Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Saturday told more than 1,000 students receiving graduate degrees that Connecticut and the nation needed them to be successful so that economic and humanitarian recoveries can continue to take shape.
“These are interesting times,” said Malloy, who was elected governor in November and for the past three months has barnstormed the state pitching his deficit reduction plan. “We have been thoroughly challenged, and in many ways we have fallen behind other nations. But when I attend graduations and talk to the fine young people coming out of school, I am confident we will succeed. Together, I am confident we will rebuild our state and out nation.”
Malloy’s 15-minute speech was one of 13 delivered during the weekend, headlined by actress and human rights activist Mia Farrow, who addressed graduates from the School of Fine Arts. Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra also spoke, as did political science professor Ernie Zirakzadeh, who addressed nearly 3,000 graduates of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences after their planned speaker, William Trueheart, president and chief executive officer of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, was called to a family emergency.
Students in the schools of medicine and dental medicine will graduate May 15 at 2 p.m. at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. Renowned forensic scientist Henry Lee will be the speaker. And law school graduates will celebrate on the grounds of the UConn School of Law on May 22 at 11 a.m. Attorney General George Jepsen will be the speaker.
Overall, more than 7,000 degrees will be awarded this year.
Malloy, Connecticut’s 88th governor, was formerly mayor of Stamford, playing a critical role in the construction of UConn’s downtown Stamford campus, which opened in 1998. He has earned accolades – and brickbats – since he took office and began a whirlwind tour of the state, explaining his plan to erase a more than $3.3 billion deficit in the 2011-12 fiscal year. He made no mention of the state budget during his address, choosing to focus on the graduates and the future.
“Don’t forget your obligation to participate in your community, to celebrate it,” he said. “Let us not become an increasingly selfish society; let us not forget those who came before us and worked so hard to give us all that we have; let us not forget our obligation to the entire world; let us not turn a blind eye to Africa, to South America, to play a role in the world; let us not forget to celebrate democracy, freedom, and personal choice.”
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Several hours later, Farrow, selected by Time magazine in 2008 as one of the most influential people in the world, continued that theme, telling students graduating from the School of Fine Arts that responsibility is the most important single word she could teach her children, and the most important word the graduates should take away with them.
“Responsibility to our families, our communities, to the planet we have inherited, and to our brothers and sisters everywhere within the human family,” she said.
Farrow has traveled to the Darfur region of the Sudan many times during the past seven years, writing extensively about the genocide in the country. She blogs and posts analysis on her website, and she speaks regularly in the United States and Canada about human rights.
Farrow spoke passionately about how she first became struck by the conflict and genocide in Darfur, and how she was uplifted by the spirit of the nation’s people.
“I think of their courage, their resilience, their grace, and the fact that they can hope so fervently – even when they don’t know whether they will survive the night, they hope. So feeling hopeless or helpless is a luxury I don’t feel entitled to,” she said.
“Remember this – our own feelings of hopelessness and helplessness are our own worst enemies. They are the enemies of all progress,” she added.
Farrow also has won numerous awards for her many roles in television and movies, including starring roles in television’s Peyton Place and the movies Rosemary’s Baby, John & Mary, and a variety of Woody Allen movies, including Hannah & Her Sisters and Broadway Danny Rose.
