Parents See Chinese Dissident Graduate : Commencement: Congressman helped arrange trip. Chapman awards honorary degree to composer/actor Jester Joseph Hairston.

In an emotional ceremony evocative of springtime tradition, more than 900 new Chapman University graduates attended commencement exercises Sunday that were highlighted by the presence of the parents of a Chinese dissident.

Included among the estimated 7,500 onlookers gathered for the ceremony were two from China. They were the parents of Ray Zhang, a 26-year-old political dissident who escaped from his homeland six years ago after playing a major role in the Tian An Men Square uprising.

Until an emotional reunion Saturday, Zhang, one of Sunday’s graduates, had not seen his parents since the uprising. With the help of Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), Zhang’s parents, Zhenchi Zhang, 64, and Li Ling Zhang, 59, were granted permission to travel here for one month.

“It was a very long time waiting for this moment,” Ray Zhang said. “It was very exciting. I am thankful that my family could be reunited.”

The family was welcomed by University President James L. Doti from the speaker’s stand.

Seated on a vast expanse of folding chairs that almost covered the university’s athletic field, graduates watched as the university bestowed an honorary doctor of humane letters degree on Jester Joseph Hairston, a 93-year-old African American composer, arranger and film and television star who began his career 66 years ago on the Amos and Andy radio show. He later wrote music for movies that included “Lilies of the Field” and “Lost Horizons.”

The graduates also heard a commencement address by Cynthia R. Dougherty, the university’s vice president for enrollment and student life, who reminded them of the rapidly changing world they were about to inherit.

“We are here to celebrate the last day of your first long journey,” Dougherty said. “For your grandparents, transitions were something that happened once in a lifetime; for you, transitions will be a way of life. You are a class that used Time magazine as a textbook because the history books couldn’t keep up with the world’s transitions. Half of you will be taking jobs that didn’t even exist when you were freshmen.”

Some of the graduates seemed to be taking such predictions seriously.

“I’m kind of nervous,” said Jeff Burroughs, 23, whose shorts, sandals and red-and-white polka dot tie seemed to contradict his cautious mood. “We’re done,” he said. “We’ve got to be real people now. I don’t know what I want to do.”

Others, however, expressed no doubts at all about the future.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Laura Waltz, 22. “I’m ready to join the real world.”

“It’s pretty exciting,” added Ryan Cook, a 21-year-old business administration major. “You pay all this money and then, finally, you’re out of here.”

Said Chris Sandoval, 39, who studied speech communications: “I think this is absolutely wonderful, especially at my age. It took a while.”

Sandoval wasn’t the only person to receive his first degree relatively late in life.

Diane Howe, 50, said she had postponed her own education long enough to raise a family. “It took me 33 years to get this degree,” she said.

Gloria Anderson, a 52-year-old administrator at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, said she had established herself in another career before continuing her education.

“It’s been a long time coming,” she said.