At North Carolina Central University, nearly 500 graduates and a packed McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium heard Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie challenge them to a life of leadership.  She pressed her audience in no uncertain terms to extend themselves to help those who can least afford to help themselves.
 
“This is a strange season upon us,” she said as she began her address to the December graduates.  McKenzie made veiled and not-so-veiled references to the public fall from grace of icons in the African-American community like Tiger Woods saying at one point, “Talent will get you in the door, but character will keep you there.” 
 
McKenzie stated that African-Americans need more from their leaders than satisfaction at having arrived.  “We need leaders who are more than just happy to be there,” she said.  The students were told that true leadership demanded hard work, sacrifice, and suffering. “Leadership is hard work.  Don’t let anybody fool you. Leadership is not for the faint of heart.” 
 
The Bishop seemed to be speaking from experience. Despite a higher female to male ratio in the congregation, she became the first woman bishop elected in the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in 2000. 
 
She demanded to know which one of the graduates would become personally involved, reach beyond their own personal needs and concerns and “remove the stains upon the parchment of the Constitution.” McKenzie ended with the challenge, “I dare you, I D-double dare you…Which one of you will follow the lead of your conscience even when you have to walk by yourself?”
 
North Carolina Central University is the first publicly supported liberal arts college for African-Americans and this year, U.S. News & World Report ranked NCCU among the top ten HBCUs in the country.  As NCCU celebrates its Centennial Year, a diverse student body of more than 8,500 students is enrolled in programs such as law, business, library science, nursing, education, and biotechnology.