On hand to receive the Teachers College medal for distinguished service to education at the convocation for Master degree candidates on May 21st, were high profile group of activists who had been involved with many of the landmark events of the civil rights movement. Coretta Scott King, Representative John Lewis of Georgia, the biographer David Levering Lewis, and the family of the Rev. Oliver L. Brown, the chief plaintiff in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling on school desegregation, all addressed the graduates.

This was the first year that the college conferred multiple awards along a single theme. Arthur E. Levine, president of the college, said the selections were made with the expectation that many commencement ceremonies would focus on Sept. 11 and national security. "We wanted to focus on enduring values that were critical before Sept. 11 and remain critical after Sept. 11," he said.

For more information about the speakers, please see the article: Seven Medalists Honored at Convocation Ceremonies .

The article, entitled "Columbia Teachers College Honors Veterans of Civil Rights Era" appeared in the May 22 edition of the New York Times.

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Published Saturday, Jul. 27, 2002