Newswise — At its 81st Commencement on June 2 at 9 am, Queens College will award a President's Medal to Jerry Mitchell, reporter for The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi), whose investigative work helped lead to the arrest of Edgar Ray Killen for the 1964 killings of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman (a Queens College student), and Michael Schwerner. Mitchell will also deliver the commencement address. During the ceremony, bells will ring from the college's landmark Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner Clock Tower.
The murders of these courageous young men, who were attempting to register African Americans to vote during the Freedom Summer of 1964, were portrayed in the 1989 film Mississippi Burning. Killen goes on trial June 13 under the first murder charge brought in this 41-year-old crime. A President's Medal will also be awarded to the Philadelphia (Miss.) Coalition. Leroy Clemons, co-chairman, will accept on behalf of this multiracial community organization that advocated the reopening of this case.
Dr. Carolyn Goodman, the mother of Andrew Goodman, will also speak. Dr. Goodman, who established a foundation for civil rights and social justice named after her son, received the President's Medal from Queens College in 1996.
Background Bios:Jerry Mitchell, a 46-year-old investigative reporter for The Clarion-Ledger, has won 14 national awards for work that helped lead to the arrests and convictions of Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of NAACP leader Medgar Evers; Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers for ordering the fatal firebombing of NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer in 1966; and Bobby Cherry for the 1963 bombing of an African American church in Birmingham that killed four girls. Most recently, his work led to Killen's arrest in the Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner murders.
The Philadelphia Coalition is a community organization of blacks, whites and Choctaw Indians who came together in 2004 and began working on a number of important projects -- commemorating the 40th anniversary of the murders of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner, advocating for legislation to rename a state highway after the slain trio, incorporating the history of the civil rights movement into public schools and spearheading the production of a pamphlet that recognizes the contributions of African Americans in the community. Most important, the coalition met with Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and called for justice in the killings.
Leroy Clemons, co-chairman of the Philadelphia Coalition, was born in Mississippi in 1962. He holds a B.S. from Mississippi State University and also serves as president of the Neshoba County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Electronic images of Jerry Mitchell, Leroy Clemons, Andrew Goodman, Carolyn Goodman, and the FBI missing poster of the three murdered young men, Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, are available. Please email requests to [email protected] or [email protected].
A Doctor of Humane Letters degree will be awarded to William Ungar. Captured by the Nazis while fighting for Poland during World War II, Ungar escaped a Nazi extermination camp; however, 60 members of his family, including his wife and son, perished. He chronicles his story in the hope-filled book, Destined to Live (2000). Founder, president, and CEO of the National Envelope Corporation, the largest privately owned envelope producer in North America, Ungar is being recognized for his remarkable achievements in business and philanthropy, and his lifelong commitment to Holocaust memory, higher education, and the fostering of tolerance and understanding among people of all backgrounds. His many awards include the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the American Business Achievement Award and New York City Entrepreneur of the Year. Ungar is also a member of the Executive Advisory Board of the Center for Jewish Studies at Queens College.
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (NY) and Congressman Anthony Weiner will also speak.
President James Muyskens will preside over the ceremony, which is expected to draw an audience of 10,000, including 2,000 graduates receiving bachelor's and master's degrees. Commencement will be Webcast online (www.qc.cuny.edu), enabling students' relatives from around the world to watch the entire ceremony live—an advantage post-9/11, with international visits to the U.S. now increasingly difficult. (Students from more than 140 nations attend Queens College.)
About Queens CollegeIn the 2006 edition of The Princeton Review America's Best Value Colleges, Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY) ranks #8 in the nation—a rating based on outstanding academics, generous financial aid packages and relatively low costs. Queens College is dedicated to the idea that a first-rate education should be accessible to talented individuals of all backgrounds and financial means. Founded in 1937, the college offers an exceptional liberal arts curriculum, with over 100 undergraduate and graduate programs and a variety of specialized honors programs. Located on a beautiful, 77-acre campus in Flushing, Queens College enjoys a national reputation for its liberal arts and sciences and pre-professional programs. Its 17,000 students come from more than 140 nations and speak scores of languages, creating an extraordinarily diverse and welcoming environment.
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