Rutgers University

President Obama Delivers the Rutgers University Commencement Address

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• published: 15 May 2016
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President Obama Delivers the Rutgers University Commencement Address. President obama says "In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue." during speech. President Barack Obama opened his speech at Rutgers University's commencement Sunday with praise for the 250-year-old school that worked for years to secure him as its graduation speaker. Many universities try to invite the president to their commencement ceremonies. But, Rutgers was persistent, Obama said. "I came here because you asked," Obama said. "You are the first to launch a three-year campaign . . . I even got three notes from the grandmother of your student body president. And I have to say, that really sealed the deal." Obama also praised the mix of races and cultures at Rutgers, which has one of the most racially diverse student bodies in the nation. "America converges here," Obama said. The president spoke before more than 50,000 people in High Point Solutions Stadium on Rutgers' Busch Campus in Piscataway. Dressed in scarlet red Rutgers robes, Obama was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. He delighted the graduates by referencing the fat sandwiches sold at Rutgers' grease trucks, the crowded campus buses and the debate over whether to call New Jersey's favorite breakfast sandwiches Taylor Ham or pork roll. President Obama: Pork roll or Taylor Ham? President Barack Obama addressed Rutgers University graduates on Sunday, May 15, 2016, but refuses to wade into the pork roll vs. Taylor Ham debate He also used his speech to make a case against anti-intellectualism in politics. "If you were listening to today's political debate, you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from," Obama said. "In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue." President Obama tells Rutgers grads 'ignorance is not a virtue' President Barack Obama delivers the 250th Commencement address at Rutgers University on Sunday, May 15, 2016. Without directly referencing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Obama dismissed the candidate's calls to build a wall across the Mexican border and ban Muslims from entering the country. Those policies would run counter to the nation's history as a melting pot, Obama said. "That's how we became America. Why would we want to stop it now?" Obama said. "Can't do it." Obama is the first sitting president to speak at a Rutgers, the nation's eighth oldest university. His appearance was a coup for Rutgers, which worked for years with New Jersey lawmakers to try to secure the president to speak in honor of the school's 250th anniversary. "Today, he chose you," Greg Brown, head of the Rutgers Board of Governors, told the cheering graduates. "He chose Rutgers." But, Obama's presence also complicated the commencement ceremony. Unlike previous years, Rutgers students were limited to one ticket for themselves and three guest tickets. Nearly 130 members of media covered the ceremony. Extensive security meant many of the 10,500 graduates seated on the field and 40,000 guests in the stands began lining up five hours or more before the ceremony to get through metal detectors and gates manned by Secret Service guards armed with automatic weapons. How Rutgers landed a presidential speech How Rutgers landed a presidential speech