Nick Clooney receives Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree

May 8, 2007 by admin
Filed under Family, Friends and Co-Stars

Commencement Recognizes Largest Graduating Class

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 6, 2007) - The University of Kentucky today recognized a record number of candidates for undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees, at its 140th Commencement in Lexington Center’s Rupp Arena. The event honored more than 6,300 students who completed their degrees in May 2007, December 2006 and August 2006.

Broadcast journalist and Kentuckian Nick Clooney addressed the graduating class, telling the group “don’t be afraid to challenge with an open mind what you think you know, but hold tenaciously to the knowledge what survives the challenge.”

He told the graduates they are an important part of Kentucky and its place in the world. “None of this could have happened, and none of it will ultimately succeed, unless Kentucky’s intellectual centers – pre-eminently the University of Kentucky – continue to raise the bar for what we expect from ourselves,” Clooney said. “The energy released here will ripple through our communities, our Commonwealth and our nation for years to come.”

A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame and Ohio Television Hall of Fame, Clooney’s career has included reporter, anchor, managing editor and news director positions at television stations in Lexington, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Buffalo, and Los Angeles. He also served as host of the American Movie Classics cable-TV channel and most recently has been a regular columnist for the Cincinnati Post and Kentucky Post. Clooney has now joined his actor son George Clooney as an activist for the refugees of the Darfur region of Sudan where hundreds of thousands of residents were violently driven away in a massive ethnic cleansing.

Clooney noted that good things are happening with the current generation of students. He said 20 years ago when he visited college campuses to talk about journalism, too many students only wanted to know how much money an anchorman made. “It was very discouraging,” Clooney said. But in the last year of speaking about journalism and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Clooney said he’s seeing students want to tackle world problems. “Don’t look now, but there may be a new ‘greatest generation’ on the way. Maybe the times are demanding it.”

Three Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees were presented during Commencement to Clooney, Juanita W. Fleming and Virginia Gaines Fox. [Source]

UK grads say goodbye
Asked to examine ‘baggage’ of life
By Jennifer Hewlett

Nick Clooney told hundreds of graduating University of Kentucky students yesterday not to be afraid to challenge with an open mind what they think they know.

Clooney said he “knew” a lot as a young man, but now finds it easy to understand what his paternal grandfather, a former Maysville mayor, meant when he said: “It ain’t what you don’t know that hurts you. It’s what you know that ain’t so.”

Clooney, 73, a retired Cincinnati television newsman and a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, was the guest speaker at UK’s 140th commencement, held at Rupp Arena.

He said that as a young man, he learned his life expectancy was 62; that the United States would have to go to war with the Soviet Union; that black Americans were perfectly content on their own side of town and in their own schools; and that the only thing women truly wanted was a dishwasher and 4.5 children.

“I have spent a substantial part of my life — too much of it — unlearning things that ain’t so,” he said.

But he said that not everything he knew as a young man had to be unlearned, including that he was responsible for his own actions; he was supposed to take care of his family, which ultimately included everyone; he had to be fair; and he must keep his word.

He asked the graduates on one hand what “baggage” — prejudices, misconceptions and anger — they were carrying out into the world, and, on the other hand, what “marvels” had been unlocked in their minds and hearts at UK and in their homes, churches and elsewhere that would take them places no one had yet dreamed of.

Clooney’s speech included a mention of the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. He and his son, actor George Clooney, are activists for refugees of that region.

Years ago, too many students only wanted to know how much money an anchorman made, Clooney said. Today, students are asking how to fix problems in journalism and Darfur, and are doing something about those problems.

A total of 4,019 students are receiving degrees from UK this month. Yesterday’s ceremony was to honor them and 2,370 others who received degrees in August and December 2006. About 700 students receiving bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees attended yesterday’s event, which ended with fireworks, streamers and the music of UK’s fight song.

A couple of graduating students carried signs saying, “44 years of empty promises; Renovate the Reynolds Building” as they marched to their seats on the arena floor.

The signs referred to UK’s massive art studio building that once was a tobacco warehouse, which some say is in a state of disrepair and is unsafe.

“We’ve seen evidence of people getting sick,” said Talena Sanders, 23, of Springfield, who received a bachelor of fine arts degree in art studio yesterday. “It’s not even up to building code. … It’s a routine occurrence to leave from there with a chemical headache.”

Jonah Brown, president of UK student government for this school year, said that “Although graduation is a tremendous goal that we have achieved, it is not the completion of our purpose. In many ways, it is only the beginning, for there are many more challenges that lie ahead.”

He told the Class of 2007 to “Go home tonight and dream new dreams; wake up in the morning and face new challenges, and live every day of your life for the success for which we all are destined.” [Source]