You people infuriate me. How can you be so cocky as to think that by granting Senator Clinton the commencement address, Dr. Jackson will magically top political ladders in the future? That’s like saying the CEO of Disney World, Michael Eisner, could get a cabinet appointment by inviting Clinton to stand in as the lead Cinderella for a day in Orlando. What are you thinking? Please, get real, OK? I’ve had enough of these ridiculous techno-geek conspiracy theories.

And how can you be so utterly disrespectful to a United States Senator from New York coming to grace our campus? This is not about her political views or yours—or mine! I’m sure she didn’t accept the invitation thinking RPI was going to be this amazing boost to her political campaign. Commencement is about us; the graduating class of 2005. We are celebrating our hard work. Senator Clinton was invited to share in this celebration. Don’t you think she knows about hard work? She, of all people, knows that major challenges come at you while you are trying to achieve your life’s goals. She, of all people, knows that you have to remain steadfast and focused to succeed, to get to where you intend to be in this life. We did it; we made it to the top. We made it to commencement, the culminating moment of these past four years. We did it with the help of our friends, family, professors and TAs. Senator Clinton achieved her goals with those support networks and also with the world waiting, watching, and judging. She deserves our respect, as does any person, be they a high-profile political figure or a high school prospective student, who comes to visit this campus.

We have never been a very political campus. Some call us apathetic—socially, politically, administratively, etc. I have to disagree. We are an extremely impassioned group of strong-minded people. It is science, technology and art in which we are bound together and with which we are utterly infatuated. We are highly opinionated, but lack the time (and, admittedly, the skill) to formally express these opinions because after being engrossed in work we are engrossed in play. Finding the balance between love, work, and play is essential and I think that expressing formal opinions is far from the top priority in the “work” category for most people here. This is beside my point.

With that, I would like to say congratulations to the class of 2005. We’ve completed an amazing journey; we’ve stepped up to the challenges set before us by our faculty. I’m confident those of you who attend commencement will demonstrate what you have learned while at RPI. You will demonstrate your respect for dedication, hard work and great accomplishments. And, as you walk across that stage on May 21, if you can find nothing else in common with yourself and Senator Clinton, you may find that you both possess class. As defined by Ann Landers, “Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It’s the sure-footedness that comes with having proved you can meet life.”

I’ll see you up at the turf.

Mary C. Dalton