6/14/97
News directors, photo editors: A five-minute feed of highlights of Ohio University's 1997 commencement with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and NBC's Matt Lauer as keynote speakers will be run and re-racked on Satellite SBS6 Transponder 17 from 17:15-17:30 EDT Saturday, June 14. Newspaper quality photographs of Mrs. Clinton, Lauer and graduating seniors are available at the following World Wide Web sites: http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/~univnews/pix/hillaryc.jpg http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/~univnews/pix/mattl.jpg http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/~univnews/pix/feature1.jpg http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/~univnews/pix/feature2.jpg
ATHENS, Ohio -- A record 3,350 Ohio University undergraduate students participated in two commencement ceremonies Saturday at the Convocation Center as first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed the afternoon session and NBC "Today" show co-host Matt Lauer spoke at morning commencement.
Citing her own visits with U.S. troops in Bosnia where ethnic clashes have killed thousands of people, Mrs. Clinton said she realized the importance of America as a symbol for the world.
"I saw every race, religion and ethnic group represented and I saw how our country, unlike any other nation in the world, has given opportunity to those willing to work hard, take responsibility and contribute to the larger community," Mrs. Clinton said. "I realized what a powerful symbol America is and for those young men and women wearing the American uniform, upholding the ideals of peace, freedom, democracy and tolerance, they were showing the Bosnian people that a multiracial democracy can work."
Referring to President Clinton's call for racial unity at a commencement speech he delivered today at the University of California-San Diego, Mrs. Clinton told graduates they were guardians of democracy.
"For these young men and women graduating, there has never been more possibility awaiting them, there has never been a greater opportunity for America to lead the way, and I hope that each of you will have the chance to bring America closer to its full promise of equality for all. I wish you Godspeed in your adventures ahead," Mrs. Clinton said.
Mrs. Clinton has visited the Athens campus twice before, during the 1992 presidential campaign and again last October during the 1996 campaign.
Lauer told the graduates that character was more important than fame or success.
"This is a place of character ... a place that manages to bring out the best character in the students who pass through that College Gate," Lauer said. "We've all heard the expression that hard times build character, but what is character? ... It's an intangible, it's a mystifying quality, it's difficult to define. For the most part you are probably born with it, or not born with it. But some people can develop it, you can improve upon it, but you can never fake it."
Despite his current success, Lauer said he had been fired five times in the 1980s when he learned more about character than during successful periods of his life.
"Success is boring. You never hear people say success builds character; it doesn't," Lauer said.
"I wouldn't trade that time (of unemployment) for anything. It's as much responsible for who I am today as for all the successes combined. You learn things during that time. One of the things you learn about is yourself, what you are willing to do, what you are made of, what you will do to survive."
Lauer, 39, attended Ohio University from 1975 to 1979. He succeeded Bryant Gumbel Jan. 6 as co-host of the "Today" show after three years as news anchor and substitute co-host for the national daily morning news program. In 1979, Lauer left Ohio University to pursue his broadcast career as producer for the noon news on WOWK-TV in Huntington, W.Va., four credits short of graduating. He completed a paper to finish his degree in telecommunications.
"When all is said and done, when all is stripped away, it doesn't matter what is in your bank account or what is on your resume, it matters what is in here, in your heart and in your guts, because character will get you through not only life's peaks but also its valleys," Lauer said. "I hope you leave Ohio University with great knowledge. I pray you leave Ohio University with great character."
Lauer said he doesn't feel 18 years older than the age of most of his graduating classmates.
"I'm 39 chronologically. Inside I'm 22. It's like I'm renting the body of a 39-year-old. When I look at myself on TV and I'm in a business suit, there is a 22-year-old kid in jeans and an OU T-shirt screaming to get out of that body."
An estimated 1,700 undergraduates and 11,000 onlookers attended the morning commencement, and some 1,650 undergraduates and 12,000 onlookers were at the afternoon session, according to Commencement Coordinator Gretchen Stephens.
