The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/commencement/page/3/)
Nye told graduates of Cornell University’s class of 2019 that this time was the most exciting time of human history. In a speech littered with science jokes and references to his eponymous show, Nye touched on everything from climate change to education for women.
The Cornell Convocation Committee delayed its announcement of the 2019 convocation speaker Thursday, attributing the last-minute change to a contentious Student Assembly vote earlier in the evening.
The relationship between ends and beginnings is parasitic. For something to end, it must already exist. For something to begin, it must not yet be. Burrowed deep inside the ends of things dwells a promise of the new. That promise — of a beginning — must slowly consume the ending within which it is sheltered until it is material and its host is not.
She noted that her presence as a woman of color on the stage was a shift from the original vision of the founders of the University.
“Today the political climate only underscores the importance of renewing and reaffirming Cornell’s ‘any person’ legacy — our commitment to equal opportunity,” Kotlikoff said.
“You are the best our country has to offer, so please go out and be generous and be good,” he said to the Class of 2016.
As the graduating members of the Class of 2016 ready themselves for Commencement, we took a look at the top stories from the past four years at Cornell. Read more in our special graduation issue. Spring 2016: President Elizabeth Garret Dies at 52, Less Than One Year After Assuming Office
Cornell’s first female president died of colon cancer on March 6. “She was the quintessential Cornellian,” Board of Trustees chair Robert Harrison ’76 said. Jan.
Kotlikoff has served as the University’s acting president since Feb. 19, after President Elizabeth Garrett took a leave of absence to undergo surgery for colon cancer.
Though the snow piled high on Saturday afternoon, blanketing the campus in white, 859 students inside Barton Hall bled Carnelian red as they walked across the stage during the Recognition Ceremony for January Graduates. Friends and family cheered them on as the students — many of whom finished their degrees early, late or from graduate school — received recognition for their milestones.
Of the graduates, 40 percent were earning graduate degrees and 19 percent of students came from outside the United States. All undergraduate and graduate schools were represented at the ceremony, with each school’s graduates wearing different colored tassels.