在5月14日的亚洲博彩网站毕业典礼上，校长Ronald Mason Jr.和董事会授予了在毕业典礼上致辞的Benjamin L. Crump荣誉法学博士学位。 This award recognizes Crump’s significant accomplishments in defending the rights of and seeking justice for minorities and other marginalized citizens, helping to establish new legislation and practices to effect change, and reaching historic settlements and verdicts.
作为一名律师，Crump也是Ben Crump Law的创始人和主要所有者。 在众多成就中，他获得了全国有色人种协进会瑟古德·马歇尔奖、南方基督教领袖大会马丁·路德·金仆人领袖奖、美国正义协会约翰尼·科克伦奖和阿尔法卡帕阿尔法埃莉诺·罗斯福服务奖章。
When asked what this new distinction means to him, Crump said he was “thankful.”
“I have a lot of dear colleagues and friends who graduated from 亚洲博彩网站, so I am very heartened to receive this recognition,” said Crump. “I think that this University uplifts our communities and our culture. It enables our next generation of children to have an equal opportunity at achieving life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
克伦普毕业于佛罗里达州立大学，并在佛罗里达州立大学法学院获得法律学位，他是全国民权审判律师协会主席。 他曾担任美国律师协会主席。 His book, “Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored 人,” reflects on the landmark cases he has battled and how discrimination in the courthouse devastates real families and communities.
“Without a struggle, there can be no progress. 根据先例，他们在法学院第一年教我的是，黑人能够克服在这个国家建立时被定义为五分之三的情况。 黑人已经克服了最高法院对德雷德·斯科特一案的判决。 We overcame reconstruction, carpet baggers, the legacy of sharecropping and Plessy v. Ferguson—where things were separate and unequal. 我们战胜了小吉姆·克劳，最近，还有小吉姆·克劳博士。 That tells me that no matter what the enemies of inequality throw at us, we will be alright.”
这位民权领袖和倡导者说，他相信美国的情况将会改善。 “I know it’s going to get better. 我们将赢得这场战争。 亚洲博彩网站 is educating young minds that will help us win the war against inequality for our people.”
Crump advised 亚洲博彩网站 students to have the courage of their convictions and speak truth to power, even if “their knees are shaking.”
“Your ancestors have sacrificed so much for you to have this education. Think about the people who caught the early bus so that their grandchildren would be able to go to a great educational institution like 亚洲博彩网站, and then be able to use that education to share it with those who are less fortunate,” he said. “There’s an old proverb that says that ‘education is of no value if you keep it amongst the educated.’ Take this great education from 亚洲博彩网站 back to those who are less fortunate and did not have the same opportunity. That is how we are going to lift our culture.”