Memorial and Commencement, 1970

The coincidence of Memorial Day and the commencement season has always had some poignancy--an oxymoron of the young war dead and a lively new generation emerging from the academy to begin its life's work. This year the rites at campus and cemetery have an especially intense significance.

Themes of the two observances converge. Of the 561,652 U.S. war dead honored on Memorial Day, 42,265 have died in Indochina. The war shadows this generation. Education, traditionally regarded as an American salvation, has meant merely a deferment for many. Some are leaving their ROTC programs for active duty. More than a few will choose evasion, a road sometimes leading to exile or prison.

After the spring's turmoil, some colleges have canceled their commencement ceremonies. Where they are held, speakers are adding jeremiads on ecology, race and war to the normal buoyant rhetoric of "challenge." At Oberlin College, graduates wore street dress, having donated their cap-and-gown fees to a city youth program. David and Julie Eisenhower are receiving their diplomas by mail lest dissenters disrupt their graduations at Amherst and Smith.

Ohio's Kent State University, at least, took a significant step. Last week its trustees decided to hold the 1970 commencement after all, reopening the campus--under tight security--for the first time since National Guardsmen killed four students there on May 4. It was a step back toward normalcy and, one could only hope, toward reconciliation.

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