University of Miami - Ibis Yearbook (Coral Gables, FL)

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1 6 Features Students say final farewells Bv FERNANDO BATTAGLIA heers rang out among the members of the University of Miami1s Class of 1993 when UM President Edward T. Foote II bestowed the 2,328 students with degrees during the University1s commencement ceremonies May 14, 1993. Of the students receiving degrees, 225 graduated with honors - the largest group in UM history. 111m incredibly excited. This is wonderful? Jennifer Carey, who received a bachelor of science degree in communication, said. 21 thought it was a good ceremony. It was long, but that1s great because everybody got carried away? 911m pretty satisfied that I completed my school work? said Dan Perlman, who received his bache- lor1s degrees in art and business management. qt was kind of euphoric and nostalgic to gradu- ate? Elisabeth Kindgren, who graduated with a bachelor of business administration, said. The commencement speaker was Vigdis Finnbogadottir, the president of Iceland since 1980, and the first woman to be elected as the head of state of a nation. President Finnbogadottir also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from' the University. 1 Finnbogadottir spoke about the meanings of words and names, saying that everyone has a duty to preserve language. She said that the Icelandic language is basically unchanged since Viking times. The people of Iceland have a great responsibility to preserve lan- guage because it preserves old, medieval ideas. She said other languages preserve history as well. siWords are not disposable goods? she said. itConservation is becoming a symbol for the gift we have been given and entrusted with the preservation of life itself? The other honorary degree recipients this spring were: I J ane Goodall, the famous English zoologist and

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NW 01 photo by Preston Mack

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Chimpanzee expert I Playwright Edward Albee, author of Whohs Afraid of Virginia Woolf; and A Delicate Balance l A. Leon Higginbotham, Chief Judge emeritus of the US. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and author of In the Matter of Calor: Race and the American Legal Process - The Colonial Period I Dr. Edward W.D. N orton, founder and Chair- man emeritus of UMhs Bascom Palmer Eye Institute I Otis Pitts, Jr., a former Miami police officer named by President Bill Clinton to head a multi-year, $1 billion plan to help South Dade County after Hurricane Andrew photo by J.C. Ridley More than 2,300 students said their farewells to UM on graduation day. l UM graduate and international pop music star Gloria Estefan, who was instrumental in helping raise money for rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Andrew Features 1 7