Double Dedications

On this week's show, we heard excerpts from the dedication speeches of two major undertakings at Boston University. The Center for Judaic Studies has been a fixture at Boston University for many years. This year, it was renamed in honor of University Professor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Elie Weisel. To mark the occasion, one of Israel's foremost writers, Aharon Appelfeld, spoke on "Literature and the Holocaust." Following Mr. Appelfeld's lecture, we heard from Elie Weisel who used the occasion to explain why he is allowing his name to be attached to the center, and what his hopes for its future are.

The other dedication from which we heard excerpts concerned Boston University's Student Village and its Track and Tennis Center, the first phase of which has just been completed. The Student Village was named after the John Hancock Corporation, whose $20 million gift is the largest of its kind in the university's history. The Track and Tennis arena was named after the school's most famous athlete, Harry Agannis, an all-American quarterback, who later starred for the Boston Red Sox before his untimely death in 1955. At the dedication, Chancellor John Silber paid tribute to those whose work and vision made the project real. President emeritus Jon Westling spoke of the ideal of the university, and its role in providing an all-around education to its students.