“However, one of my regrets which I have expressed here, is that many of these products of the University that confer benefit to the Caribbean as a whole are not sufficiently well known by the Caribbean people. This is a relic of our culture which we are attempting to change.

There is also branding of the institution to present a specific image to our public. But one of the most important aspects of the branding we must consider is the branding of our primary product-our graduates. The mark of the University is on every one of you. You swore a common oath or made a common promise at matriculation, you receive our degrees, you wear our gowns and shortly you will recite the alumni pledge-all symbols of belonging. I would only ask that as alumni you continue to be proud of this brand and ensure that it retains its currency for generations to come. I am sometimes asked whether our graduates are different from those of Harvard or Oxford or any other university. I say that you are different not because you ate doubles or saw the sun for more days of the year or believe that the natural color of the sea is blue. I hope you are different because you bear that mark of the University-that mark of the pelican which means a certain level of commitment to this part of the world.

Our university like all good ones should be a place that fosters a spirit of community. It should build its own internal social capital and be a place in which all ideas can contend. That community should embrace diversity of all kinds and should reject the notion that there are predetermined characteristics of certain identities.”

Chancellor Sir George Alleyne addressing graduates of the St. Augustine campus on November 2 and 3, 2007