Marcellette G. Williams was Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2001-2002.
This is an archive of the Chancellor's Web site during her tenure.



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Marcellette G. Williams
Chancellor
Professor of English and
Comparative Literature

University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003

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on the Amherst Campus

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The Courage to Dream

Roxbury Community College Commencement Remarks
June 7, 2002

Commencement is the celebration of dreams. Today we celebrate the realization of the dreams that brought you here–the dreams nurtured by a parent who believed in you with relentless faith, by a teacher who recognized your intelligence and didn’t let you forget, by a mentor who sparked your professional ambition and accompanied your journey all the way through your time at Roxbury Community College. In each of your lives, there are people who had the courage to dream for you. The degree you earn today marks the realization of the dreams others had for you, the dreams you’ve had for yourself, as well as the dreams you have for your families and our world. I want to share a brief story with you today about dreams…. Growing up, I learned a special reverence for books.

My great-grandmother lived with us, and she spent many hours reading to me and my brothers before we started school. For my family, books were regarded as a special gateway to knowledge. That is why I was so confused when once, as a toddler, I saw my father tearing the pages out of a large, leather-bound book. How could he be doing that? Why was he doing it? I couldn’t have been more puzzled or confused. Some years later, I learned his reason for defacing those books. He worked the midnight shift in the Ford Motor Company River Rouge Plant factory and went to law school by day. He and my mother had married while still in college and had an ever-growing family to support through the completion of university and three years in law school (I am the oldest of six.) In order to study at work, he needed to conceal "the book" to the extent he could. So, he tore the pages out of his books–"very carefully," he said–and placed them as carefully between the soft cotton of double undershirts worn to protect the torn pages. With torn-out pages, he could manage more surreptitiously to read a page at a time.

It could not have been easy–not to mention safe–studying the rules of evidence and contract and constitutional law while putting in a full effort on an assembly line. But he told me later that a law degree had been his dream. "You have to have a dream, honey." Were his exact words to me. The image remains vivid because the example has been a more powerfully guiding principle in my life than I had ever realized. My father would have been so proud of you, for having the courage to dream and the strength to live your dreams. Were he still alive, he would have loved to be here with you today and with me, sharing with you in celebration of your courage, and your dreams come true. In my own life, whenever I feel as if I cannot go on, I think of my father, carefully tearing out those pages and managing to read them while at work on the assembly line.

His words always come back to me: You have to have a dream. Now that this dream has come true, I have a new question for you: what is your next dream? What new dream starts today? Remember, you have to have a dream. What grand aspiration do you have for yourself, your family, your community? Just as we celebrate the fruition of the dreams that brought you here, may this day be the beginning of new dreams. As my father did with the pages of his law books, keep those dreams tucked close inside your shirt. They will be there for you, to help you persevere through difficult times and renew your sense of hope. Congratulations on all you have accomplished. As you go forth from here, take courage. And take time to dream.

Dr. Marcellette G. Williams
Chancellor