News Events Contact Us				41st Commencement Sends Off 147 Graduates (May 29, 2007) - New College of Florida closed out the academic year with the graduation of 147 students on the evening of May 25 under the tent on the bayfront behind College Hall. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Samuel M. Savin presided over his first commencement at New College. President Gordon "Mike" Michalson, supported by a cane after hip surgery earlier this spring, conferred the bachelor of arts degree on the 147 Novo Collegians. Among the 2007 graduates were six of the New College-record seven Fulbright Scholars, the recipient of New College's first-ever Gates Cambridge Scholarship and one of two New College recipients of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.   Journalist Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of the daily radio and television news program Democracy Now! delivered the keynote address, speaking about the need for civic action and an independent media. Classics Associate Professor John Moore, who retires from the faculty this year along with another longtime faculty member political science Professor Eugene Lewis, spoke to graduates and their families. Marching out of the College Hall Music Room to the traditional sound of "Pomp and Circumstance," the graduates at the 41st annual Commencement followed the New College tradition of both formal, informal and creative attire: Among suits and ties, summer dresses and gowns, t-shirts and flipflops, and sporadic mortarboards, were Darth Vader, Spiderman, Charlie Chaplin, a hot dog, a unicorn and a golden fairy.