Winfrey, Snow Share Power of Compassion

By Valerie Strauss and Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 13, 2007

Yesterday, Howard University made Oprah Winfrey cry.

It happened under a huge blue-and-white tent, amid the cheers and applause of 2,200 soon-to-be graduates of the nation's most prestigious black university.

School President H. Patrick Swygert handed Winfrey an honorary doctorate in humanities, declared her a "citizen of the universe" and added, "We now name you a daughter of Howard University."

And the media mogul, philanthropist, actress, producer and educator welled up, as the students and their families applauded and frantically snapped pictures of her.

"You can receive a lot of awards in your life, but there is nothing better," she said before breaking off to catch an emotional breath, "there is nothing better than to be honored by your own."

She delicately wiped tears from beneath her eyes and accepted a handkerchief from Swygert, who later promised to add it to the university's permanent archives.

Then she delivered a 20-minute commencement address in which she hammered home one of her well-known themes: "I'm here to tell you today, 'Don't worry. Don't worry about it. Relax. . . . All you have to know is who you are.' "

Her grandmother, a maid, once told her, " 'I hope you grow up and find some good white folks to work for.'

"I regret that she didn't live past 1963 and see that I did grow up and get some really good white folks working for me," she said.

America's black youths are in crisis, she said, and she urged everyone to help the less fortunate, as she has done. She cited the $40 million school for girls she has built in South Africa and said it does not have to be difficult to help save a life. "When you see me, you see what is possible," she said.

The crowd loved it, and they cried, too.

"It was like she was talking to us one-on-one," said Nastassia Ramcharan, 23, who had received a master's degree in physical therapy.

"She made you feel like you could be the next Oprah," said Deedee Mitchell, 21, who earned a bachelor's degree in English and plans to teach in D.C. public schools in the fall.

The forecast had been for rain, but the weather turned out to be lovely for Howard's 139th annual commencement, which also honored some of the country's most accomplished African Americans.

More than 30,000 people jammed the university, some arriving hours early for a chance to see Winfrey. There were too many to be seated in the school's main quadrangle, and they were scattered to 11 satellite sites on campus, where the ceremony was beamed in on television.

The processional took more than an hour, with members of the Class of 2007 clad in the long capes and tassled caps that have symbolized commencement ceremonies since the Middle Ages and were designed to help shield the monks and their charges from the chill of medieval structures. In the hot May sun, they functioned as frying pans, driving many to fan themselves with their programs.

On stage to receive an honorary degree was Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard University historian. He was joined by Morehouse College President Walter E. Massey, physicist and educator Julian M. Earls, and humanitarian and business executive Irene Pollin.

Earls got big laughs when he said, "Education without common sense is like a load of books on the back of a jackass."

But no one pretended that the big draw was anyone but Winfrey, who came because of Howard trustee Dianne Atkinson Hudson, the former executive producer of Winfrey's television show who runs the Oprah Winfrey Foundation.

Earls called Winfrey a "dynamic, galactic superwoman," and part of the introduction of Gates mentioned the PBS special he narrated titled "Finding Oprah's Roots."

Swygert confessed to the crowd at one point that Winfrey had quietly chastised him on stage, during someone else's speech, for not publicly recognizing civil rights leader Dorothy Height, who was sitting in the audience near the stage.

Howard's commencement was one of three that took place yesterday in the District. The University of the District of Columbia held its ceremony at Verizon Center, and Catholic University's was at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Catholic's speaker was Tony Snow, the White House press secretary and former Fox News Channel weekend anchor. Snow and Anthony A. Williams, the former mayor of the District, received honorary doctorates.

Snow encouraged the graduates to live life boldly, to "get dirt under your fingernails, scrape your knees."

"You've got a diploma now, you've got a brain -- put them to work," he told the graduates. "The human mind's a wondrous thing. It's restless, eager for action."

He exhorted students to leave their computers and develop off-line relationships: "Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot kiss a cursor."

Befitting the audience, which included Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl and the school's president, the Rev. David M. O'Connell, Snow's speech frequently touched on the role of faith in life. "Faith and reason are knitted together in the human soul. So don't leave home without either one."

Snow mentioned the help that the prayers of others had given him in his struggle with colon cancer, which reemerged this year.

"Never underestimate the power of other people's love and prayer," he said. "When you put someone else at the center of the frame, the entire world changes for you."