Philosopher Martha Nussbaum Inspires UNC Asheville
Graduates with Address on Religious Tolerance and Liberal Learning;
580 Students Graduate
Noted philosopher and
author Martha Nussbaum spoke to an engaged audience of some 5,500 people
Saturday at UNC Asheville’s commencement ceremony on the campus’ main
quadrangle. In her speech, Nussbaum challenged the 580 graduates to
apply their liberal arts education to solving the challenge of religious
intolerance and hatred. She urged the students to action, saying “the
type of liberal education you have received at UNC Asheville provides
one of the most hopeful remedies.”
Nussbaum, one of the nation’s top liberal arts educators, presented a
strong case for religious tolerance, drawing on a number of hopeful
examples spanning events in the third century B.C.E. through the
establishment of the U.S. Constitution. “And yet, intolerance flourishes
in virtually every nation,” she said. “ . . . Why is religious
intolerance so persistent? And what can modern democracies do about it?
The desire to assert supremacy over others is a deeply rooted tendency
in human beings.”
“ . . . One part of combating religious intolerance is good laws. . . .
But law is only one part of the solution to the problem. . . An even
more important part is education, which forms the hearts and minds of
young citizens, and thus provides law with essential support and life. I
now want to argue that our traditional concept of liberal education is
well placed to advance religious respect and equality.”
“ . . . Here at UNC Asheville, you have not only prepared yourselves for
jobs, you have also received a liberal education,” she said. “What does
that mean? Well, in its most general form, it means an education for
freedom, an education that ‘liberates’ your minds so that you can take
charge of your own thinking and become people who stand for something,
not passive mouthpieces for tradition and habit.”
“. . . Modern societies need all the help they can get if they are going
to combat the religious tensions that are such a painful part of our
current situation, as they have been of humanity’s entire history. We
need the help of good laws. But also, and above all, we need the active
minds of young people, informed and stimulated by a liberal education,
if we are ever to live in a world in which we confront the tendencies to
humiliation, oppression, and hatred that will always be with us, in the
name of a future of equal respect and brotherhood. Congratulations. May
you take what you have learned into the world, and create that future,”
she said in closing.
During the commencement ceremony, Nussbaum was awarded the honorary
degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund
Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of
Chicago Law School. A leader in the field of the humanities, she has
also taught at Harvard, Brown, Stanford and Oxford universities and
currently holds appointments in the University of Chicago’s Law School,
Philosophy Department and Divinity School. She has written or edited
more than 20 books. Her text, “Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense
of Reform in Liberal Education,” has won several awards and is used in
UNC Asheville’s Humanities Program.
Also receiving honorary degrees
were celebrated Tony Award-winning
costume designer William Ivey Long and revered traditional Cherokee
potter Amanda Swimmer.
Three students were presented UNC Asheville's highest student
recognitions.
Kimberly Ann Gentry, a Spanish major from Asheville, received the
William and Ida Friday Award for Community Service. Gentry was the
founder of the student Hispanic group, Hispanic Outreach for Learning
Awareness (HOLA). She also worked in UNC Asheville’s Multicultural
Student Program office. Off campus, Gentry is a volunteer in the
Asheville City and Buncombe County school systems, mentoring to Hispanic
students and encouraging them to further their education goals.
Kevin Arthur Perret-Gentil, a management major from the Netherland
Antilles, was presented the A.C. Reynolds Award and the Thomas D.
Reynolds Prize for Leadership and Campus Service. He has been active in
a number of campus organizations, including intramural athletics, the
Management Association, Campus Commission and Senior Leadership Council.
Perret-Gentil also served for two years as president of the
International Student Association, helping it to become one of the
strongest and most active groups on campus. In addition, he worked for
several years as an intern in the Student Life and Campus Life
departments, volunteering hundreds of each semester to enrich campus
life.
Margaret Mao Alvarez, a literature major from Fletcher, was named the
recipient of the Manly Wright Award, which is presented to the student
who is first in scholarship. Alvarez is summa cum laude graduate with
departmental distinction. One nomination letter stated, “She brings a
creative and innovative energy to her work. Her writing is often
dazzling in its originality and the quality of her essays stands on par
with published work by professionals.” Alvarez plans to pursue a career
in law.
The Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award went to Virginia Derryberry,
Undergraduate Research Programs director and associate professor of Art.
Derryberry, who joined the UNC Asheville faculty in 1996, is an actively
exhibiting artist. Her paintings are in the collections of the Carnegie
Museum of Art, the Tennessee State Museum, the Morris Museum of Art, the
West Virginia Permanent Collection and in such corporate collections as
Nationsbank, HBO and the Nashville International Airport.
UNC Asheville Class of 2005 Facts
Total number of graduates: 580
Gender
Male: 40.5%
Female: 59.5%
Age
Youngest graduate: 18
Oldest graduate: 56
Average age: 24.4
Years to Graduate
Shortest time: 3
Longest time: 18
Average time: 4.6
Origin
Percent from Buncombe County: 33.6%
Percent from WNC: 56%
Percent from Piedmont: 29.15
Percent from Eastern North Carolina: 4.1%
Percent from out-of-state: 10.7%
Number of states represented, excluding North Carolina:
16
Number of countries represented, excluding the U.S.: 6
Most Popular Majors
Psychology: 13.1%
Management and Accountancy: 10.4%
Literature and Language: 8.1%
Mass Communication: 7.0%
Environmental Studies: 6.5%
HELPFUL LINKS:
Media Contacts:
- Merianne Epstein, UNC Asheville
Public Information Director, 828/251-6676
- Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director,
828/251-6526
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