PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (May 17, 2023) – Ruth J. Simmons, Prairie View A&M University’s eighth president, still remembers when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. The news was a shock and a turning point for her. Facing challenges and difficulties as a college student herself at an HBCU decades ago, she shared about wanting to quit.
The death of MLK, however, woke her up.
“I felt unworthy to complain about picayune inconveniences when one so dedicated to making the world better for me was willing to give his life,” Dr. Simmons shared at the PVAMU’s 141st Spring Commencement Convocation on May 13. “So, I renewed my commitment to do what I could in my turn to make a better world.”
Simmons, immediate past president of PVAMU, returned to campus Saturday morning to give an impassioned speech to over 1,000 candidates for graduation. She acknowledged the “perils of the present moment” facing the graduating class who had already faced so much in the last few years alone.
“You leave this place at a moment when we’re all reckoning with unimaginable events that point to the confused state of the polity,” she told an enraptured audience. They are embarking into the world at a time when “hard-fought rights are being re-litigated.” She, nevertheless, encouraged them of their place and purpose in such a world: “I, for one, am confident that through your intelligence, your generosity, your open-mindedness, and your tolerance, you are prepared to play an important role in healing this nation.”
The 2023 class has overcome so much more than the typical college graduate of the past: a global pandemic, post-pandemic uncertainty, racial and social upheaval, economic instability, historic inflation, and an ongoing war in Ukraine, disrupting daily life worldwide.
At times emotional, tissues clutched in hand, Simmons, who stepped down earlier this spring, spoke about her undiminishing love for the University and her abiding faith in its students.
She highlighted their courage, endurance, and resilience: “Having come through this difficult period, your intelligence and your character have been tested. Your adaptability and fortitude have held up, and you stayed on the path to this achievement that we celebrate today.”
But above all, she urged them to remember. “Remember your freedom and the opportunities you enjoy have been purchased at a great cost. You owe to those who came before you and those who will follow you the obligation to pay attention, to speak up for access, and to do all you can to ensure that the freedoms we enjoy today are preserved and enhanced.”
Graduating, she said, is more than tossing your cap into the air on graduation day or hanging the framed diploma on the wall for all to see. “Don’t just do that. Remembering the burden of being educated, raise your voice. Raise it in defiance of those who’ve returned this country to 19th-century ideas and biases,” Simmons told the audience to thunderous applause.
Let the history of Prairie View further inspire you, she told them. “Let your conduct reflect the amazingly courageous history of this place.” Be true to yourself and hold strong to your values, not forgetting where you come from or who you are, Simmons advised. “Having studied here, you carry with you a stronger sense than most of what could be lost if we give in to the forces of darkness,” she said. “Those who benefit from the bravery of pioneers who removed barriers to freedom and opportunity do not get a free pass.”
Perhaps like the 1968 assassination of MLK, the 2020 murder of George Floyd may alight this next generation graduating into a precipice of a world on edge. Simmons charged graduates: “It is your turn to stand up, to insist on equal rights for all and defy those who would debase and violate the rights of others.”
Despite thundering storms delaying the ceremony and forcing it to be relocated to the University’s “Baby Dome,” 1,008 students walked the stage. And despite the challenges of the last four years, PVAMU awarded 837 bachelor’s, 153 master’s, and 18 doctorates. In addition, nearly one-third of undergraduate graduates identified themselves as first-generation college students.
This spring, PVAMU also produced its biggest class of doctoral candidates, thanks to various University measures, such as recruiting more highly qualified faculty for tenured and tenure-track and increasing tuition and fee support, James M. Palmer, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, said in a press release.
This semester’s notable graduates include Jordan Poston, known as “Mr. Senior” from Dallas, who is headed to a Fortune Global 500 company. Another Spring 2023 grad, Zian Richmond, is a criminal justice major who graduated a year early and is headed to law school. Houston native Morgan Redd join the MD Anderson Cancer Center as an oncology stem cell transplant nurse.
Simmons did not doubt the graduating students’ abilities and potential to reach the highest heights. However, she called on them to go beyond professional goals and career aspirations to become the next frontiers who change the world.
“Those who came before you at Prairie View, who fought for your rights, now speak to you across the ages,” Simmons said. “Can you hear them?” The crowd of thousands sat in silence, listening. “Listen to their voices and contemplate their good works. This nourishment gives you the courage beyond what you thought you possessed.”
Where would we be today, she posed, without the dream of MLK and the courage of Rosa Parks? “You’ve been truly privileged to have the education that others’ efforts afforded you,” Simmons said. “Now, go. And make it mean something. Use your voice.”
By Christine Won
PVAMU Commencement Statistics (Spring 2023)
Number of degrees (by college/school)
- College of Agriculture and Human Sciences: 58
- School of Architecture: 59
- Marvin D. and June Samuel Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences: 237
- College of Business: 150
- Whitlowe R. Green College of Education: 173
- Roy G. Perry College of Engineering: 169
- College of Juvenile Justice: 64
- College of Nursing: 82
- Undergraduate Studies: 16
Number of degrees (by in-state, out-of-state, international)
- In-state: 871
- Out-of-state: 105
- International: 32
Percentage of degrees awarded to first-generation students (undergraduate):
- 29%
*Graduation numbers as of 05/10/23; they are subject to change.
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