Speech Delivered to Columbia University

Sybil Shainwald

 

Good afternoon, Members of the Board, Faculty, Graduating Students, and Guests.

 

I have to confess to all of you – Dean Pinkham, the Board of Trustees, members of the faculty, relatives, friends and students, that my initial response to this invitation was a strong sense of pleasure at participating personally in this commencement ceremony, and profound gratitude for receiving this auspicious award.  This school has an enviable rostrum of graduates, a commitment to excellence and an extraordinary record for academics.  What a wonderful experience, I thought, to return to the place where I had the most stimulating and intellectual experiences with an advisor named Professor Richard Hofstadter.

 

But the next response was more measured.  What is there to say to this particular class at this particular time?  You are already aware that the past is important to both understand and preserve.  You already know the strategies available for appraising the historical, economic and cultural world that you have inherited.

 

But the past is already in debt to the mismanaged present.  As men and women with advanced degrees from a prestigious university, you have an obligation to rescue a broken world.  You have the knowledge, power and the energy to improve or even rescue a world that is gasping for breath.

 

After graduating from the College of William and Mary, I applied to the doctoral program at Columbia.  Under the guidance of Professor Hofstadter, I focused my thesis on American consumerism because he believed that of all the social activist organizations, it would  the biggest influence on American life.  And Professor Hofstadter was entirely correct – consumerism has become a household word and Consumers Union is the only social reform organization born in the Depression to have survived.  Its mission is to promote a fairer society by protecting the rights of all consumers with an emphasis on health, especially the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged. 

 

In 1962, while in the doctoral program here I noted that there was a joint Ph.D./J.D. program.  I applied to the Law School and I was denied admission because, as I was told, I would take the place of a man who would practice law for 40 years.  In other words – I was too old and the wrong gender.  They actually said this to me!  You could do that in 1962, when 3.6% of law students were women.

 

The greatest strength of this country has always been its ability to harness the brain power of people without regard to gender, race or age.  But, it wasn’t always thus.

 

It may be helpful to keep in mind what one exceptional woman had to say about the decade of the 70’s.  “It must be a time,” she said, “when equality becomes reality and our nation does what up to now has been left undone.”  That’s impressive – particularly when you realize that the woman calling for equality was Abigail Adams and the decade she was talking about was the 1770’s.

 

On March 31, she wrote the following:

“I long to hear that you have declared an independency.  And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.”

 

Husband John replied promptly in the first “Dear Abby” letter in American history and replied that:

“As to our extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh…Depend upon it, we know better than to repeal our masculine systems.  Although they are in full force, you know they are little more than theory.  We dare not exert our power in its full latitude.  We are obliged to go fair and softly, and, in practice, you know we are the subjects.  We have only the name of masters, and rather than give up this, which would completely subject us to the despotism of the petticoat, I hope General Washington and all our brave heroes would fight.”

 

Thomas Paine, the first pro-feminist man in America, observed that women were not included in its liberating charter.  “Women,” he wrote, “have an equal right to virtue.”  He was the exception, and historically, women and power were mutually exclusive terms.  The hand that rocked the cradle was allowed to rule the world only if it belonged to a queen.

 

Now, in 2009, many decades after my graduation, and as one of the few women who were admitted to law school in the early 1970’s, I have a law practice in which I work to change the world in some small way, everyday.  

 

I know that all of us are united in our determination to make the world a better place, and I want to share with you some of the ideas and principles that have guided my practice, and, indeed, my life:

*It is not about the money!  We are the last bastion of hope for accountability in every area of our lives.  There is a tremendous need to continue to combat injustice.

*Education is a means to an end:  it is the vehicle through which we can create a better society.  Martin Luther King once said, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it CAN keep him from lynching me…”

*Be a passionate and compassionate risk-taker.  Always do the right thing and always make things right.

 

I set out to make a perfect world, but I have left many issues for you to resolve:  poverty, violence, genocide, the need for universal health care, the continued weakening of the agencies designed to protect us, and global warming.

 

I say all this not to overwhelm or depress you on this wonderful day, but simply to remind you that there is still a lot to be done by all of you for women, for men, for children, and for all of humanity.

 

So, take the rest of the day off, and then get back to work and get busy saving the world!  I urge each of you to always pursue your own sense of justice, and to blaze new trails.