50 Years a Bearcat

To the 2593 members of the University of Cincinnati Class of 1967:

June 15, 2017, is the 50th anniversary of our commencement. It was a bitter-sweet event. As a result of civil unrest in Cincinnati, Ohio National guardsmen with machine guns circled the stadium. The Cincinnati Police were there as well. The next morning’s Enquirershowed a photograph of patrols observing the graduates as we marched in. (I wanted to use that photo-- which I still have in its yellowed state-- in my book. Unfortunately, I was not able to get permission from the Enquirer.) For the first time in UC's history, graduation became optional. Most graduates attended, however. Mike Patton, the News Record columnist and future member of the Peace Corps, was the senior orator. Justice William Richardson, UC Law graduate and Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court was the keynote speaker. His major message regarded Asia: “Equally important to Asia and the Western World is the fact that our military assistance programs have denied, and continue to deny, the communists access to the vital resource of South-East Asia.” I was surrounded by my friends of four years who majored in Secondary Education. We could have opened our own high school-- we had every field of study covered. Most of us had already signed contracts with various school districts. A few were off to graduate schools from Virginia to California. Nobody had college debt. Nobody seemed concerned about health care. Nobody was worried about radical Islamic terrorism. Our concerns centered on the Vietnam Conflict, the draft, civil rights, and the future of our city. Quite a few out-of-town graduates were packed up and ready to leave the minute the ceremony ended. Afraid of Cincinnati chaos, far-away parents and relatives had stayed home. A few of my good friends couldn’t stay to retrieve cap and gown deposits. When I left the stadium, I was loaded down with their attire. The next day, accompanied by my dad, I went to the bookstore, returned the gowns, and mailed my friends their refunds. So, here we are 50 years later. The education I received at the University of Cincinnati was the foundation of my adult life. Thirty years of teaching was good to me. How about you?