Vernon Jordan '57 to Deliver Commencement Speech at Morehouse College

May 6, 2003

May 6, 2003, Greencastle, Ind. - Vernon E. Jordan Jr., senior managing partner at Lazard LLC, a major figure in the civil rights movement and a 1957 graduate of DePauw University, will present the commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, Sunday, May 18, at 8 a.m. Jordan, a former president of the National Urban League and an adviser to Presidents Clinton and Carter, has served as DePauw's commencement speaker twice -- in 1973 and 1993 -- receiving an honorary degree on the first occasion and becoming the sixth-ever recipient of the McNaughton Medal a decade ago. (DePauw's 2003 commencement will take place May 18 at 1 p.m.; read more here)

The author of Vernon Can Read!: A Memoir, Vernon Jordan recently received the Trumpet Award in a nationally-televised ceremony ( [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "DePauw" 902KB] [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "DePauw" 55KB] “DePauw University and Howard University Law School were important stops on the journey, for they expanded my mind and broadened my horizons.”

Jordan marked the release of Vernon Can Read! with a speech at DePauw's Old Gold Convocation on October 27, 2001, in which he spoke of his days as a student in Greencastle (access a story with video and audio clips here). [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "No Regrets" 346KB]

"If I had it to do it over again, I would come back here," Jordan said to the crowd gathered in Kresge Auditorium. "And that's not rhetoric, that's the truth. I got a very good education, I made very good friends [and] I was able to participate in the University as a Trustee."

Learn more at Morehouse's Web site by clicking here.

Back