Clinton tells grads: Be inclusive
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Former President Bill Clinton marches with Rick Fritz, chairman of the Middlebury College Board of Trustees, during Middlebury College commencement exercises, where Clinton gave an address and received an honorary degree. CASSANDRA HOTALING / RUTLAND HERALD |
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By LISA D. CONNELL Herald Staff - Published: May 28, 2007
MIDDLEBURY — Former President Bill Clinton told members of Middlebury College's Class of 2007 Sunday what makes people alike is stronger than what makes them different.
"What we have in common is more important than what divides us," Clinton said, reminding the graduates to recognize the presence of people from all cultures, and urging them to work for the common good of humanity.
During a three-hour outdoor ceremony on the college lawn, 608 students graduated from Middlebury at the college's 207th commencement.
The rain held off until the moment the ceremony began. As students in black caps and gowns filed into rows of seats on the grass, the sky opened and a heavy shower began to fall.
Guests at the commencement grabbed plastic, blue-hooded ponchos and slipped them over their clothing, creating a sea of blue across the lawn. Other guests huddled under the canopy of trees. Undeterred, the event proceeded as college President Ronald D. Liebowitz delivered a welcome.
After honorary degrees were awarded to Robert De Cormier, Janet Tiebout Hanson, James Gustave Speth, Marc A. and Dana Lim vanderHeyden and Dr. Huda Y. Zoghbi and Clinton, the former president stepped to the podium.
Many members of the audience quickly flipped open the viewfinders on digital cameras, recording Clinton's words while also capturing his image.
Clinton opened his speech by recognizing the connections that link him and the people who worked in his administration to Middlebury College and Vermont.
Former Gov. Madeleine M. Kunin, for example, served as ambassador to Switzerland during Clinton's administration. And Ron Brown, a 1962 Middlebury graduate, was Commerce Secretary during Clinton's administration. Clinton said whenever he thinks of Middlebury, he thinks of Brown, who died in a 1996 plane crash as he and a delegation were on their way to the Balkans.
"I loved Ron Brown. He was an unbelievable human being and like a brother to me," Clinton said. "His eyes would just light up when he talked about Middlebury." He said Brown "grew up on the streets of Harlem and found a home here because there's a community here in the best sense, and that's really what we have to build in the real world."
Clinton built his speech around the theme of community and the need for societies around the world to become inclusive and aware of cultural connections.
Every community needs to have three things, Clinton told his audience: "A broadly shared opportunity to participate, a broadly felt responsibility for the success of the enterprise and a genuine sense of belonging."
He said, "Why would I come to you and ask you to think most about community? Because our collective community will solve problems."
He said the human genome mapping project has revealed that individual human beings have more in common than they may think.
"Genetically, all human beings are 99.99 percent the same," Clinton said. The physical difference between one person and another amounts to "one-tenth of 1 percent of your genetic makeup."
Crises across the globe, including terrorism, are the product of people focusing on that one-tenth of 1 percent difference, he said.
Sathyavani Sathisan, the student commencement speaker, peppered her speech with remarks about the high cost of a Middlebury education, prompting laughter from the audience. A native of Singapore, Sathisan was one of three Middlebury students to receive a fellowship from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. The grant allows fellows to travel and study abroad. She will focus on community drama and the sociopolitical use of theater.
"To parents, leaning toward bankruptcy, but still beaming with pride," she said, her voice crisp and clear, "it kills you to see us grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if we did not."
Sathisan asked her classmates to "please have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
"Love what you do, get good at it and let the chips fall where they may," she said.
Vermont resident Olivia Bigelow Bailey of Londonderry was the class valedictorian.
The colors of the flags of 58 nations created a rainbow during the ceremony, each flag representing the country of one of the class's international graduates. Among those receiving diplomas Sunday were students from Poland, Hungary, Senegal, Macedonia, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tibet, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Kuwait, Sweden, France, Switzerland, and Zimbabwe.
By 12:51 p.m., with all degrees in graduate's hands, black tasseled-mortarboards were hurled in the air.
Contact Lisa Connell at lisa.connell@rutlandherald.com.
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