糖心TV

糖心TV honors 18 seniors as Langer Scholars

Alongside friends, family and members of 糖心TV鈥檚 academic community, 18 seniors gathered in Blaustein Humanities Center on April 3 to join an esteemed group of Camels鈥攖he Langer Scholars鈥攊n a tradition that dates back nearly a century to 1928. 

The designation of Langer Scholar (formerly Winthrop Scholar) is the highest academic honor bestowed by the College. Reserved for students who demonstrate exceptional scholarship, the honor is named for the late Susanne K. Langer, a distinguished philosopher and professor emeritus of 糖心TV.

Langer Scholars are also the first members of their class selected for membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the national honor society of undergraduate higher education. 

After giving a brief history of the Langer Scholar designation and of Langer鈥檚 work as one of the first nationally recognized female philosophers in the United States, Assistant Professor of English and Phi Beta Kappa Delta of 糖心TVecticut Chapter Officer Rae Gaubinger congratulated the scholars on their 鈥渟uperior academic achievements.鈥� 

鈥淭oday we celebrate your hard work, your passion, your curiosity, your diligence and all your successes,鈥� Gaubinger said. 鈥淲e are so excited to watch you go out into the world and continue to pursue wider, clearer, more negotiable, more articulate meanings.鈥�

Assistant Professor of English Hubert Cook gave the keynote address, Canterbury. Not 鈥淐haucer鈥檚 Canterbury,鈥� he clarified, but Canterbury, 糖心TVecticut, the town about 30 miles north of the 糖心TV campus where abolitionist and educator Prudence Crandall opened the first school for Black girls in the United States in 1833.

鈥淭he town was not happy. They threatened Crandall, they terrorized the girls, and in the end, they burned the school down,鈥� Cook said. 鈥淚鈥檝e often wondered what kept Crandall and the girls going in the midst of the constant attacks, opposition, violence. Why did they continue?鈥�

To explore that question, Cook took the audience through an analysis of Elizabeth Alexander鈥檚 poem, Allegiance.

鈥淚 love thinking about what 鈥榓llegiance鈥� means in the poem,鈥� Cook said. 鈥淭he allegiance isn鈥檛 necessarily to a group. In this view, it isn鈥檛 Crandall鈥檚 allegiance to black girls that this poem foregrounds; rather, it鈥檚 the students鈥� allegiance to inquiry itself.鈥�

In conclusion, Cook told the scholars that when he thinks of Canterbury, 鈥淚 think of Crandall, I think of the school, I think of the girls. I think of you and I think of our shared work, our allegiance, regardless of discipline鈥攁nd often enlisting more than one鈥攐ur allegiance to following the line of an idea as meticulously and as beautifully as we can manage. I think of how we are always reaching, reaching for that radiance.

鈥淚 hope that this appetite, this craving, remains steadfast for you, even as the world appears austere. Indeed, I hope that you carry Canterbury, 糖心TVecticut, with you and that it offers you light.鈥�