Former president Clinton delivers Class Day address

Former President Bill Clinton mixed jokes with a serious discussion of the immigration debate and a traditional graduation speech call to action in his address to the Class of 2006 this afternoon, encouraging them to engage in the world "locally, nationally and globally."

Clinton's speech emphasized civic and political involvement, instructing graduates to use the "personal power" they developed at Princeton to better the world.

"You have an education that has given you unprecedented personal power," he said later in the half-hour speech, "and you live in a time which has given you unprecedented personal power."

Class Day is the second in the series of graduation events at the University. Graduating students, joined by their families, gather to reflect on their undergraduate careers and induct honorary members into their classes. The University also uses the event to award several academic, athletic and service prizes. (See related blog post.)

Class Day co-chair Shaun Callaghan '06, "along with two less politically-connected people," seniors Lauren Bush and Harrison Frist, introduced Clinton. Bush is the niece of President George W. Bush and Frist is the son of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist '74 (R- Tenn.).

"It'll be good," Frist said in his introduction.

Bush called Clinton "my grandfather's new favorite traveling buddy."

Clinton and his predecessor, George H.W. Bush, worked and traveled together as part of Hurricane Katrina and tsunami relief efforts.

"Clinton's name immediately came up," Bush also said. "But then, we thought Hillary would probably be too busy."

Clinton responded by mentioning that Frist's father was in the audience.

"I thought Hillary was too busy to be here, too," Clinton said. "She told me she had to go to the Senate. And then I see Senator Frist here, putting parenthood ahead of the public trust."

The core of Clinton's speech was his response to a question he posed to the graduates: "How will you be of service to your nation and all the world?" He divided his response into answers of "four simple questions" about the nature of service.

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"One: What is the nature –– fundamentally –– of the 21st century world? Two: How would you like to change it? How would you like to leave it for your children and grandchildren? Three: What must be done to affect those changes? And four: Who's supposed to do it? Especially, what are you going to do?"

At the end of his speech, Clinton was inducted as an honorary member of the Class of 2006 and was given a class beer jacket, along with a copy of the Nassau Herald, the senior class yearbook.

Clinton held the jacket up and looked at the orange and black shield design with a politician's face of appreciation. Baccalaureate speaker David Sedaris became an honorary class member on Sunday.

Retiring professors John Fleming GS '63 and John Gager were also made honorary members of the class at the ceremony, as were Charles Krank, assistant director of grounds and building maintenance, and Bob Rodgers '56, who coordinated '56-'06 bridging activities.

Chris Lloyd '06, class president for three years, gave seniors a list of 10 things they should do in the final 24 hours before Commencement, including joining the popular networking site facebook.com if they hadn't already and thanking parents and favorite professors.

Seniors Ben Fast and Maggie Dillon delivered brief, humorous speeches. Fast suggested that Clinton might be Batman and later told his classmates that they were all superheroes after their time at the University. They repeated his superhero oath: "I Benjamin Fast, do solemnly swear to uphold the Honor Code, to serve our nation and all nations, and to support Annual Giving –– generously."

Seniors Jeremy Golubcow-Teglasi and James Williams were again honored for winning the Pyne Prize, which was awarded to them in February.

Juan Gonzalez, Leslie-Bernard Joseph, Lloyd and Claire Woo received awards for their service to the University. Laura Collins, Sara Colon and David Mann-Podrasky were recognized for community service work during their time at Princeton.

Athletic awards were given to Emily Behnke, Mike Broache, Devan Darby, Lauren Ehrlichman, Cack Ferrell, Yasser El Halaby, Jacqueline Leahy, Eric Leroux, Caroline Lind, Wes Powell, Erin Snyder and Lauren Vance.