FREE SPEECH ZONE:

Anne Franklin Lamar

MUW COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS 2009:

By Anne Franklin Lamar, Class President

MAY 23, 2009 - Good morning and welcome to the 2009 spring commencement ceremony. On behalf of the graduating class, I would like express our honor in celebrating this momentous occasion in our lives with 125th anniversary of our beloved alma mater. I would also like to thank all faculty, staff, family, and friends for your continuous support and dedication that made this day possible. None of this would have been attainable without the love of our families who believed in us from the very beginning and unselfishly allowed us to leave home and pursue our education here at MUW.

What a treasure we have in our faculty and staff! You welcomed us into your classrooms and challenged us to be active in our education and passionate about our discipline. From entire departments to one on one advising, we have experienced nothing less than the most caring and supportive atmosphere a campus community could offer.

Now what can I say about the friends that we have made here at the W? We met each other in Callaway our freshman year, during recruitment and pledging, through involvement in campus organizations, or sitting next to each other in a classroom full of new faces. Look around you now and realize that these are the friends that will forever hold the memories of those crazy nights when we made midnight runs for Red Bull and watched the sun rise as we finished a paper that was due at 8 a.m. that morning. We attended campus events together like the Welty Symposium, annual step shows, and chorale and theatre performances.

We have supported each other when difficult decisions had to be made and laughed about things that only we would understand. But most of all we have experienced the W and all of its many traditions. There are those traditions that we created within our groups of friends that we will still be whispering about at homecoming 20 years from now. Then there are classic W traditions like Freshman Serenade, playing in the fountains on front campus, singing in the cafeteria, class rivalries, and Mag Chain. They connect us to each other and every member of the Long Blue Line. These traditions are what tie us to our university, and as we say goodbye to our friends, professors, and MUW do not let our university fall out of view.

Be an active member of the Long Blue Line, come back for homecoming and other special events. Support your alma mater and help the next generation of W students have the same wonderful experiences that you remember so fondly. Be proud of Mississippi University for Women, her legacy, and what you have achieved here!

As we reflect on our time spent at our beloved alma mater, celebrate our accomplishments at MUW, and honor the 125th anniversary, I leave you with a question proposed by the womanist scholar, Alice Walker, "If the present looks like the past, what does the future look like?"