National Civil Rights Museum President Dr. Russell Wigginton urges graduating MC seniors to savor the moment
May 6, 2023
From the Cooper Athletic Center where they posed for a class picture to the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall where they assembled for the opening processional to their seats along Humphreys Court, Saturday’s Commencement ceremony at Maryville College was a whirlwind of activity for 210 graduating students.
Which made it all the more imperative, Dr. Russell Wigginton extolled them during his keynote address, that they soak up every moment, hug, interaction and smile that punctuated such a momentous event.
“Members of the Maryville College Class of 2023, today is all about you, individually and collectively,” said Wigginton, president of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. “I want you to think about that for a second. Cherish this feeling. Hopefully you will have many more magical moments in your lifetime, but don’t underestimate the uniqueness of this one.
“I graduated from Rhodes College on May 7, 1988, and I remember how I and my loved ones felt when my name was called to receive my degree. Looking at the family and friends gathered this morning on your behalf, I can assure you they are beaming with pride for you.”
A Connection to the Past
Wigginton’s Commencement address was one of the numerous high points during the Saturday morning ceremony, which took place on the College lawn between Anderson and Fayerweather Halls before an assembled crowd of family members and loved ones, faculty and staff, and students performing as part of the MC Tartanband and the Maryville College Concert Choir. In his introduction of Wigginton, MC President Dr. Bryan Coker noted that the pair shared an alma mater (Rhodes College) and had spent the past year reconnecting as members of Leadership Tennessee’s Class IX program.
“It is Russ’s stewardship of the National Civil Rights Museum, however, that continues to inspire so many,” Coker said. “As we know all too well, our country continues to struggle with a racial reckoning, a fact made painfully evident by so many tragic incidents across our nation, and the movements which have emerged from those tragedies. Our inability to have difficult conversations regarding the ways in which we can take responsibility for the sins of our country’s past, while striving for a more just and equal future, serves to highlight how critical the mission of the National Civil Rights Museum is and remains.
“Dr. King’s murder was a profound tragedy, and the Lorraine Motel at which it took place could very well have been demolished and built over as a painful reminder of his loss. Instead, the museum that now calls it home, under the leadership of Dr. Wigginton, is proof that tragedies, too, can become teachable moments. As the living, breathing embodiment of the Civil Rights Movement, it allows us to learn lessons from the past, strive toward an equal and just future, and remember the words of Dr. King himself: that ‘we shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’”
Ensuring that the arc continues to bend, Wigginton said in his remarks, will be the work of young adults like the Class of 2023. Noting that the National Civil Rights Museum is as much a tribute to the “400-year ongoing struggle for civil and human rights” as it is a monument to the legacy of Dr. King, Wigginton recalled that many of the memorable moments of that movement were carried out by individuals who were, in the 1960s, the same age as Saturday’s graduates.
“Whether thinking about students who challenged segregation by sitting in at lunch counters or as Freedom Riders traveling on interstate buses throughout the South, or the 250,000 people who journeyed to Washington, DC for the March on Washington, it was people just like you who modeled the courage and conviction necessary to challenge injustice,” Wigginton said. “When comparing the era of 60 years ago to today, I see many of the same characteristics in your generation. I am convinced that it will be you to dictate the course of today’s movement for civil and human rights, just like your peers did 60 years ago, if we are to get to the Promised Land that Dr. King described to us.”
Three Principles to Nurture
Elaborating on the comparisons between the civil rights pioneers of the 1960s and those who would soon rise to cross the stage and claim their diplomas, Wigginton highlighted three principles that he implored the graduates to “protect and nurture” upon leaving Maryville College. First among those, he detailed, is the need to “allow collisions of your head and your heart.” The world is filled with a great deal of noise that tugs at both, and hewing toward one or the other can pull them off course, he pointed out.
“Too often, we are seduced into paying more attention to discord and difference than we do to positivity and commonality,” he said. “With all the noise, it might sometimes seem easier to lock in with laser-like focus on what you think or believe and not have to ponder nuance or context. Don’t do it. Turn back to your Maryville education, which has been much more than a four-year intellectual exercise. You probably thought you were finished with those ‘what is the meaning of life?’ questions when you finished your final exams, but I’m here to tell you they will resurface in countless ways throughout your life journey.
“Continue to allow yourself to simultaneously explore what you think and what you feel, what you can and cannot prove, and what is familiar and unfamiliar. If you are intentional about allowing your heart and mind to collide, you will be more receptive to embracing people and ideas that may be uncomfortable. And you will be able to give yourself the grace and permission to reconsider where you stand on issues that matter to you and reserve the right to change as your life journey unfolds.
“Such a collision will allow you to have joyful experiences that you cannot yet imagine,” he added. “ Furthermore, you will, perhaps unknowingly, motivate others to have the wherewithal to combat moments of discomfort with courage and clarity.”
Such collisions, he continued, make it necessary to upend preconceptions of what personal fortitude means. In advocating that graduates “recognize vulnerability more as strength than as weakness,” he emphasized that while the pursuit of earthly riches or personal power may align with society’s perception of wealth, it does so at the expense of humanity.
“I believe vulnerability is a fundamental ingredient for a more humane society,” Wigginton said. “When you’re vulnerable, you’re better able to see people who are too often unseen. When you’re vulnerable, you are better able to sympathize with people who see and experience the world differently than you. When you’re vulnerable, you see more possibilities and potential than problems. When you’re vulnerable, you tell people you love and care for them for no particular reason. When you are vulnerable, more people will make themselves vulnerable to you.”
Finally, he urged the Class of 2023 to understand that “the journey is at least as important as the destination.” The pursuit of a degree is often “destination-focused,” an endeavor made noble by the worthiness of the objective, as well as one that will be familiar in future work to achieve similar goals. However, he added, taking the route less traveled reveals sights previously unseen that help those who choose to take them to broaden their perspectives and worldviews.
“Allow yourself to seek and discover new twists and turns along your personal route, all the while appreciating the views that you will discover along the way,” he said.
In closing, he gave graduating seniors one final “homework” assignment:
“You don’t have to turn it in, and it won’t be graded,” he said. “Sometime over the next few days, try to imagine coming back to Maryville College in 2073 for your 50th reunion and being asked to list 10 moments over the last half century that brought you indescribable joy.
“You might be surprised by what makes your list. Many of the items on your list will undoubtedly come true. Whatever the makeup of your list, be sure to include that feeling that you had on May 6, 2023.”
Maryville College Faculty Recognized
Wigginton’s keynote address was one of numerous highlights of the Commencement ceremony. During the acknowledgment of the faculty and staff, Dr. Dan Klingensmith, vice president and dean of the College, presented two faculty members for outstanding service during the 2022-23 academic year. In presenting the awards, Klingensmith noted that the honors “recognize the commitment and passion of the teachers who have prepared these graduates for lives as citizens, leaders and educated persons.”
MC juniors and seniors nominate the recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award, which was presented this year to Dr. Traci Haydu, professor of exercise science and chair of the College’s Division of Health Sciences and Outdoor Studies. Student feedback, Klingensmith noted, praised Haydu’s efforts to “meet her students where they are and set up her classes so that everyone has the best chance to be successful.”
“In fact, I read quite a lot of student comments praising her for her flexibility, kindness and humor,” he said. “To that, I would have to add that she is energetically dedicated to building educational opportunities for students in her field. Along the way, she has recruited and trained talented younger faculty, some of whom have won these awards recently. Ultimately, though, what students praise about her is not her skill as an institution builder or ability to foster committed teachers, but her own humor, quiet warmth, lack of pretension and dedication to their learning.”
Dr. Carl Gombert, a professor of art, was named the runner-up for the Outstanding Teacher Award, and given Gombert’s ubiquitous presence in both the Maryville College and broader communities as an artist, musician and colorful personality, it’s little wonder that he’s a favorite of students, Klingensmith said.
“(Gombert), said one student, ‘is one of the best and most iconic professors on our campus,’” Klingensmith said. “Others praised his easygoing manner, his patience and his ability to engage students constructively on sensitive topics. ‘He was the kindest human I’ve ever met — a literal king. Please give him the world; he has been so nice and kind and amazing this whole semester’ — that’s another student’s comment.”
Charge to the Class of 2023
The opening of the Commencement ceremony included an invocation by interim campus minister Jamie Webster and remarks from two members of the graduating class: Allie Osorio Candelario ’23, senior class president; and Maddie Taylor ’23, president of the MC Student Government Association. Both noted the unique challenges faced by their classmates along their educational journey, the impact of COVID-19 chief among them.
“We have overcome so many obstacles in our lives, whether personal or national,” said Candelario, delivered some of her remarks in Spanish to honor her family and the families of other Latino graduates.
“We were faced with the uncertainty of having a normal college experience,” she added. “That one day after Spring break in 2020, we were supposed to come back and finish the semester in person but did not. Yet look at us now, in our graduation gowns with our cords and stoles.”
“To the faculty, staff, and administration of Maryville College, thank you for your thoughtful care and support of each of us as we navigated an atypical four years,” Taylor added. “I think I can say on behalf of our class that we would not have accomplished a fraction of what we have without you. You are the heart and soul of Maryville College, and while we might not always say it, thank you!
“To our family and friends, you are our heart and motivation. Your support has been our lifeboat through the most treacherous of waters. We know this day means a lot to us, but just as much, if not even more, to you.”
After degrees were conferred to this year’s graduates, Coker issued a final directive to the new members of the Maryville College Alumni Association:
“You are now the latest in a long and distinguished line of alumni, spanning over 200 years,” said Coker, voice overcome with emotion. “I often say that our greatest responsibility here, as a College, is to help you each find your voices. I hope you each have found your voices here — your voices for what is true, what is right, what is beautiful, what is kind, and what is just. I hope and pray that you will go forth into the world, raising those voices — because our world certainly needs your voices now, more than ever before.
“Go forth from our campus gates, knowing that you will always have a home here… here where Chilhowee’s lofty mountains pierce the Southern blue. Go forth knowing that good, thoughtful, and loving words have been spoken for you here — here in this place filled with hopes, dreams, teachers, mentors, coaches, scholars, and friends.”
