who left England and didn’t know what they were going to find.
But I would say to you that even though it’s unlikely that any of you or any of us are going to find new geographic lands, there is still new worlds for you, for you adventurers to discover. There’s new worlds of entrepreneurship and opportunity, there’s new worlds of research and education and knowledge, there’s new worlds of fellowship and brotherhood and reconciliation.
Just as the 104 who arrived 400 years ago tomorrow were brave adventures in the new world, we need brave adventurers today. And there’s no one, there’s no one in this Commonwealth who is better suited to do this than you because of the great education you received at Virginia Union.
Thank you very much and have a great day.
Congratulations.# # # #