President's Blog--January 2013--Our Collective Action is Required<http://www.cheyney.edu/president/2013/01/Presidents-Blog-January-2013-Our-Collective-Action-is-Required.cfm> January 27, 2013 The Inaugural Speech of President Barack Obama probably will be one of the most memorable Inauguration speeches of United States' presidents and, likewise, one of the most defining speeches of Barack Obama, the man and leader. Like many other Americans, I listened to the speech wanting to hear a message that would brace us through these tough times, bring us together in times of extreme divisiveness, and steer us towards a future that envelopes the dreams of happiness and well-being for a diverse, varied, and sustainable America. Like he has done so many times in the past, President Barack Obama delivered. He reemphasized that we are the "change," in statements like, "Preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action," and "We are responsible, each of us as citizens, for setting the country's course." Understanding the difficulty of our challenges, President Barack Obama stated, "We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect." Yet, "that is our generation's task- to make these words, these rights--of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--real for every American." As we prepare the campus for students to return this weekend, the words of this courageous American echo in my ears--"it is our generation's task"; "commitments we make to each other... do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us." We at Cheyney University consider it a noble task to work towards the words memorialized in our Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Welcome back students! Michelle Howard-Vital, Ph.D. President Cheyney University of Pennsylvania SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.