Founder and director of Bocas Lit Fest, Marina Salandy-Brown yesterday pleaded with graduands to develop a new generation of leaders, homegrown institutions and an art movement to help give a voice to those who can't find theirs.This was Salandy-Brown's message to hundreds of students who graduated yesterday at the University of West Indies, Sports and Physical Education Centre, St Augustine.
Delivering the graduation address, Salandy-Brown told graduands that this was an important chapter in their lives and many do not get this far for various reasons."I do not think, however, that having been to university necessarily makes you a good person, and while in such a rich country as ours, higher education should be available to all. There should be no notion of entitlement or of being superior."
She said one must always guard against the sense that things should happen for them or life's lucky break makes them a cut above the rest."You should know that after hubris comes the fall."Prior to her address Salandy-Brown, who has had a distinguished career in media, the arts and literature, was presented with the Doctor of Letters (DLitt), Honoris Causa of the University of the West Indies, by Chancellor George A O Alleyne.Salandy-Brown said as children we all learn that not all is fair.
"And as we go out into the world of work and still more complex relationships, we realise that much is also dishonest, elusive and illusive. We meet misanthropic people, those who seem hell bent on creating disorder, those who are willfully corrosive."However, she said as a people we have to find a centre in ourselves and draw upon the knowledge we have gained.Salandy-Brown said arts offer much in helping us to make sense of the world and to see beyond the immediate.
