NSU Horizons Fall 2006

around campus NSU Trustee Sylvia Urlich Honored N SU Trustee Sylvia Urlich, president and chairman of the board of Westchester General Hospital in Miami, received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual public policy conference of the Federation of American Hospitals. Urlich was recognized for devoting more than 38 years of service to the nation’s health care delivery system and to investor-owned hospitals, as well as for her leadership in developing and advocating positive legislative reforms designed to make quality health care accessible to all Americans. She was also honored for her outstanding commitment and management skills, which led to numerous collaborative and creative mechanisms between hospitals and the communities they serve. n 6 horizons expression and academic freedom. Some students asked the university to reconsider the choice. Don Rosenblum, Ph.D., dean of the Farquhar College, said Rushdie’s bravery in the face of widespread criticism and death threats from Iran’s Islamic community made him a perfect choice to inspire the class of 2006. “Rushdie embodies what we look for in a commencement speaker: a person of stature and significance who will offer thought-provoking, salient, inspiring, and challenging ideas on relevant issues.” Rushdie’s address served as the culmination of the Farquhar College’s year-long study of the theme “Good and Evil,” which was explored throughout the 2005–2006 academic year in classroom activities, lectures, and public events. His literary exploration of the themes of identity and racism served as an introduction to the college’s current academic theme, “identity.” “The struggle to know how to act for the best is a struggle that never ceases,” Rushdie said. “Don’t follow lead- ers: look out, instead, for the oddballs who insist on marching out of step.” n I n a rare South Florida appearance, internationally acclaimed author Salman Rushdie delivered NSU’s under- graduate commencement ceremony address on May 7 at the BankAtlantic Center. Rushdie urged the graduates of the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship, Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, and Fischler School of Education and Human Services to challenge conventional thinking and conformity of thought and to use their intellects to probe the assumptions of perceived wisdom. “Flaubert was fascinated by—how to say this delicate- ly?—the general stupidity of most human beings, by their ability to absorb and parrot clichés and other nuggets of fools’ gold. Life in 1881 was not so very different at all,” he said. “The real world, to which you are about to return after these years in Florida, is full of wonders and brilliance, I am happy to report. But you will also find yourself beset from every quarter by dreariness and folly.” Rushdie is widely regarded as a leading novelist of the 20th century and a strong advocate of free expression in writing. He gained widespread international attention in 1988. After publication of his novel The Satanic Verses , he was forced into hiding by an Iranian government death sentence issued against him in response to the book. The announcement that he would deliver the com- mencement address was met with some controversy, placing NSU at the center of a national discussion on freedom of Literary Lion Salman Rushdie Delivers Undergraduate Commencement Address