President Freeman Hrabowski
Mr. and Mrs. Erickson (John and Nancy)
Dr. John Martello, Executive Director of The Shriver Center
Residents of the new Shriver Living Learning Center
Members of the Faculty Students
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
My principal and first responsibility today is to express adequately my gratitude and thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Erickson for their extraordinary generosity, and for their vision. Their large gift is obviously impressive and essential. It is impressive because of its size and essential because without their generosity there would be no “Living and Learning Center” at U.M.B.C. or may I say in Maryland. Thus, UMBC becomes more unique in its offerings to students and more important for the entire State of Maryland, and for all the citizens of our State. Moreover, this new Learning Center is nationally unique, I believe, and destined, I also believe, to provide new, educational opportunities to scores of qualified students from many states and even from many countries.
So, I extend congratulations to both of you, John and Nancy, not only for your financial generosity but even more, may I emphasize, for your vision. You understand deeply the needs of our entire nation for trained and sensitive human beings capable of leading our country and all our people into the new, 21st Century, and all the new problems that Century is already presenting to our country.
Sure, it’s inspiring, and even comforting to realize that our country, the U.S.A., has become the most powerful nation on Earth, financially, militarily, multi-lingually, intellectually. No nation in World History has ever accomplished and enjoyed physical domination of the entire geographical world. Nor has any nation presented to the entire World such an inspiring and visionary manifesto as our Declaration of Independence. That Declaration, in its first words, and in its first sentences, and in its last words where the authors of The Declaration pledge “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” to the fulfillment of every word and sentence in that visionary and unselfish document, established a new society. No wonder that we citizens were called then to follow them. Citizens of our unique nation are always humbled by the vision and challenges of that Declaration. We citizens today would never be where we are, financially, militarily, politically, respectfully, were it not for the men who wrote that Document, inspired thousands of men and women to live up to its words, and unselfishly made the USA what it is today.
You, John and Nancy, are contemporary followers of that Declaration, and UMBC is the grateful beneficiary of your vision and generosity. But all of us here are also grateful to you both and to this University.
We are thankful that the two of you are not only graduates of famous universities in our southern U.S. States, but also recipients of Awards from the Jerusalem Share Federal Medical Center in Israel, The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins, St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, and the University of Maryland Hospital also in Baltimore.
Now I find myself saying to myself, Shriver sit down! You will never surpass what you have already said! But to you, finally, let me suggest for your consideration several new burgeoning realities already potential problems for the 21st Century.
First, recent studies reveal that we now have in the U.S.A. more poor people in the bottom levels of our society than we have ever had before! The total now approximates 34,500,000 human beings!
At the same time in 1997, 1%, yes 1% of our total population of 248,709,873 had incomes of $718,000 or more per annum! That means that only 2,487,098 had those large incomes, and 246,222,775 had less than that upper crust.
Moreover, if you can believe it, the average income of the top 1% grew by 31% between 1995 and 1997! Or consider these figures: 1% of our population enjoyed an increase of 41% in income from 1986 to 1997. Or in dollars from $273,562 to $517,713, after taxes!!!
I’m not an expert on income figures, but even I can see that today approximately 34 million American citizens are below the official poverty line. That has never existed before!
Thus, the bottom line for all of us, I think, is this: We are a nation who has never had so many poor people at the very bottom financially of our society, or so few comparatively speaking, at the very top.
I could cite other challenging realities facing all of us U.S. citizens today. But I’ve already talked too long, I fear. Let me conclude, therefore, with one final statement:
Our country has never had a greater need for highly trained experts, men and women who know all about the realities of living and learning in the U.S.A. Sixteen undergraduates getting their eyes opened to the economic realities of our country and the political problems of our future will be of inestimable value. Someday I hope we will have five times as many undergraduates in living and learning at UMBC. Eighty such graduates then will have a much greater chance of opening the eyes of all Americans to the requirements of an equitable nation.
So, truthfully, we have only begun the job, but we have begun. We do have a chance to improve equality among our citizens, and this is an America for which the original American Revolution was fought.
