[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S11124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    TRIBUTE TO DR. ROBERT H. McCABE

 Mr. GRAHAM. One of the foundations of our democracy is our 
education system, which has the high calling of passing knowledge for 
one generation to the next, of preparing our young people for the 
future and teaching us about the past.
  Mr. President, in the United States, our great tradition of public 
education is personified by Dr. Robert H. McCabe, president of Miami-
Dade Community College.
  After more than three decades of service to the college, Bob McCabe 
will retire, leaving a legacy that would inspire Socrates and 
Jefferson. A fundamental principle of our education system is that 
knowledge shall not be bounded by race or class or religion, that in a 
truly free society all people have access to learning.
  For some, that principle is an academic precept. For Bob McCabe, it 
is a lifelong passion. He lives that principle every day.
  Miami-Dade Community College is the latest of its kind in America, a 
nationally recognized institution which makes a consistent vital 
contribution to our future.
  Thousands of Floridians--productive, employed, having an immeasurable 
positive impact on America--got their start in higher education at 
Miami-Dade Community College. For them, the community college was a 
door to the future, and Bob McCabe made sure that door was open to 
everyone.
  As a native of Florida, as a former member of the Florida 
Legislature, as a past Governor of Florida and now a U.S. Senator 
representing Florida, I have a profound pride for our State's system of 
community colleges. These schools. located throughout our State, give 
real meaning to the sometimes fleeting goal of ``access to higher 
education.'' Community colleges are close to the students they serve 
and affordable.
  Community colleges are in the community and of the community. Bob 
McCabe is a tribute to that inter-connection between education and 
community, making multiple contributions to a greater south Florida. He 
helped establish the New World School of Arts and the New World 
Symphony, and worked with Miami's ``We Will Rebuild'' after Hurricane 
Andrew in 1992.
  Bob McCabe's dedication to higher education earned him the 1988 
Distinguished Graduate Award from the University of Miami and a 
MacArthur Fellowship in 1992. This year, he received the prestigious 
American Association of Community Colleges Leadership Award for his 
outstanding work on behalf of community colleges.
  For an active person with a creative mind like Bob McCabe's, 
retirement is perhaps a misnomer. As we mark this milestone in his 
career, we salute his leadership knowing the our community and our 
Nation will reap the benefits from his efforts into the next 
century.


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