[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11181-11182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                     HONORS FOR AN ARKANSAS STUDENT

 Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute and 
to recognize a fellow Arkansan, Blake Rutherford, for his 
accomplishments at Middlebury College in Vermont. Blake is a native of 
Little Rock, attended Little Rock Central High School, and will be 
graduating from Middlebury College with a degree in Political Science 
in August 2000. This fine young man is the first student ever chosen at 
Middlebury College to give the Student Commencement Address. This is a 
well deserved honor for Blake Rutherford and I whole heartily 
congratulate him on his achievements. I ask that the text of his speech 
be included following my remarks.

                 Blake Rutherford's Commencement Speech

       Today, we are fortunate to experience one of the great 
     accomplishments in life. Like thousands throughout America, 
     we are gathered at the beginning of a new millennium, a 
     unique time in our nation and in our world. But unlike 
     thousands we have come together in a very special place-
     nestled between the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains--a 
     place where we worked hard, played hard, made lifelong 
     friends, and have spent some of the best years of our lives. 
     Paraphrasing the legendary Bob Hope, ``Middlebury: Thanks for 
     the Memories.''
       I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Class 
     of 2000--individually and collectively--for your 
     achievements. I also want to thank the Board of Trustees, the 
     administration, faculty, and staff for providing us the very 
     best. And I especially want to thank our parents and families 
     for paying for it.
       At our centennial celebration one hundred years ago, the 
     Middlebury Register characterized it as the ``day of days for 
     the undergraduate.'' Today, a century later, is most 
     certainly our day of days and one that we will celebrate and 
     remember forever with great pride, for as Emerson noted, 
     ``The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.''
       Middlebury College began in 1800 under the direction of 
     President Jeremiah Atwater in a small building with only 
     seven students. As we see almost 200 hundred years later, 
     more than 2000 students larger, under the direction of 
     President John McCardell, much has changed.
       Built for only $8,000, Painter Hall, constructed between 
     1814 and 1816, is currently the oldest building on campus. 
     Although it stands the same today, the environment and the 
     atmosphere around it do not.
       Admittance into Middlebury in 1815 used to consist of a 
     forty-minute oral examination in Latin, Greek and arithmetic. 
     Remembering back four years ago, I could only wish the 
     process was as simple.
       But today, thanks to the efforts of many, Middlebury is 
     blessed with a stronger, more diverse student body than it 
     has ever had.
       We have seen the number of applicants to Middlebury grow 
     steadily over the past four years.
       We have seen the number of minorities on campus grow over 
     the past four years.
       Most importantly, we have seen Middlebury's reputation grow 
     and spread all over the United States and to dozens of 
     countries across the world.
       Our accomplishment and our experiences have taught us a lot 
     about ourselves and about Middlebury College. As we strive to 
     promote a more diverse environment, we find ourselves 
     struggling to come to terms with many difficult questions and 
     issues. In answering these, let us turn to the lessons taught 
     to us by three prominent Middlebury graduates.
       Roswell Field graduated from Middlebury College in 1822. 
     Upon his departure from the College, he became a lawyer, and 
     is most famous for arguing to the Supreme Court on behalf of 
     a slave named Dred Scott. Although the Court did not rule in 
     his favor, his case has taught us that intolerance and 
     bigotry cannot and should not be permitted against any group, 
     at any level.
       Alexander Twilight received his Middlebruy diploma in 1823, 
     and in turn became the first African-American to receive a 
     college degree. Today, several minority students will walk 
     across this stage as members of the class of 2000. No doubt, 
     Mr. Twilight would be encouraged.
       Ron Brown graduated from Middlebury in 1962. Upon his 
     arrival here, which at the time was almost all white, one 
     campus fraternity objected, saying they only permitted 
     ``White, Christian'' members, Brown and other members of his 
     fraternity chose to fight. In time our local chapter was 
     expelled, but because of his efforts, Middlebury, more 
     importantly, made it college policy that no exclusionary 
     chapters would exist on campus.
       Ron Brown had an exemplary professional career serving as 
     Secretary of Commerce until his death in a tragic plane crash 
     in 1996. Jesse Jackson once said of him, ``He learned to be a 
     bridge between the cultures.'' I hope we all can remember 
     that lesson here today. A lesson, no doubt, Ron Brown learned 
     at Middlebury College.
       We've come a long way since these individuals were here, 
     but we still have a long way to go.
       I am a son of the South. I came a far distance to go to 
     school here. Acceptance to Middlebury was my own impossible 
     dream.
       I graduated from Little Rock Central High School where 43 
     years ago nine African-American students were denied 
     admittance prompting a constitutional crisis our nation had 
     not seen since the Civil War.
       While much progress has been made, today in parts of the 
     Mississippi Delta region of our own country--just a couple of 
     hours from my home--there is poverty at its very worst.
       Several years ago the late Senator Everett Dirksen of 
     Illinois was speaking at a ceremony at the Gettysburg 
     Battlefield where he said, ``Men died here and men are 
     sleeping here who fought under a July sun that the nation 
     might endure: united, free, tolerant, and devoted to 
     equality. The task was unfinished. It is never quite 
     finished.''
       He was right. It is never quite finished.
       With our Middlebury foundation, we're now going to embark 
     on a world full of many wonderful opportunities and also of 
     many grave problems. If we can remember two important 
     lessons, our lives and certainly our world will be a much 
     better place. First, the future can always be better than the 
     present. And second, we have a responsibility to ensure that 
     that is the case. It is a responsibility we have to 
     ourselves, to our communities, to Middlebury and most 
     importantly to those who are not as fortunate to be here, 
     among us, today.
       This afternoon we leave Middlebury with a greater knowledge 
     of various academic fields, the world and ourselves. We also 
     leave Middlebury young and energetic, bound closer to one 
     another more than we probably ever will be through our 
     friendships, our relationships, and our experiences. And with 
     that we now have the opportunity to help and serve others.
       Robert Kennedy said, ``This world demands the qualities of 
     youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of 
     will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage 
     over timidity, of the appetite of adventure over the love of 
     ease.''
       Today, we make history as the first graduating class of 
     Middlebury's third century. It is an accomplishment that I'm 
     sure makes

[[Page 11182]]

     our families, our friends, and those close and important to 
     us very proud as well. So let us always remember this day, 
     May 21, 2000 as our day of days--our historic day. And very 
     soon will all embark on separate journeys and begin a new and 
     exciting chapter in our lives.
       In doing so, let us not forget the famous words of Tennyson 
     who wrote, ``That which we are, we are, one equal temper of 
     heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in 
     will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.''
       And for the class of 2000, the world now awaits and the 
     best is yet to be.
       Good Luck and Congratulations.

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