Clinton draws record crowd at commencement Former president stresses the importance of community

Author: Tamara Hilmes

Former President of the United States William Jefferson Clinton addressed a record turnout crowd at the Middlebury College Commencement on May 27, reminding the Class of 2007 of the importance of community. Blue ponchos filled the lawn between the McCullough Student Center and Voter Hall as well over 5,000 graduates, family members and friends endured the rainy weather to celebrate the achievements of the graduating class.

The highlight of Sunday's event was Clinton's much-anticipated address. Clinton, who received an honorary doctorate of humane letters, spoke briefly about Ron Brown '62, who served as commerce secretary during Clinton's first term and was the first person who introduced the former president to the College. "I loved Ron Brown," Clinton said. "His eyes would light up when he talked about Middlebury. Ö He found here what I want for everyone in the world."

"A kid who grew up in a hotel in Harlem found a home here, because there's a community here, in the best sense," Clinton continued. "And that's really what we have to build in the world."

Such a community, he said, has "a broadly shared opportunity to participate, a broadly felt responsibility for the success of enterprise, whatever it is, and a genuine sense of belonging."

Acknowledging problems in the world ranging from resource depletion and climate change to illegal immigration and terrorism, Clinton stressed the necessity of strong communities in the face of such challenges. "I believe questions of community and identity Ö will determine our collective capacity to deal with all the problems."

"Our differences are really neat," he continued. "They make life more interesting and they aid in the search for truth. But our common humanity matters more. So much of the world's difficulty today is rooted in the rejection of that simple premise."

Clinton also pointed to recent discoveries related to human genetics to support his argument, touching on what he called the "stunning" Human Genome Project. "Genetically all human beings are 99.9 percent the same," he said. "Everything you can possibly observe about another that seems different is rooted in one-tenth of one percent of your genetic makeup."

"I saw Rush Limbaugh the other night," he continued, "and I was tempted, after all of the terrible things he's said about me, to tell him that we were 99.9 percent the same. I was afraid the poor man would run weeping from the restaurant. And so I let it go."

After speaking of an upcoming trip to South Africa, Clinton expressed his disbelief that he and Nelson Mandela, who he greatly admires, are ultimately so similar. "I can't believe that he and I are 99.9 percent the same, because he's so much greater in every way than I could ever be. But it's true."

He went on to describe community within the context of South Africa, speaking of a word in Xhosa used to discuss the idea of community: 'ubuntu.'

"It simply means, in English, 'I am because you are,'" he explained. Further north in the country, in the central highlands, he noted that "when people meet each other walking along paths and one person says, 'Hello, how are you? Good morning,' the answer is not, 'I'm fine, how are you.'" The answer in English is, 'I see you.'"

Clinton concluded his speech by asking the over 600 graduates to go out into the world with eyes open to see one another. "As you save the world," he said, "remember all the people in it."

Preceding Clinton's speech, graduating senior Vani Sathisan '07 delivered the student address, which was eliminated from commencement exercises 150 years ago but was revived for the College's bicentennial in 2000. Sathisan delighted her audience with a witty and energetic address.

"The last time I gave a graduation speech I had just completed two years of kindergarten," she began. "The only difference between then and now is that this time, I wrote my speech all by myself."

"I remember back then when I would cling to my dad's shirt when it came time to leave for school," Sathisan continued. "I think we are all still clinging to our dads' shirts - and pockets."

Sathisan praised her professors for their influence throughout her Middlebury career, and commended the Class of 2007 for its three Watson Fellowship winners as well its involvement with MiddShift, Middlebury's carbon-neutral initiative, and Step It Up, a country-wide initiative to address global climate change. Sathisan finished with a bit of advice to her peers.

"We need to reinvent the world," she said. "We need to be the trendsetters. We must defy the gods by being quietly confident, and we must fulfill our duties as global citizens."

In addition to honoring Clinton and the College's fleet of graduates, Sunday's ceremony also recognized six other individuals with honorary degrees: Robert de Cormier, director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra; Janet Tiebout Hanson, founder of Broad Impact; James Gustave Speth, dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Marc A. and Dana Lim vanderHeyden, the president and first lady of St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vt.; and Huda Zoghbi, a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine.

Valedictoria Olivia Bailey '07, a philosophy and French double major, and salutatorian Astri von Arbin Ahlander '07, a film and media culture and English double major, were also honored for their academic achievements at the College.

Sunday's commencement exercises drew to a close after a rousing rendition of "Gamaliel's Painter's Cane," to which the graduates rapped and tapped their replicas of the former College president's cane to celebrate the end of their time at the College.