The University of the West Indies marked a historic moment at its annual graduation ceremony as the first cohort of law students received their LLB degrees, and the B.A. in Theology was awarded for the first time. The event also saw Chancellor Sir Hugh Wooding conferring honorary Doctor of Laws degrees on Mr. Rolph Grant and Mr. William Demas, both distinguished Trinidadians. Mr. Demas, the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community Secretariat, later delivered an address on "The Prospects for Decolonization in the West Indies.

Published Saturday, December 8,1973

 
First UWI degrees in Law, Theology

History was made last night at the annual presentation of graduates of the University of the West Indies when students from the Faculty of Law’s first cohort received their LLB, and the B.A. in Theology was awarded for the first time.

At the same ceremony, the Rt. Hon. Sir Hugh Wooding, Chancellor of the University, conferred two honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws on Mr. Rolph Grant and Mr. William Demas. Mr. Grant, former chairman of T. Geddes Grant Ltd., was a member of the University's Finance and General Purposes Committee from its inception in 1949 until 1972, when he left Jamaica to live in Canada.

Mr. Demas, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community Secretariat, is a former member of the Trinidad and Tobago Government service. Both Mr. Grant and Mr. Demas are Trinidadians by birth and graduates of Cambridge University.

Professor David Hoyte of the Department of Anatomy in the Faculty of Medicine performed the duties of Public Orator in presenting the candidates to the Chancellor.
Mr. Grant's citation noted: "He does not seek to proselytise, is not austere or forbidding, but has a remarkable knack of putting people at their ease, with puckish humour and always a ready quip and friendly smile. He seems to enjoy life and to invite others to share in his enjoyment and wonder at it all...
"And so, accomplished, urbane, with a sportsman's easy grace, simpatico, never dominating, wise in our councils already, we extend to him the camaraderie of our scholastic fellowship."

The citation for Mr. Demas observed: "If our several governments were the architects of CARIFTA, William Demas has been the chief builder and principal executive so recognised by the Government of Guyana, who awarded him in 1972 the Cacique Crown of Honour for his services to regional integration...

"It is the essential practicality of William Demas that makes him so human, a practicality that, paradoxically, in its very depth of vision, betrays the dreamer behind the scientist. Though schooled in the disciplines of the old world and the New, not for him the pomp and circumstance of old metropolitan postures. He is, par excellence, the new HOMO W CARIBBIENSIS."

Demas later gave the graduation address on "The Prospects for Decolonization in the West Indies."

Attending the graduation ceremony in Jamaica for the last time as Vice-Chancellor was Dr. Roy Marshall, who leaves today for the Eastern Caribbean on University business. He will go on termination leave on January 1, 1974, and assume his new post on April 1.

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