When an Austrian friend of Senior Class President Caleb Matthew Oken-Berg ’06 visited campus, the Austrian commented about the “thoughtfulness and intelligence” of Oken-Berg’s classmates: “Is this really America?”

“The global perception of Americans is anything but positive,” Oken-Berg told those gathered for the College’s 113th Commencement on May 14 (Mother’s Day) in Bridges Auditorium. “If only they could see the Class of 2006 at Pomona College. Far from the stereotype of the closed-minded, lazy Americans who sit around watching television, eating burgers, the Class of 2006 is not only socially and politically aware but also much more likely to be found working out at Rains or fighting to save the organic farm than driving through a McDonald’s any day.” Oken-Berg, an international relations major, said the class of 375 graduates wasn’t a particularly cohesive group, as they represented a vast array of causes, but what connected them was their “willingness to get involved” and “challenge the status quo.” Oken-Berg credited the class with changing the genre of films shown at Rose Hills Theatre and reforming the campus climate to include students of all identities.

Members of the Class of 2006 seemed to follow their own paths, whether it was founding a Cheese Club, setting cross country track records or raising awareness about genocide in Sudan, said Senior Class Speaker James Slater Solomon ’06. In his charge to the class, President David Oxtoby encouraged graduates to hold onto their own convictions. In a world of uncertainty when FBI agents can question a professor—and his students—on a college campus because of his interests and ties to his homeland, Oxtoby said the college has drawn its own line on academic freedom and open discussion.

“My purpose is not to say where we should draw the lines on particular issues nor to express opinions on one side or another,” said Oxtoby. “It is rather to urge all of you in the Class of 2006 to take the fundamental values of your four years on this campus: a willingness to challenge accepted truths, an openness to new facts and persuasive arguments and an engagement with the world and the difficult issues we face together. Your values are the most important things you carry from this campus, and you must be firm in defending them and in acting on them.”

Honorary degree recipient Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran ’69, also the commencement speaker, was impressed with the changes the College had made in the past 30-plus years since she was one of five African-American students on campus. “During those very challenging times, supporting and then becoming vehemently opposed to the Vietnam War, serving as a student activist, trying to make Pomona College more responsive to the needs of black and brown students,” she said in accepting the award, “my alma mater seemed resistant, deeply resistant, and I left disillusioned about the readiness of higher education to value diversity
and to change. … Thirty-seven years later, I am proud to be here not because of what this honor means to me personally but because of what it says about my alma mater.”

Honorary degrees were also awarded to William Sloane Coffin (posthumously) and Thomas Crow ’69. A Trustee’s Medal of Merit was awarded to Robert Mezey, poet in residence and professor emeritus of English.