 Fr. Harvey craved the indulgence of the company. He noted that when he was first invited to accept the honorary doctorate, he had indicated to the University Registrar that he would need a large mortar board. On the previous evening, a fellow honorary graduand told him that she had had difficulty getting a good fit. His late mother used to tell him in her final years, while stroking his large head, that she was fortunate that he was born two months premature. If he had come to term, she might have died. Fr. Harvey said that, in the early hours of the graduation morning, he awoke very uneasy about the possibility of a mortar board disaster. He decided that he would bring along the only cap which ever fit him properly – a “rasta” cap. He told the company that the mortar board made him feel that he would be speaking from a compressed cranium. He removed the mortar board and donned the rasta cap, much to the delight of the graduates. He invited the Chancellor to substitute such a cap for the mortar board and so complete the University’s Caribbean identity. Click here for the full text of his address in this special Graduation issue with photos by Benedict Cupid.
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