UF’s first posthumous degree to highlight commencement Saturday

May 3, 2001

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida will confer its first posthumous degree during commencement ceremonies for more than 6,400 graduates Saturday at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Virgil D. Hawkins, a civil rights visionary and activist, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws, a degree he hoped to achieve more than 50 years ago.

Hawkins was the first black to apply for admission to the University of Florida College of Law in 1949. At that time, no blacks had ever been granted admission to graduate school in Florida. The Florida Board of Control, the precursor to today’s Board of Regents, denied his application even though the Florida Supreme Court later ruled Hawkins possessed “all the scholastic, moral, and other qualifications” of a successful applicant “except as to race and color.”

Hawkins pursued a legal remedy to what he considered the denial of a constitutional freedom protected by the Fourteenth Amendment’s “guarantee of equal protection under the law.”
The courts agreed. However, despite three favorable decisions, his admission continued to be denied. For nine years, Hawkins continued his quest to attend the University of Florida. In 1958, that mission ended when he struck a settlement with the state. He agreed to forfeit his own aspirations to attend UF, provided that future blacks and other minorities were admitted. The first black was admitted to the UF law school a year later.

Hawkins left Florida to attend Boston University, where he earned a master’s degree in public relations. He later enrolled in, and graduated from, the then-unaccredited New England School of law at age 58. He returned to Florida ready to practice law, but again was denied by the Florida Bar. Not until 1974, when Hawkins was 70, did the court admit him to the Bar.

In 1983, a movement began to honor Hawkins’ struggles. After an attempt failed to name the FSU law school library after him, Virgil D. Hawkins fellowships were set up at UF and FSU.

Hawkins will be honored at the 9 a.m. ceremony Saturday, the first of UF’s three commencement ceremonies. The colleges of Fine Arts, Journalism and Communications and Natural Resources and Environment, the Fisher School of Accounting and the Warrington College of Business Administration will graduate beginning at 9 a.m.; the colleges of Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences, the M.E. Rinker Sr. School of Building Construction and the College of Design, Construction and Planning will go in the afternoon ceremony at 1:30 p.m.; and the evening ceremony at 6 p.m. will feature the colleges of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Dentistry (graduate students), Engineering, Health and Human Performance, Health Professions, Medicine (graduate students), Nursing, Veterinary Medicine (graduate students), Nursing, the Physician Assistant Program and the School of Forest Resources and Conservation.

According to the Office of the University Registrar, 6,445 students are eligible to receive degrees. Based on the number of caps and gowns reserved through the UF bookstores, 4,800 will actually cross the stage to receive their degrees.

Each semester, the UF Alumni Association recognizes outstanding alumni with the Distinguished Alumni Award. This semester, Thomas Hunter, Alfred Browning Parker and William Powers will be recognized for their outstanding achievement and leadership.

Hunter, of Albuquerque, N.M., is senior vice president for defense programs at Sandia National Laboratories. As one of the nation’s leading nuclear engineers, he has been a panel member for the National Academy of Science’s National Research Council and the Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Visiting Committee.

Parker, of Gainesville, is a distinguished professor in the UF College of Design, Construction and Planning. His awards include the National Conference of Church Architecture Award of Merit from the American Society of Church Architecture and the Architects Award from the Society of American Foresters.

Powers, of Boca Raton, consulted on the space shuttle program with the NASA’s Johnson Space Center. In 1980, he joined Ford’s Research Center, serving as a key company spokesman on advanced technology and retired as vice president for research in January.

Also each semester, the UF Alumni Association recognizes graduating students for outstanding performance. This semester, 12 students will receive awards for their academic and campuswide efforts. Four-year scholars include Virginia Braddock of Merrit Island, Allison Landgraff of Tequesta, Kristan Raymond of Defuniak Springs, Hampton Sessions of Kissimmee and Jessica Valenzuela of Pembroke Pines. Liisa Ann Collins of Chiefland is UF’s two-year scholar for the spring semester. Outstanding student leaders include Laurence Bolotin of Boca Raton, Teal Chiabotti of Colorado Springs, Colo., Brian Dassler of Pembroke Pines, Amanda Holt of Jacksonville, Ian Lane of Cape Coral and Jennifer Schwanke of Tampa.