COMMENCEMENT 1989

Caltech’s 95th commencement was held Friday at the Beckman Mall on campus. Caltech President Thomas E. Everhart presided over the ceremonies and conferred degrees on 518 students, the largest graduating class in the school’s history.

University of Michigan President James J. Duderstadt received the Distinguished Alumni Award and delivered the keynote address. He told the graduates: “America is changing rapidly. It is important to realize that 21st-Century America will not be a melting pot. Rather, it will be pluralistic--composed of peoples of vastly different backgrounds, cultures and beliefs, peoples who seek to retain their cultural roots, to maintain their differences. . . . We must strive to achieve new levels of understanding, tolerance and mutual fulfillment for peoples of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds.”