President's Address

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT (23 May 1985 - UA RG 285, Box 2, File 6)

Your Honour, Your Worship, Distinguished Platform Party, Distinguished Faculty, Distinguished Graduands, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:

May I welcome everyone to the 156th Encaenia of The University of New Brunswick. A special greeting to all of you who are graduating today: you who are glad it's over, and you who wish it could go on for a year or two more; you who have made your decisions about what to do next, and you who must soon decide; you who are lovers, requited and unrequited, and you who quit before you got quited; you who are nervous that you might trip when crossing the stage to receive your diploma, and you who are worried you might forget to bow to His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor; you who are sure that your mortarboards are going to fall off at an embarrassing moment, and you who resent what these sill black hats have already done to your fine hairdo; you who just remembered the overdue books you forgot to return to the Library and you who think that speeches on occasions like this are always too long and who fear I'm never going to finish this tedious greeting. Have I missed anyone? If I have, I suggest you see your Dean later and find out who and what you are. Chances are you need another year or two at UNB.

All graduations are special, but this one is very special, for with this ceremony we begin officially the celebration of our bicentenary. Established by an Order-in-Council on December 13, 1785, as the Provincial Academy of Arts and Sciences, UNB is the first chartered provincial university in Canada, a distinction we plan to mark in a variety of ways in the year ahead.

Bicentennials are a time to show pride in and give thanks for past achievements. And we at UNB have reason enough to be proud and to be thankful in this our 200th year. Most of all today, however, we are proud of you who are graduating. And you too can be proud of what you have accomplished; you will also, I know, be thankful for the good folk and good fortune  that have made your success possible. Since many of these  good folk are here today, perhaps this would be as good a time as any to say thank you to them. Would all those parents, grandparents, husbands, wives, whomever, who have helped and supported any student graduating today, please stand so that, together, we may acknowledge your contribution to this graduation.

There is another special group I should like to acknowledge at this time. It has been said of universities that by their graduates ye shall know them. I can think of no better way that this University might be known than through the achievements and loyalty of the Class of '35. Present with us today, on the occasion of their fiftieth anniversary, are some members of that class, together with Class President Bob Ogilvie. I should like them now to stand for appropriate recognition.

Finally, may I acknowledge someone who isn't here - our chancellor, Lady Aitken. The recent death of her husband, Sir Max Aitken, himself a former Chancellor of UNB and the person for whom the Aitken Centre is named, has prevented her from being with us. She has asked me, however, to extend to everyone present, and especially the graduands, her warmest best wishes. I do so with pleasure, and may I add my own.