St. Edward's University News (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 1, 1997 Page: 2 of 12
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PAGE 2 ST. EDWARD’S UNIVERSITY NEWS
SUMMER 1997
CAMPUS NEWS
Commencement 1997
Graduates urged to work to empower the poor
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Susan Hill, right, gets help pinning her cap from fellow graduate Lindsay Guthrie.
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Ernie Cortes gets his message across in a powerful way, as he tells graduates to “be
different, be challenging, be agitational, be wonderful.”
get married. Johnson’s husband, St.
Edward’s trustee Ian Turpin, presented
Director of Publications
and Public Relations
Brenda Thompson
Past Chairperson
Gregory A. Kozmetsky
CEO, KDT Industries, Inc.
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Treasurer
Jim Smith
Financial Advisor
Vice Chairperson
Richard P. Daly, CSC
Executive Director
Texas Catholic Conference
Editor
Dennis Poust
Secretary
Ben F. Vaughan III
Attorney
Graves, Dougherty, Hearon
& Moody
Officers
Chairperson
Dealey Decherd Herndon
President
Herndon, Stauch & Associates
Father Claude Grou, CSC, talks after Baccalaureate Mass with two graduates who are
Holy Cross candidates, Matthew McKenna, left, who is studying to be a priest, and
Andrew Herrera, who is planning to become a brother.
ST. EDWARD’S UNIVERSITY
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Carolyn Gallagher
Ygnacio D. Garza
Timothy F. Gavin
Robert W. Gee
Rev. Elmer Holtman
Frank W. McBee Jr.
Myra A. McDaniel
Amata Miller, IHM
William Nick, CSC
Michael E. Patrick
Theodore R. Popp
William Renfro
James W. Sharman Jr.
Azie Taylor-Morton
Carol L. Thompson
Ian J. Turpin
Rev. David T. Tyson, CSC
F. Gary Valdez
Melba Whatley
Peter Winstead
Patricia A. Hayes, Ex Officio
Alumni Notes Editor
Sharon Ward
Bi
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Ina fiery speech which ignited St.
I Edward’s University’s commence-
l ment ceremony, political organizer
Ernesto Cortes admonished the new
graduates to retain their Judeo-Christian
and American traditions and to work to
bring the poor and powerless into full
participation in the life of the commu-
nity.
Cortes, the Southwest regional
director of the Industrial Areas Founda-
tion (IAF), was one of two honorary
degree recipients at the May 10 cer-
emony for the 721 members of the
Class of 1997; the other was Father
Claude Grou, superior general of the
Congregation of Holy Cross.
Among the graduates was Luci
Baines Johnson, the daughter of the late
President Lyndon B. Johnson. Her
mother, former first lady Lady Bird
Johnson, and 34 other family members
watched the 50-year-old mother of three
receive her New College degree 30
years after dropping out of college to
her with her diploma.
After thanking the university, his
family and the IAF, Cortes’ voice rose
to a shout as he quoted the words of the
prophet Ezekial who said, “The men of
Sodom were condemned because they
did not strengthen the hand of the poor.”
As he often does, Cortes invoked
biblical messages throughout his
address. He told the Genesis story of
Issac’s son Esau selling his birthright to
his twin brother, Jacob, in exchange for
food.
“You and I, we are Esau in many
ways,” he said. “We are willing to give
up our birthright for material things. We
live in a culture that says material things
are the end all and the be all. And I’m
not saying they are not important; of
course it’s important to have a good life.
But there is more to life than our
material things; there is our birthright.”
The American birthright includes full
participation in the community, as well
as a distinctive political tradition, he
said.
“That political tradition is all about
the Articles of Confederation and the
Declaration of Independence and the
struggle for revolution of our forefa-
thers,” he thundered. “That tradition is
about the abolitionist movement, the
labor movement and the women’s
Members
Donald J. Blauvelt, CSC
Guy Bodine
William R. Camp Jr.
Tommy N. Cowan
Isabella Cunningham
Walter A. DeRoeck
Trustees Emeriti
Charles Betts
Edward M. Block
Mike W. Butler
Leslie Clement
Fred D. George
Lavon P. Philips
Charles Schulze
J. Neils Thompson
George Van Houten
A
StEDWARDS
UNIVERSITY
AUSTIN-TEXAS
Published quarterly by the
SEU Office of University
Relations for alumni and
friends. Send comments,
story ideas or letters to:
St. Edward’s University News
University Relations
St. Edward’s University
3001 South Congress Ave.
Austin, Texas 78704;
phone: 512/416-5814;
fax: 512/416-5845; email:
dennisp@admin.stedwards.edu
sharonwa@ admin.stedwards.edu
Check out St. Edward’s
University on the Internet:
http://www.stedwards.edu or
http://www.CitySearch.com
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movement, the New Deal and the Great
Society. And that tradition is all about
the war on poverty and the civil rights
movement...
“But what is most important about
the American political tradition, from
my point of view, is enabling the people
who Aristotle wanted to leave out of the
public square — immigrants, women,
slaves, people who work with their
hands. The American political tradition
is all about those people being able to
have status, and place, and recognition,
and to be able to participate fully in the
life of the community. You are the
beneficiaries; you have inherited that
tradition.”
Cortes’ message was echoed by the
other speakers, who urged the new
graduates to use their degrees to make
the world a better place.
Father Grou, who is of French
Canadian background and is stationed
in Rome, paid homage to the Congrega-
tion of Holy Cross, with whom he said
he shares his honorary degree.
With a heavy French accent, he told
the graduates, “You have acquired
skills, you have acquired knowledge,
but, above all, you have been given
values.”
“As you have learned to understand
more and more about the world in
which you live, you have been invited
to work so that this world will be a
place of justice, of peace, and to make it
a place where the small people, the
poor, will be more respected, will be
more cared for.”
Similarly, valedictorian Sean Clark
Sebesta, ’97, told his classmates: “With
increased knowledge comes responsi-
bility. We are the weapons that cut
through the darker side of ignorance
and we are the bearers of light so that
others can see.”
In a poignant moment at the end of
the ceremony, an honorary baccalaure-
ate degree was conferred posthumously
on Blakely J. Thompson of Houston.
Thompson, a theatre arts major who
would have graduated this year, died of
a brain seizure Feb. 23.
His mother, Rhona Fain, accepted
his degree from President Patricia
Hayes. ■
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St. Edward's University News (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 1, 1997, newspaper, June 1, 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1528724/m1/2/?q=music: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Edward’s University.