Margaret Thatcher at William & Mary College; Part 1

[singing of William & Mary College Song] Ladies and gentlemen, would you please remain standing for the Reverend Douglas K.

Wilson, pastor of the Williamsburg United Methodist Church, who will deliver the invocation? Let us pray. Gracious God, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac, Sarah and Rebecca, you who have breathed into us the breath of commitment and the exhilaration of service receive the prayers of your people, accept our gratitude for the connection which we enjoy with our heritage. We are grateful for the measures given by that connection which offer stability and our ordering of life. On this day, especially, we celebrate before you our appreciation for the wisdom of our forebears and the respect which it elicits immersed in a commitment for honesty and truth. We come to you as openly as possibly we can. We confess our fright at times in the face of that which challenges the wisdom which has come to us and our understanding of it.

We confess to our appreciation for your movement of mind and heart, which prompts our courage even in the midst of fright, for the function which we sense in our lives. We thank you. The continuous unfolding of our understanding regarding that function is exciting as we celebrate all that enables the noblest endeavors of this college of William and Mary. We do so with a true appreciation for your gift to us all. The keen quality of intellect inspires insight and moves us to discussion. The prompting quality of desire urges us toward greater understanding of each other and honest appreciation. The practicality of abilities stirred, compels us to candor and carry. So many are your gifts to us. We present ourselves now with all those gifts as we know them in ourselves, to use them in pursuit of your desire for our engagement with respecting love, we seek your help in using your gifts, always with appreciation in the

perfection of life and spirit, and able assist and empower us. So God that we may respect your presence among us, blessed us with an awareness of your presence and a sensitivity to your direction, to the end that all of life, as we effect it, truly will become more perfectly fulfilled in your service for this and every prayer we offer, remembering your profits and honoring the style of Jesus. Amen. [remote sound of cadence called for marchers]. Well, now, won't you all sit down.

Governor Allen, Lady Thatcher, Chief Justice Burger, distinguished guests and members of the William and Mary community. It is my privilege to welcome you to this celebration, the 300 and first anniversary of the granting of the Royal Charter, which established the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Last yea we commemorated William and Mary's three centuries of dedication to education. It was an extraordinary year in which almost every one of you shared. But today we celebrate the first day of our fourth century. And for the college and for the Commonwealth, it is a time of new beginnings and new challenges.

We are honored to have with us today two who will undoubtedly have a dramatic impact on the future of the college. The first is our new governor, George Allen. Governor Allen, as leader of the Commonwealth, you have often noted that Virginia is heir to the sound beliefs and education which Thomas Jefferson enunciated two centuries ago, and we do look forward to working with you to ensure that Jefferson's vision of a unique and distinguished system of higher education is sustained and enhanced. Today, we also make history.

We are honored to welcome to William and Mary, our new chancellor, Lady Thatcher. Lady Thatcher is the first British subject to hold the post of chancellor since Richard Taric, who was a bishop of London and served from 1764 until the lamentable unpleasantness of 1776. Bishop Tarique was the 13th chancellor, and since his time, only seven people have held that office, including two presidents, the governor of Virginia, a renowned historian and the chief justice of the United States.

It will shortly be our pleasure to formally invest Lady Thatcher as our 21st chancellor, and she will serve for the term of seven years before we proceed to the investiture. It is my pleasure to will welcome our immediate past chancellor, the Honorable Warren E. Burger, chief justice of the United States, retired. I was reminded yesterday that apart from being the 15th chief justice, I was the 20th chancellor, Mr. President, Lady Thatcher,

Sir Dennis, governor, distinguished guests, I particularly welcome the students and the faculty who make this great university. I recall when I received a message and visited with then-President Verkull about the chancellorship. Frankly, I had never thought about it. He then told me that the first chancellor was the archbishop of Canterbury. The second was the bishop of London. And I think they alternated from that time on. They are counted among the first 20. I thought that was a very distinguished group to be following, and especially when I learned that

George Washington was our first chancellor and former president, Tyler was when I was a chancellor. Then there was a James Madison. But he was not the former president. He was a namesake, something that Lady Thatcher sudden last night is a factor very important to remember her coming to the chancellorship of William and Mary closes an episode that began in 1776 when we divorced ourselves from the mother country. And of course, the mother country reciprocated by terminating all financial assistance to the university and putting that on the state of Virginia governor.

We don't want her to forget that. But in a very serious sense, this is an important upas and I Lady Thatcher, it is not an archbishop of Canterbury or a bishop of London, but as we all recognize, one of the great leaders of the 20th century. And now the tie with the United Kingdom is renewed

and Lady Thatcher, we look forward to this period of seven years, you know, the king and the charter put a limit of seven years. He didn't want anybody to get a tight hold on the college. And so he put a limit. Now, 300 years later, we're thinking of doing that to Congress and a few other people. Of course, that's nothing new to Virginia. Virginia allows one person to be governor only once and can't be reelected unless there's an intervening term. I'm so sorry. Let me mention something that someone asked me a few days ago said. How does it feel to be succeeded by one of the great

world's leaders of the 20th century, Margaret Thatcher? And my answer was, I would rather have her succeeding me than my trying to succeed her. And then I added she would be a hard act to follow, as some people in London are finding out these days. Thank you. And again, welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice,

in the seven years you have served as chancellor, you have brought grace, kindness and dignity to the office of Chancellor. And perhaps the most important thing you've brought is the role you have played as a teacher. I have learned more American history listening to your short greetings and comments than for many a book and your involvement and commitment to our students has meant a great deal to all of us who see our role here primarily as teachers. Thank you, sir. Now, as I said, today's ceremony includes many firsts and not the least is the first opportunity for our provost, Gillian Cell to read from the ancient Royal Charter of the College of William and Mary. William and Mary by the grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland,

King and queen, defenders of the faith and so forth. To all to whom these are present letters shall come greetings for as much as our well, beloved and trusty subjects constituting the General Assembly of our colony of Virginia has had it in their minds and have proposed themselves to the end that the Church of Virginia may be furnished with a seminary of ministers of the Gospel, and that the youth may be piously educated in good letters and manners, and that the Christian faith may be propagated among the Western Indians to the glory of Almighty God to make a sound and establish a certain place of universal study or perpetual college of divinity, philosophy, languages and other good arts and sciences consisting of one president, six masters or professors and an android scholars, more or less, according to the ability of the said college and the statutes

of the same to be made increased, diminished or changed upon the place by certain trustees nominated and elected by the General Assembly, aforesaid to which a trustee and well-beloved Frances Nicholson, a lieutenant governor in our colonies of Virginia and Maryland, William Cole, Rafe Wormley, William Byrd and others, all the major part of them, or the longest livres of them upon the south side of York River or elsewhere, where the General Assembly itself shall think more convenient within our colony of Virginia to be supported and maintained in all time. Coming and for as much as our well beloved and trustee, the General Assembly of our colony of Virginia aforesaid, has Embley supplicate at us by a well-beloved in Christ. James Blair Clark, the agent, duly constituted that we would be pleased not only to grant our royal license to the said Frances

Nicholson and others to make found erect and establish the said college, but also to extend our bounty and beneficence toward the erection and foundation of the same in such a way and manner as to us shall seem more expedient. We taking the premises seriously into consideration and earnestly desiring that as far as in US lies true philosophy and other good and liberal arts and sciences may be promoted and that the Orthodox Christian faith may be propagated and being willing that forever, hereafter there should be one sought to college or place of universal study and that the said college should subsist and remain an all time coming of our special grace. Certain knowledge and mere motion have granted and given leave, and by these presence do grant and give leave for us as and successors as much as in us lies to the said Frances Nicholson and others

that they may have power to erect, found and establish a certain place of universal study or perpetual college for divinity, philosophy, languages and other good arts and sciences consisting of one president, six masters or professors, and a hundred scholars, more or less and further we will and for us as and successors by these presence do grant the when the said college shall be erected made. Founded and established, it will be called and denominated forever. The College of William and Mary in Virginia, and that the president or masters or professors shall be called and denominated president and masters or processes of the College of William and Mary in Virginia in testimony, whereas we have caused these are letters to be made Pathet Witness ourselves at Westminster, the eighth day of February, in the fourth

year of our reign by a writ of the privy seal. Each year we are also honored to have a member of the faculty read from the Royal Proclamation. This year, the faculty is represented by Robert E. Welch, Chancellor, Professor of physics and professor and President of the Faculty Assembly. Trustee and well-beloved we greet you well, whereas we have thought fit that all due encouragement be given to the College of William and Mary lately founded in our town of Williamsburg in Virginia for promoting religion and learning in those parts, we

do therefore earnestly recommend the same to you, willing and requiring you to do whatever lies in you for the do, encouraging the said college and in particular that you call upon the persons that have promised to contribute towards the maintenance of the said college to pay and forth with their several contributions to the end. So good and pious, the work may be carried on for the general benefit of that country. And so we bid you farewell. Given that our court at Hampton Court the 30th day of December, seventeen hundred in the 12th year of our reign by His Majesty's Command. We now turn to that portion of the program in which we recognize leaders

whose talents and whose service have truly made a difference. We begin with the Jefferson Awards, which will be presented by the rector of the college, James W. Brinkley. Mr. Rector? Thank you. Thank you. Each year on charter day, the college has the opportunity to recognize two special members of the William and Mary community who have made outstanding contributions the Thomas Jefferson Award and the Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award honor the memory of a man who went on from William and Mary to become one of mankind's greatest spokesmen for freedom and liberty in the long history of Western civilization. The Thomas Jefferson Award is given to an individual whose personal and professional character embodies those qualities that Jefferson thought essential to the intellectual, social and political advancement

of humanity. It is my pleasure to award the 1994 Thomas Jefferson Award to James C. Livingston. In twenty five years of service to his profession and to the college, James C. Livingston has achieved a distinguished record as a teacher, scholar, administrator and collegial leader.

His dedication to diverse inquiries, which lie within the space of his interests, his commitment to the highest standards for education of the whole person, and his evident conviction that citizenship and any community requires steady, informed and thoughtful participation in its purposes and affairs. They are all worthy and remain and remains reminiscent of the man for whom this award is named Mr. Jefferson. Congratulations again. The Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award is a tribute to the faculty member who have influence, who influenced and encouraged the young Jefferson.

It is made to a younger member of the faculty who has touched the lives of his or her students throughout and inspired love of teaching and learning. It is my pleasure to award the 1994 Jefferson Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award to Tomoko Hamada. Tomoko Hamada, your studies prepared you to make significant scholarly contributions, but today it is your teaching excellence that we want to recognize. Since first coming to the college, you have impressed your students by the quality of your teaching. Your students describe you as an inspiring teacher whose courses are simultaneously very difficult and among the best that they have taken. Your contributions serve as an example for all of us. And today we are pleased to honor you with the 1994 Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award. Congratulations. The conferring of honorary degrees is a time honored William and Mary tradition,

dating back to Benjamin Franklin, who received our first honorary degree in 1756. Since then, honorary degrees have been conferred on distinguished citizens from all walks of life scholars, statesmen, authors, clergymen, jurists and business executives. Not the least. Among this group of honorees are the governors of Virginia dating back to John Paige in 1785. Governor Allen, would you please join us at the lectern?