trying to readjust on now. the recent is over. host: what have the first couple of years in congress been like for you? guest: i have really enjoyed it. it's easy to get up in the morning. host: first couple of months here and congress, what has it been like are you? -- like for you? rep. beyer: it is great, it is easy to get up in the morning. i really, really enjoy it. the key for me is little by little, develop relationships on the understanding to have some impacts as to how decisions come out. in the recent trade debates, i have been one of the few democrats who have a voted for the trade agreement to give the president the tools of that he

needs. it has been a little lonely, but i also feel like, i am glad i am here. this is going to have a different outcome because i'm showing up every day. host: on that issue? rep. beyer: on that issue and others. host: with nancy pelosi, what is your relationship? rep. beyer: it is very good, with nancy pelosi and others. that is the other thing, too i am not seen these divisions on a policy become personal. i am sure they do sometimes for some people, but i have not felt any personal problem. even if you come out of the committee meetings, one of my republican friends had a bill that i voted against we realize

it is not personal. host: when you ran for the house, you had a pretty contentious to him. how did you win? rep. beyer: there were 13 of us, originally and 10 on the ballot, and it very quickly became obvious that there was 40 years in business, lieutenant governor, overseas ambassador, and i had this experience, and nobody else had this resume to hit the ground running. we needed a congressman who would not be a newbie, but somebody who could take charge right away. and it worked. i didn't read any books or watch tv or any thing else -- anything else, and it worked. host: and you can cross the potomac in your district, you don't have to drive too far.

rep. beyer: i am very spoiled. host: how do you stay in touch with your constituents? rep. beyer: i wake up at about 645 and i get here about 8:00, and -- 6:45 and i get here about 8:00. and my constituents don't just meet with just meet, i have a great legislative staff who works hard all day long as well. we will be out of here and then back in the district in the evening to do something. whether it is a nonprofit event a town hall meeting, a civic association, just lots and lots of connectedness. my friends in the house from california and texas and montana, they say the good news is you are close to home, the bad news is you're always

working. but i am not away from the people i represent from any distance of time. i feel very filled. host: any interest in moving up in the leadership? rep. beyer: i am at the point now where i have had enough titles in my life. i don't need to have a title. but yes, i would very much love to be a part of helping to lead the house and lead the democratic caucus. but i don't have to win an election to do that. i think a lot of it is just showing up. so when i get invited to this meeting or that, if it is possible for me to raise my hand and say, i will make that call or i will take that to the table, that is a way to offer leadership without having to have the ego stroke that goes with it.

as a freshman, it would take me a long time to compete against people who have been here for 20 years or 30 years which is fine. host: and finally, an update on your wife? what she think of your politics and your time here in the house? rep. beyer: i think she likes it. she was the one who said you have to do this. i first met her back in 1984, 1985. i was running a campaign in northern for genia and she was working for news channel -- northern virginia and she was working for news channel 8. host: and your daughters, how old are they now? rep. beyer: 43, 23, and 20. -- 34, 23, and 20.

the youngest one seems to be the one that pays attention to policy issues day in and day out. their conversations now are just like mine where i was a kid. it is all about what is in the newspaper and public policy. they've all got good, strong opinions. host: finally, what does your dad think of all of this? rep. beyer: i think he likes it. he is very proud of me. he doesn't understand why i would do this. he asks, what are you doing? but i think he is proud of me, anyway. and i love to update him. back when i was lieutenant governor, i would call him every night for he would check into the motel someplace in virginia. but now i call him regularly just to keep them updated because he wants to hear what the activities are. host: congressman don breyer thank you very much. >> tonight on c-span,

conversations with the leaders of the tech industry at the techcrunch disrupt new york. here is a preview. >> one of the most surprising things are in the net neutrality saga over the last year, was this massive outpouring of public comments. for you surprised at the amount of comments at that came in? were you shocked about the? -- that? >> i remember there was a day early on where we had 100,000 150,000 comments kind of being filed. ?, -- you go, whoa! but that is why this debate, that is why this decision was so damn important.

it was about three quarters were pro- >> some people didn't like the idea. commissioner wheeler: the fact is, this proved the power of an open internet to free expression. it just happened that the issue being decided and the ability to communicate using that technology happened to coincide. >> and you can watch all of this conversation from the recent techcrunch disrupt conference in new york tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. and tonight, we -- and friday the 2016 presidential campaign announcements. there are currently 14

republicans seeking the nomination and five democrats. watch those speeches tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> here are just a few of our featured programs for the three-day holiday weekend on the c-span networks. on c-span, friday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern the annual talkers magazine conference in new york. saturday night at 8:00, an interview with editors of "the new york times." and on sunday at 9:30, walter mondale and gary hart on the church committee. on book tv on c-span2 author martin ford on how the increasing use of artificial intelligence could make good jobs obsolete. saturday night at 10:00 on after

words, carol berkin on the bill of rights. and join our conversation on sunday at noon with our conversation in depth with peter schweitzer -- schweizer. and on friday at 6:30 on c-span3, the 70th anniversary of the united nations. saturday night at 8:00, here a brooklyn college classroom lecture on the revolutionary war. sunday afternoon at 4:00 on real american -- reel america, a day

in old milwaukee, 1960. get our complete schedule at c-span.org. >> senator tim scott now holds the commencement address for the south carolina state university commencement. the senator saying a few lines from the tune "hold onto your dreams." senator scott is the first african-american to be elected to the senate's of carolina and the first republican african-american senator since reconstruction. sen. scott: thank you. good evening, everyone.

let me say first and foremost without any questions, my prayers are with south carolina state university for financial success and for peace and for the position of significance that you currently hold. through my days in the state house, i have been a supporter of south carolina state. as your united states senator, i will continue to be a supporter of south carolina state university. [applause] sen. scott: now to the parents, i know that today is a day of joy and happiness. it is a joyful day because it you get to see your kid graduate from college. how many of you parents are saying it, thank god for that? hallelujah! [laughter] it is also a -- sen. scott: it is also a very happy day because you know and you have

been thinking about it, because as your kid graduates, in a most feels like a race. that brings a tear to your eyes. now let me speak to the graduates themselves. graduates, please, take just a moment to look around. look to your left, look to your right, hear the voices screaming your name out there. [applause] sen. scott: all the people! [cheering] sen. scott: i don't think they heard me. i don't think they heard me. i said, all of the people screaming your names out there today! [screaming] sen. scott: that's what i thought i heard. i would be happy, too. i would be happy too.

i would be excited myself if i was sitting in the stands and i would be even more excited sitting in those seats. if i were getting my degree, i would ask the speaker just to do a few things. give me a little pieces of the puzzle and then go sit down and shut up. [laughter] sen. scott: i knew it. so let me just go on and give you my three pieces to the life puzzle. the first piece i think is applicable to all of us. it is simply, "failure is not final if you refuse to quit." i am going to say it one more time because i think it is absolutely, unequivocally important to emphasize the simple fact that failure is not final if you refuse to quit. i was thinking back during president evans's introduction about how i basically flunked

out of high school as a freshman. i remember those days growing up in a single-parent household struggling, hopelessly drifting in the wrong direction. i think i am the only united states senator to ever fail civics, the study of politics and then i went to the united states senate and realized i had plenty of company. [laughter] 6 it takes -- sen. scott: it takes them a little time to get that one. i failed both spanish and english. now when you fail both spanish and english, they don't call you bilingual, they call you b iignorant. that is where i found my unhappy self. but i had mentors who believed in me in a way that i did not and a mother who believed that all things were truly possible with faith in god and the power of a switch. [laughter] >> amen!

sen. scott: now a switch is a southern apparatus of encouragement. [laughter] sen. scott: it was applied from my belt to my ankles as often as necessary, and i think god that because of the strength of my mother, literally and the euro tule -- and figuratively, i went and finished high school on time and went to college and went and continued on to the journey of life. i believe that the best days of this class, the class of 2015, is ahead of you. the things that you will do for this country and this world has not been imagined before. i believe that the cure to cancer may be sitting in the seats in front of me. i believe that the next technological discovery can be found in the hearts and minds of the students who are getting ready to work in the workforce.

i believe in you. i believe in you. the second piece to the puzzle is simply if you want to stand out in life, stand up for someone who cannot stand up for themselves. [applause] sen. scott: if you want to stand out in life, stand up for someone who cannot stand up for themselves. one classic example of this is a friend of mine, a couple named molly and george green. they earned -- owned a very successful engineering company and they may profit. they started traveling the world, and through their travel, they discovered that many of the challenges and many of the sicknesses in africa comes from the fact the clean water is simply hard to find.

so they sold her business and decided to go full-time into the mission of providing clean water in africa. over the last several years, they have provided millions of gallons of water all over the continent in the poorest areas of africa. last week, i met a young lady, she was about 15 years old, and she was diagnosed with brain cancer. that impacted and affected her optical nerves and now she is legally blind at 14 and 15 years old. she decided that she would dedicate the rest of her life to serving kids like her. so she started a prom for kids with cancer. she has decided not to sit on the sidelines, but to be engaged in life in changing lives for other people. my third piece to the life puzzle is simply to hold on to your dreams. i hope and i pray that you have dreams consistent with easy and

--with this biblical verse that you are able to do above all that you can think of! [applause] sen. scott: if you hold onto god's and shaking hand, all things -- god's unshaking hand, all things, all things, i said all things are possible! it is possible for you to change the world. i am standing here as a living example to show that a knucklehead from north carolina can see a dream come true. there are several dreamers who had the first taste of defeat before they experienced the most

amazing taste of success and freedom. i think of a walt disney. anyone heard of walt disney? walt disney was fired from his first job because he simply was not creative enough. i know we have heard of oprah winfrey. oprah winfrey was fired from a local tv station because she was simply not fit for tv. and some people have written off south carolina state university. but i am here to tell you that the best is yet to come! [applause] sen. scott: i look around at all of the graduates sitting in front of me, and i know that the best is yet to come. this is the universe that has

graduated more general officers and our military, african-american general officers in our military, 19 united states military generals than perhaps any other school of this size. you see, the best is yet to come. i will close because my dreams of taking me all over the world and i have been working on my singing lessons, because my ultimate dream is to sing in front of thousands of people and hear the roar as they applaud and i mesmerize the folks with my singing voice. back in 1983 when i was graduating from high school, the song that has stuck with me for the last 32 years was a song called "hold onto your dreams."

would you go ahead and start the music, president? oh, he said he forgot the music. that's ok, i will say it a capello -- a cappella. ♪ hold onto your dreams hold onto your dreams! ♪ ♪ i am going to tell you the words. the song sibley says, hold onto your dreams, the leave and your love and let god be your light to show you the way. because life is going to be hard and sometimes, it is even going to feel unfair, except for those who really care. who are there rain and shine

sharing your dreams, your heart your and your mind -- and your mind. congratulations. [applause] >> up next, former hulu ceo jason kilar delivers the address at university of north carolina, chapel hill. he now runs a video subscription service called vessel. this ran on may 10. [applause] jason: how is everybody doing out there? [cheering] jason: ok, so before i began i've got to capture this with a selfie. so you on the left and you on

the right, if you could move in just a little bit, and do me a favor, if you could give a little hauler, we can catch this selfie. -- holler, we can catch this selfie. so here we go! [cheering] jason: ok, i will tweet that. thank you, chancellor fulton. thank you members of the faculty and members of the board of trustees. thank you for the very kind welcome. it is an absolute honor to address you today and to

congratulate the graduating class of 2015. [applause] jason: that's right. so if chester --chancellor fulton gidley covered at the beginning of the ceremony, today is mother's day there be at none of this would be happening today if not for your mother's love and the estimated 53,000 hours of labor that was required collectively of your mother to bring your graduating class's smiling faces into the world. [laughter] [applause] jason: thank you mothers. this is a spectacular day in your lives, one that will prove to be among the most memorable of life's milepost. i have particularly excited to be here today, given that i, too, went to the university of

north carolina, chapel hill. my freshman year, i lived in the architectural triumph that is [indiscernible] dormitory. i am a product of the undergraduate business school. in addition, i am also a product of unc's school of journalism and mass communication. it is soon to be rebranded unc school of media and journalism, which i think is a fantastic moment of change for the school. it has been an absolute pleasure to be back on campus this weekend and to be welcomed by the chancellor with the southern hospitality that can be found nowhere else on earth. y'all have been mighty kind. [laughter] jason: it must be said that this

year, rather than choosing from any number of nobel prize laureates or political luminaries to be your commencement speaker, you have chosen me, by guy best known for making it easier to watch recent episodes of "south park" and nd "family guy." [laughter] [applause] jason: assuming that there were no jedi mind tricks involved, it occurs to me that you have chutzpah and moxie. these two things will serve you very well in life. i like to share with you my story this morning. i share it with you in hopes that you may find some benefit. it is a story of dreams, failure, loss, perseverance, and one unfortunate run-in with the authorities in southern california. in any event, my story goes like this. in 1993, i sat in the same

bleachers you currently find yourselves in, adorned in my graduation gown, excited to graduate. my mother and father were there, enjoying the glorious pageantry of it all. that day, my parents got to meet the girl that i began dating at earlier. she was a junior at unc. perhaps you are experiencing similar family moments on campus this weekend and on franklin street. life was pretty good. in the months prior to my graduation, i did everything i could to land a job in the machinery of hollywood. my dream, dating back to when i was a kid, was to follow in the footsteps of walt disney. i had always been fascinated by stories well told and how disney leveraged technology in the interest of making them better. for most of my senior year here

at chapel hill i wrote to every executive of that i could in hollywood. the sum total of five months of letter writing and phone calling with a cavalcade -- was a cavalcade of no's if i was lucky to get a reply. one interview was to be conducted at universal studios in los angeles a few days after my graduation. i wasn't exactly off to a great start, but i was hopeful that things would improve. soon after my graduation ceremony ended that sunday, i kissed my girlfriend goodbye and gave a big hugs to my mother and to my father. i made the cross-country drive in my 1982 subaru hatchback in record time, trying to make an impact in los angeles doing something that i loved. now this is where the story veers from the expected, and it

is the first i have shared of it. a day after arriving in los angeles, and on the heels of might interview -- my interview with universal studios. my mother carefully but bravely shared the news over the phone that my dad had taken his life. he was 47. he was 47. kind, loving husband of. accomplished professional, having put himself through school earning three degrees. the man who taught me so much was gone from this world three days after i last saw him in this very stadium. things went poorly in the weeks and months that followed. that movie production job didn't work out the way i had hoped. i was hired but soon let go.

this was also the time that i learned with the help of the northridge california police department that the cal state-northridge parking deck was not looking to welcome recent college graduates living out of their subaru hatchbacks each night. i soon found myself working for a temp agency back home on the east coast installing shelving at a t.j. maxx that was undergoing renovation. i was personally lost and professionally about as far from my dreams as one could be. i mention this part of my story because i want all of you, the graduating class of 2015, to know that in your moments of personal and professional adversity that are sure to come you will not be alone. [applause]

everyone in this stadium everyone, it turns out, in this world, has struggled and will struggle with personal loss and professional failure. adversity is unnecessary and important part of life. adversity strengthens us in ways that success cannot. the mountain peaks of one's life may get the headlines and the facebook posts, but the valleys -- believe me, it is your journey through the valley that will define you. back when my dad died, i took a cue from how my mom had always persevered through adversity. for 30 years she helped my dad successfully battle manic-depressive disorder. in that noble and successful fight, she chose to face

adversity with courage, with kindness, and with optimism. i picked myself up eventually in the summer of 1993, making an important observation along the way. when things get tough, i believe that we as a species surprise ourselves with how much strength we have deep within. strength that we may never have previously known or been aware of. in the most trying times in unimaginable circumstances, that well of strength can be drawn upon. we find that we can persevere. you can persevere. this leads me to the second part of my story and this is a story about doing what you love, about taking risks, and never stopping. i will be the first to admit that my career is not for most

people and has been filled with unusual moments of taking risks. i got my first real job at the walt disney company by drawing myself into a comic strip rather than sending a resume. upon graduating from business school in 1997, with the debt level that approximated slovenia's gross domestic product -- [laughter] jason: it is true. i jumped into a small private company in the pacific northwest that was trying to sell stuff over the internet. about that internet company, my friends and family thought i was insane to go there given the uncertainty and the traditional

opportunities i would be foregoing. i was intoxicated by a very simple thing that this company offered. [laughter] jason: bad choice of words, huh? after college, the word "intoxicated" has different meaning. [laughter] it's not just tied to "he's not here." this was a mission, not a job. yes, there was risk and yes, the company could have ended up belly up. but it did not. the small company i joined was called amazon and i was able to learn for nine years from one of the finest leaders of our time in jeff bezos. i took a risk to do something i

love and passionately believed in and i am very glad i did. doing what you love, pursuing your own path is often the most unsettling option of the outset. the path that others have traveled before you, those are the path that have better visibility. they play better in conversations with your neighbors, but do not fall for it. you are better than that and you have the strength to go your own way. remember, i know that each of you has moxie by the bucket loads. i made the decision in 2007 to jump into a new chapter. this time, to build a team from day one and to help build a company with a mission to reimagine how television programming was delivered. we decided to call the company hulu.

in the early days ahead of the launch, both the company and my decision to lead and help building were very publicly considered truly horrible, terrible ideas. we were called "clownco" by the smartest people of silicon valley. a digital counter even ran on a website to track just how many days it was going to take for the company to implode. it is true. the early days of hulu were among the toughest of my career. i kept reminding myself of that phrase attributed to winston churchill. "when you are going through hell, keep going." [laughter] jason: but here is the thing i cannot emphasize enough for you here today. most people you run into in life, including the smart ones they will be averse to new things. they certainly were in my

experience at hulu and amazon. new is scary. new is the unknown. most everyone does not believe that the new will work until it does. if you think the world is broken in a certain way, and you have a great idea to fix it, do yourself a favor and follow your convictions relentlessly. the path i described will be an uncertain one. but don't let the fear of uncertainty, of not having all the answers, be the thing that holds you back from pursuing your dreams. at your age, it is very natural

to have so many questions. who will i be? what i want to do? where should i live? what makes me happy? it easy to feel alone in this uncertainty. to feel bad that you do not have all the answers and all the details figured out, even know it seems like your friends do. as you get older you realize that no one has all the answers. it turns out that life is an exercise in living with the certainty of uncertainty. hulu ended up working out. consumers were ready for a new way to enjoy their favorite tv programs. but none of this would've happened in my career had i not chosen to ignore the conventional wisdom and pursue what i loved, taking considered risk along the way. and when i found myself going through hell, to keep going.

before i finish and let you get back to watching "family guy" on hulu -- [laughter] i would like to bring things. the girl from carolina, the one from my own graduation that i mentioned at the start, she is actually here in the stadium again today. and she has four small humans in her wake that keep referring to me as their father. [laughter] [applause] jason: i love you, jamie, more than you can know. i better get some brownie points for that. [laughter] jason: my mother also happens to

be here today in this special stadium. [applause] jason: my mother is taking in the glorious pageantry once more and inspiring me each day with her choices of courage, of kindness, and optimism. and so, now, graduating class of 2015 -- [applause] jason: this is when your adventure begins. my wish is you make it the most epic adventure possible. dream. dream big.

take risks. take your self back up again and always, always remember this -- there is no adversity capable of stopping you once the choice to persevere is made. it has been a true honor and the highest of privileges to address you this morning. i am rooting for each and everyone of you. thank you and congratulations. [applause]

>> former president george w. bush addressed the graduating class at southern methodist university in dallas in may. it was his first commencement address since leaving office. this year marks the 100-year anniversary of the university's opening. [applause] george bush: thank you all. thank you. thank you very much. president turner, thanks.

members of the board of trustees, faculty, staff parents, most importantly, the class of 2015. i thank you for your warm welcome and i appreciate the invitation to be with you. when i mentioned this speech to some of my pals, they were surprised i was going to give it i have not given a commencement speech since leaving office. my decision is practical. i got a phone call from my landlord. [laughter] gerald turner. rather than raising the rent or threatening to hold the security deposit, i was relieved to hear him ask if i believed in free speech. [laughter]

[applause] i said yes. he said perfect, here is your chance to give one. i am honored to be here. truly honored to deliver the 100th spring it commencement address. i admire president turner's persuasiveness in his leadership. he runs a fantastic university. [applause] it is dynamic, diverse, destined for continued excellence. he has a strong administrative team and has engaged alumni and has an outstanding board of trustees. i am fortunate to know many of the trustees. [laughter] for example, i am good friends with the chairman.

there is one trustee i know really well. [laughter] she is a proud graduate of the class of 1968. she went on to become our nation's greatest first lady. [applause] do me a favor and don't tell mother. [laughter] i know how much the trustees love and care for this great university. i have seen it firsthand when i attended bring your spouse night dinners. i drop by classes on occasion. i am very impressed by the intelligence and the energy of the faculty. i want to thank you for your dedication and for sharing your knowledge with the students.

to reach this day, the graduates have had the support of loving families. some of the your parents love you so much they are in the overflow section across the campus. [laughter] i congratulate the parents who made this moment possible. it is a glorious day when your child graduates from college. and really great day for your bank account. [laughter] i know the members of the class of 2015 will join me in thanking you for your love and your support. [applause] most of all, i congratulate the members of the class of 2015. worked hard to reach this milestone. you leave with lifelong friends and fond memories. you will always member how much you enjoyed the right to buy a required campus meal plan. [laughter] you remember your frequent

battles with the park and pony office. [laughter] you may not remember those productive nights at the barley house. [laughter] [applause] you were founding members of the mighty smu mob, bouncing like mad and watching if your student body president, senor lobster, danced with joy after the ponies victory. you will think back to those fall game days on the boulevard. though i don't recall seeing too many of you in the stadium. [laughter] those of you are graduated this afternoon with high honors and distinctions, well done. as i like to tell the c students, you too can be president. [applause]

after four years of sitting through lectures, i feel you're not in the mood for another one. [laughter] what i learned about graduation speeches is that they are too long and rarely remembered. i will keep this short. i cannot attest to how memorable it will be. i have learned it is important to refer to someone associated with the university. i picked one, an smu trustee who, by the way, is not here, reverend mark craig. i asked mark craig to deliver the sermon before my second inauguration as governor of texas. i still remember his fort worth twang as he talked about moses. god called moses to action and moses found excuses not to act. who am i that i should go to pharaoh and bring the sons of israel out of egypt?

o my lord, send some other person. i have sheep to tend and the people won't believe me. i am not a very good speaker. he was not the only one who has ever mangled the english language. or in his case, arabic. moses recognized a call beyond himself. he answered the call and history was made. you will be called at some point. the question, as marc laid out is will you be optimistic and hopeful or pessimistic and cynical? here are three reasons why you should be optimistic. one is you are graduating from a great university. your smu degree will open the door for a wide variety of career options. millions will never have had this opportunity.

smu has laid a foundation so you can reason and continue to learn throughout your life. it has given you the tools to be productive citizens. one of the great things about america is our active public square. issues are influenced by the will of the people. that is why an educated citizenry is so important to the success of our country. as graduates, you are well-equipped to participate in these vital debates. my hope is that you speak out on the issues that matter to you and participate in your civic life as citizens, not spectators. you will come to learn that who you are is more important than what you have. and that you have responsibilities to your fellow citizens and your country and your family. by taking part in democracy, you will make our country stronger.

secondly, you are blessed to live in the greatest nation ever. [applause] here you can strive to succeed as far as you dare to dream. it says something about our country that millions around the world are willing to leave their homes and families and risk everything to come here and realize the american dream. their pursuit of that dream invigorates our national soul. it renews our country's character. it adds vitality to our culture. you live in a land that is compassionate and decent. we believe in the rights and dignity of our own citizenry. we are committed to defending the rights and dignity of people everywhere. america has liberated millions around the world from tyranny and terror. we helped turn the tide against deadly disease in places like africa.

in our hearts, we believe all are created equal under god. the liberty we prize is not our gift to the world. it is almighty god's gift to humanity. at home there are thousands of the tunes in the armies of compassion -- platoons in the armies of compassion working to honor those beliefs. no matter what your career path, when you help another you enrich your heart. you strengthen the fabric of our collective goodness. many of you have already made service a priority in your lives by volunteering during breaks. and completing more than 100 community projects to engage learning. i thank you for recognizing the timeless truths of those to whom much is given, much is required. as you serve others, you can inspire others.

i have been inspired by the example of many selfless servants. winston churchill inspired me during my presidency. and for that matter, in the post-presidency. like churchill, i now paint. [laughter] unlike churchill, the painting is not worth much without the signature. [laughter] 1941, he gave a speech to the students of his old-school during britain's most trying times in world war ii. it was not long and it is well remembered. prime minister churchill urged to never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. i hope you will remember this advice. but there is a lesser known passage from that speech that i also want to share with you.

these are not dark days. these are great days. the greatest days our country has ever lived. and we must all thank god that we have been allowed from each of us according to our stations to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race. when churchill uttered these words, many had lost hope. many doubted the future of freedom. today, some doubt america's future. they say our best days are behind us. i say given our strengths, one of which is a bright new generation like you, these are not dark days. these are great days. and finally, you can be hopeful because there is a loving god. whether you agree with that statement or not is your choice.

it is not your government's choice. [applause] it is essential to this nation's -- it is essential to this nation's future that we remember the freedom to worship who we want and how we want or not worship at all is a core belief of our founding. i have made my choice. i believe that the almighty's grace and unconditional love will sustain you. i believe it will bring you joy amidst the trials of life. it will enable you to better see the beauty around you. it will provide a solid foundation amidst a rapidly changing, somewhat impersonal, technologically driven world. it will show you how to love your neighbor.

forgive more easily, and approach success with humility and failure without fear. it will inspire you to honor your parents and eventually be a better spouse and parent yourself. it will help you fully grasp the value of life, all life. it will remind you that money, power, and fame are false idols. i hope and believe that god's love will inspire you to serve others. i want to thank you for letting me share this special day with you. i wish you all the very best. stay in touch with your friends. love your family. treat this day as a step toward a lifetime of learning. and go forth with confidence. may god bless you. [applause]

>> dreamworks animation share melody hobson addressed the graduating class in may at the university of southern california in los angeles. she does the president of chicago-based arial investments and a corporate director at estee lauder and starbucks. her husband, "star wars" creator george lucas was a usc graduate. melody: what a day. i want to send my congratulations to the usc classes 2015 -- class of 2015

and all of those who celebrate and champion them. now i would like to ask the graduates to do something. i would like you to look past the rain and look up at the sky. now i would like you to imagine that you are in a lightweight capsule, and it took you two hours to be 24 miles up. insane right? the only way you can get back to earth is to jump. this actually happened in 2012, where a parachutist put himself in this exact situation. he said if he looked out, he could see the curve of the earth as he contemplated his next move. if you watch the video, you will hear his ground troops tell him to disconnect the two oxygen supply hoses attached to his pressurized suit. felix doesn't move. moments passed.

then you hear the command again disconnect the oxygen. why did felix hesitate? well, i think as most of you know -- in fact i would say that sitting 24 miles up is not that different from where you are sitting here right now. graduating from college is a major transition, you know that. you are feeling eager, you are feeling excited, and like felix you may be feeling scared. [applause] the world may look bigger than it ever looked and you may feel smaller than you have ever felt, but those of you graduating today, and you know why felix hesitated. it wasn't because he was brave. it wasn't because -- it was because you cannot be brave without fear.

despite a racing heart sweaty palms, he did disconnect the oxygen and put his faith in his preparation and parachute. just like you are doing today he jumped into the great unknown. did he make it? we will leave him suspended in freefall for a minute. in the meantime, i'm very excited to be here on solid ground with all of you and i want to thank the president for that kind introduction and congratulate my fellow honorary degree recipients. as well as all of the relative supportive friends. today, we are all one big trojan family. some of you were born into it, some of you chose it. i married into it.

i remember the first time my husband, george lucas, brought me to campus. i like him, too. [applause] first stop was the film school, obviously. then we attended a football game -- not a game, the game against westwood high. i went to school back east and i can tell you ivy league football is mostly cold and boring. but the game was amazing. i cheered the entire time. i could not believe you had a real horse as a mascot. then i learned that's not the original travel and i thought to myself, what a nice tradition.

does that make more than -- i'm truly grateful to have my own degree from u.s. he and i cherish this honor as well as the opportunity to speak to you. preparing for today, it ate me think of i own college commencement. our speaker was a highly is a who is very well known for what he did and he talked to us -- honestly, i can't remember at a he said. he may have divulged the meaning of life, but my mind was raised and i was so eager that i couldn't vote this and i didn't have texting as an excuse back then. my brain was going a mile a minute and i'm sure many of you were feeling the exact same way. so i'm going to give you

permission not to remember a thing i ate 24 years now except for three words -- three words -- it's not a lot. those three words are just add bravery. let me be clear about what i mean about bravery. even when you know an action can and very bad the, you still forge ahead. there are different sizes of bravery. the kind that leaves us safe 24 miles up and there's one called bite-size bravery which requires smaller but equally important leaps. it was bite-size debris that can tell you to take that applied mathematics class. everyone agreed on a topic and you knew they were completely missing the point.

it was bravery that led you to take the shot at the buzzer. it was bravery that led not one but two women to run for president of the u.s. these didn't counsel. [applause] bravery allows us to push beyond the boundaries that hold us back from living the lives we want. for some of you those boundaries may have been imposed by your family. i was lucky. i grew up in chicago, the youngest of six kids to a single mom and some of you may have had the same situation. sometimes we didn't have enough money for rent and we would get a big hit. that's not why i was lucky. i was lucky because the one thing my mother did despite the harsh reality we had to deal with, she made sure she never

gave up and made sure that we did the there. even when it was filled with some of her brutal pragmatism, she gave us a tremendous amount of love and encouragement. what meant the most was the words she spoke nearly every day. you can eat or do any way. it was because of those words that i would wake up at the crack of dawn and i still do to daddy. it was because of those words that i dream the biggest dreams. i hope you have your family support as you dream your own dream. you might be dreaming to push back some of the stereotypes that come with our culture and where we live. when i was a little girl taking public transportation to school, not many people were on the bus saying there goes the future president of an investment firm

with nearly $11 billion under management. they might have got that if they spent five minutes talking me, but i don't think they had those ideas and the expectation did not run at high from afar. we can be better judging people not on their assumption than appearances, but on their achievements and their action. just how i told you that you can view or do anything, i want you to believe that is true of anyone and everyone. in college, you have a fair amount of control around your social interactions you can decide who to sit next to in class and who to room with but in the next chapter of your life, you won't have much say about who is in the cubicle next to you at work and you could sit next to someone who you have absolutely nothing in common

with. and i think that's great. it easy to get trapped in a self-correcting subset of humanity. yes, it feels comfortable but it's extraordinarily confining. there is a whole world out there. make an effort to step outside your circle. do more than accept diversity seek outnumbers me. it will make you more interesting and more understanding. here's another -- tolerance scales. person by person, we can remove barriers to opportunity. although change begins with awareness, it doesn't end there. the way to move from awareness

to action, just add bravery. after leaping into the great unknown, he went into a freefall and all went well for seven seconds in the eight second coming he accelerated to 600 miles an hour. he began to spin violently. he was still in an uncontrollable spin when he broke the sound barrier. he said that it turns out the most terrifying part was not the leap, it was trying to get his bearings to write himself. once again, he provides the perfect metaphor to after college life. each of you will had off on your own unique path. you may have different goals. 100% that you will have all significant challenges on your life. you will spin out and you will

struggle to write yourself. you do the best way to can from those challenges? just add bravery. it doesn't always mean charging the hill with severe. this year we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the march on film. people came together to walk to the alabama state capitol and demand the passage of the voting rights act what is less well now is there were three attempts to do this march. the first time, 600 useful protesters tried to cross the edmund pettis bridge and they were attacked with your gas. the second time, martin luther king jr. came. he assembled all of the marchers who are ready to cross the bridge. he let them kneel in prayer and

when they got up, they turned back. they were shocked. sometimes restraint takes bravery. 16 days later, when they had all the federal protections in place, dr. king completed the 64 mile march to my memory. now let's return to felix. he's in a violent event. he's going 844 miles an hour. or as the physics majors know, mark 1.25. he starts using all of his years of preparation and training to write himself. it doesn't matter what he did or how he did it because i don't think any of us are going to find ourselves in that situation. but when you feel yourself running out at supersonics be,

keep your wits about you and rely on your preparation. five minutes later, he landed safe and sound except for a few bruises and a slight case of with lash. basically the equivalent of a fender been her on exposition. i hope where ever you and come you will wind up successful, happy and how to have done something any. if you cannot see a clear path to your dream, i can offer you an equation that will help you get there. this is simple math. equation number 1 -- hard work plus avery equal success. however you define success the brave on yourself. i knew people who had a lot more

experience and knowledge in the one and i knew i could do without work them and i did. if i did that something, i would questions. most people don't want to admit what they don't know. i see nothing wrong with that. don't pretend you know more than you do. i have tell you, i'm jealous of you. take advantage. at the same time don't pretend to know less than you do. my boss and manager told me you will be in rooms where people make a lot of money and have huge titles. just because you are young and new doesn't you don't have great ideas. i want them. even if you don't report from the top, i encourage you to participate with confidence and humility.

be willing to speak up and stand out. i know firsthand that this can be very hard for women and minorities who are dust to fit in. a lot of women hang back and say tell me what you want me to be and i will be good. a better attitude is this is who i am and i have value. this is who i am. [applause] no matter who you are, if you focus on the work, success will come. focus on success, nothing will come. imagination plus bravery equals creativity. there are so few originals and life. best compliment you can ever receive his i've ever met anyone like. being unique means forming your own union and helps you reach for questions and push for

answers. if you bring that to work, you will not only advanced yourself you will advance all of humanity. usc has produced people and every field. i want to talk about the arts because they are near and dear to my near and dear. this university has something no school anywhere can watch -- the greatest films in the country. this matters because our society is held together. stories serve an essential purpose in our communities and in our lives. five centuries ago, the majority of evil cannot read all the church relied on artists to turn the sistine chapel into a stunning classroom.

each one did more than give people something to stare at. it was like a 15th century highlight reel of moses and jesus christ. the art entertained as well as educated. george made his movies not because it's fun to watch here's word fly through space with a free copilot, but to keep the values of society. he crafted a story that offered a choice between being selfish and being compassionate. he took a stand and made his believes clear that the dark side can be more powerful and alluring, but the light will bring you joy. which brings me to my last equation. love plus bravery happiness. a lot of graduation speeches will encourage you to be passionate about some.

i'm going to encourage you to be passionate about some one. i'm going to be brave and talk about love. i know for some of you, the word probably makes you score. for a long time, i avoided the subject for me, it was career and business. those were my priorities. it took me a long time to be as raid in my personal life as i was in my professional life. it is because to be brave and love me opening yourself up to the possibility of heart rate. for me, i did not want to lose control. i did not want to be a situation where i would not write my health. then i met george. i've met my mind's friend. as i always trusted my mind, so

did my heart. usc has a rich tradition of great graduates. now it is up to you to carry out that. your bravest self will be your best self. move forward and embrace these words written by w e b do boy who cofounded the end of lacey p. he sent his daughter to boarding school in england and here's the advice he offered to her as she that out on the exciting and terrifying adventure. think about it. 19 14, a black teenager going to england. he said you are in one of the worlds best schools in one of the world greatest modern empires. be frank, honest and fearless.

the main thing is don't shy away from new experience. so i say to you take the cold bath bravely. and as inspiring as that message was, he did not end his letter there. he ended with something more. he said, above all remember, your father loves it -- loves you and believes in you is my hope for all of you. that you are brave and that you are loved. congratulations to the u.s. the class of 2015. fight on. [applause]

>> former secretary of state condoleezza rice delivered her a dress at the college of william and mary. the event secretary robert gates is served with her during the bush administration presented rice with an honorary degree. >> condoleezza rice, your life has been a series of past accomplishments and service. william and mary is proud to honor you. by virtue of the authority visited in me any ancient charter of william and mary in virginia, i hereby could for upon you the degree of dr. of public service, onerous causer. [applause]

asserting the massive authority that a cruise to me as chance to learn, i am free emptying the president to introduce our commencement speech. ladies and gentlemen, my dear friend and a very great american, condoleezza rice. [applause] secretary rice: thank you for that tremendous welcome and this tremendous honor.

it is quite something to be named in the name breath with benjamin franklin as indeed, i was the 60th -- 66 secretary of state. the first was an alumnus of william and mary, thomas jefferson. [applause] i want to thank my great friend and your chancellor, bob a. i want to thank you for your life of exemplary service to our country. i want to thank the president of the college. you have done such a marvelous job leading this fine fusion. to the direct her, thank you for your leadership at william and mary. to the faculty, who guided these graduate through their academic paces to academic success and to the staff who have nurtured and cared for them. to family and friends, think for

your support and love of these graduate and the class of 2015, congratulations. it is great to be here. as an academic, be here because it's such a respected lace of learning and has had such an important role in history of our country. as a southerner, it's nice to be closer to my roots and as a sports fan, i want you to know that thanks to your football coach, i have enough t-shirts hats and golf balls to be a member of the tribe for the rest of my life. 2 -- [applause] it has been many years my own undergraduate at the university of denver. i remember almost everything about it i member how proud my parents were and how close i

felt to my classmates and friends. i remember the thrill of achieving my academic. i do not however, remember a single word my command and speaker said that day and you won't either. i promise not to take it personally. you can be forgiven for feeling a little rest with and proud. you will have lasting embrace of this place and of your professors trying to outdo each other in the debates. even i will remember the joy on your faces as i joined you last night for the candlelight ceremony. those experiences have been a part of your journey together. a journey that in today at this highly respected institution. education is transformative. it literally changes lives. that's why people over the centuries have worked so hard to become educated.

education more than any other force can help to erase the arbitrary division of race and culture and unlock every person god-given talents. this is very personal for me. it has long been an article of faith in my family. i first learned of this idea through stories about my grandfather, john wesley wright senior. he was a sharecroppers son in utah. -- in alabama. when he was a young man of 19 he decided he wanted to get learning in college so he asked how a colored man could go to college. they said there's a presbyterian school, so he saved of his cotton or tuition and went to the college and after the first year, they said how are you going to pay for the second year

he said i'm out of cotton and they said you are out of luck. thinking quickly, he said how are those other boys going to college? they said he has what is called a scholarship and if you want to be a presbyterian minister, you can have a scholarship. he said you know, that's exactly what i had in mind. [applause] and my college -- my family has been college educated and presbyterian ever since. [applause] but he was onto something. he knew that education was going to allow him to become someone that he might not otherwise have imagined. he knew it would resonate for generations to come and indeed, my father would become not just college-educated, but it advanced degrees and administrator at the university of denver and a presbyterian

minister and his sister would go to university in 1952 and get a phd in victorian literature and right books on dickens. you think what i do is weird for a black person, she wrote books on dickens. [applause] because of all my grandfather and others of my sisters did they understood education was a privilege, not a right and it therefore conferred certain obligations, so today, i would like to talk about the important responsibilities of educated people. first is one that you have to yourself -- the responsibility to find something you are passionate about. i don't mean just any old thing that interests you, not just something you might or might not do but that one unique calling that you can't do without.

as an educated person, you have the opportunity to spend your life doing what you love and you should never forget many people don't enjoy such a rare privilege. as you work to find your passion, you should know that sometimes your passion finds you. my first passion to be a concert to. i could read music before i could read, but at the end of my sophomore year, i started encountering prodigies. i thought oh, i'm about to end up playing if you know in a piano bar or maybe teaching 13-year-old to murder beethoven or maybe i will be playing the pn oh while you are shopping in the department door. but i'm not going to play carnegie hall i went to my parents and had the following conversation. mom and dad, i have decided to

change my major. to what are you changing your major? i don't know, but it not music. it is our money. find a major. i went back to college in desperate search of a major and my first thought was english literature i hated it. so now i decide on state and local government. that sounded practical. i project was to interview the city water manager of denver. the single most boring man i have met to this day. then in the spring quarter of my junior year, i wandered into a horse taught by a check refugee a man whose daughter was named madeleine albright. with that one class, i was a. i discovered my passion, things international, things russian

and diplomacy. needless to say, this is not what a young black girl was expected to do in the 19 70's, but it was like finding love. i couldn't explain it, but i knew it was right. several years later, as i was taking off from a helicopter itself one of the white house serving president george h w bush, i sat with a or job, is white, the secret service and and i thought i'm really glad i changed my major top -- change my major. it just shows that your passion may be hard fought. when you find your passion, it is. not what someone else thinks. don't let anyone define your passion for you because of your gender or the color of your skin. [applause]

the second responsibility as an educated person's commitment to reason. here at william and mary, you have not been taught what to think, but how to think. how to reject assumptions and seek knowledge. in short, how to exercise reason. this experience will sustain you for the rest of your life, but no one should assume a life of reason is easy. to the contrary. it takes a great deal of courage and honesty. the only way you will grow intellectually is by examining your opinion and attacking your prejudices constantly with the force of your region. this can be unsettling and it can be tempting to opt for the comfort of a life without question. it is possible to live in an air chamber that serves only to

reinforce your high opinion of yourself. that's a temptation educated people must reject. there is nothing wrong with holding an opinion and holding it passionately. but at those times when you have decided you are at literally right, go find someone who disagrees. don't allow yourself to the course of the -- easy chorus of a constant amen. a commitment to reason leads to your third responsibility is educated person -- the rejection of false pride. it is natural amongst the educated to want to credit your success to your own intelligence and hard work and judgment. it is true that all of you sitting here today are here because you do possess those qualities. but it is also true that merit alone did not you to this place. there are many people in this

country who are just as intelligent just as hard working and just as deserving of success as you are. but for whatever reason, maybe a broken home, maybe just bad luck, they did not enjoy the opportunity you have had at william and mary. don't ever forget this. from this day on, promised to live your life humbly. another responsibility -- too often cynicism can be the fellow traveler of learning and i understand why. history is full of cruelty and suffering and it can be hard to believe a brighter future is dawning. for all of our current problems, more people now enjoy lives of hope and opportunity than any other time in human history. this has been because of the concerted effort not of synnex but of missionaries and optimists and idealist who dealt

with our world as it was but never lost sight of the world as it should be. here in america, our own ideals of freedom and equality have been born through generations by optimist. there was a day in my own lifetime of noble pretty and justice for all quite impossible. but because individuals kept faith, we see a different america today. you are headed to a world where optimists are too often told their ideals to themselves. don't do it. a in the possibility of human progress. what do i mean by human progress? i believe all human beings share certain fundamental aspirations. they want protection for their lives and liberties. they want to think freely and worship as they wish. they want opportunities to

educate their children, boys and girls. and they want ruled by the consent of the governed, not by the state. [applause] and they want to be treated with respect. no matter who they are or how they look, this challenge is a to accept and embrace difference. all too often, differences used to dehumanize. i grew up in birmingham alabama the birmingham of bull connor. lace that was once described as the most segregated big city in america. i know how it feels to hold aspirations when your neighbors think you are incapable or uninterested in anything higher and perhaps there are members of this audience you have faith that from time to time we have

not and will not erase the last thing impact of our defective slavery or the follow-on challenge of overcoming prejudices of one another please remember this -- do not have a constitutional right not to be offended for we are americans. [applause] we are americans and i believe we are a fundamentally decent people. in every decent society, whether here or abroad, we should seek not to offend, but we will help our cause if we also result to be slow in taking offense. it's a great active kindness to give someone else benefit of the doubt.

try to react to others as you would hope they would react to you, no matter the color of their skin and no matter the color of yours. as we look from here out into the world where men and women the the basic liberties we enjoy, let us remember that they are indeed different but their desires for freedom are like ours. in my professional life, i've listed -- i have listened and is believed that people and said people are not drawn to the dignity and liberty with those. maybe they say they are to tribal or too poor or to religious do not patronize them in this way for it is your responsibility as educated people to close the gap of justice and opportunity and yes, the gaps of freedom that the beyond our shores just as you do at home.

at william and mary, i know the mission of service is very close to the heart of this college. the ideal of service to others has expired this class and those before it to devote thousands of hours to your own time. yes, your service can and will help them, but it is true that it helps you more. when you encounter those who are less fortunate, you cannot give way to grievance. why do i not have? or when brother entitlement? why don't they give me? you will ask why have i been given so much and you will join the legion of optimist and idealist working toward a better future. what better place to draw on that spirit than here in colonial williams berg where a college educated patriot like

thomas jefferson and john marshall who went forth to build a new nation based on equality, justice and the rule of law. their political institutions did not always live up to the brand -- the grand explanations in their documents. they and their endeavors were imperfect. they stumbled and sometimes they fell but they kept going and they left a legacy that allowed future generations, descendents of the free and descendents of slaves to pick up the torch and walk toward the goal of making we the people a more inclusive concept. you now believe that very college -- william and mary, to join the ranks of the world's most religious community -- the community of the educated. it is a club you may never quit and from which you can never be expelled. but remember it does confer

responsibility. as you leave, i ask you to bear a few things in mind for be passionate about what you choose to do in life. use your powers of reason and cultivate your humility. always try to serve others in the goal of freedom and justice. capture this moment forever in your mind. the day when you come your parents, family and friends came his place to elevate a new beginning and affirm that as you leave this place, you will always remember why you came. may god speed you on your way today and for the rest of your life. thank you. [applause]

>> former secretary of state madeleine albright, also gave a commencement address this year. she spoke at tufts university in massachusetts, telling the graduate that the world needs a new generation of leaders and what they will need to fix. [applause] secretary albright: this english faculty and trustees, honored guests, members of the class of 2015, families and friends, good morning. i want to begin by thanking tufts very much for this honorary degree.

i know i speak for my fellow reason they now grateful we all are and i'm so honored to be with all of them because they are a remarkable group of evil. as the class of 2015 well knows, a degree is a very precious thing it is satisfying to work hard and earn one. it is an utter delight to receive one simply for showing up, but that not the only reason i am excited to be here. although i did not attend tufts, i feel a personal connection to this outstanding university. back in the 1960's, this is where i'm at one of my heroes, former secretary of state dean acheson after he delivered a speech, and i never imagined i would one day be appointed to his job. it's not that i lacked ambition, it's just that i had never seen a secretary of state in a skirt.

as a professor and mother of three college graduates, i have to confess i love commencement ceremonies. they are a unique milestone in our lives because they celebrate past accomplishments and future possibilities. to the parents of the class of 2015, i can only say the moment has finally come. having once been in your position, i expect you are thinking with some amazement about how short the integral is between diapers and diplomas. to the students, i say congratulations. in order to reach this day, you had to pass one of the most difficult tests of all surviving a truly wicked austan winter. now that you have all thought out, you will realize graduation is one of the five rate milestones of life. the others being birth, death marriage and the day you finally pay off your student loans.

today is a time for celebration and for looking back and admitting all of the hard work of reading, writing and cramming before test was indeed worth it, in future years, you will recall this ceremony and you will understand that today, may 17 2015 was the day you first began to forget everything you learned in college and graduate school. but as the names of dead european kings and the body parts of dissected animals begin to fade, the true value of your days on the hill in austin or grafton will become more and more apparent. you had students from more than 100 countries have gained a global perspective. that is true whether your degree is in economics or veteran or a medicine, whether you study the art of diplomacy or the science of engineering.

this outward orientation is vital because the class of 2015 will live global lives. you will compete in a global workplace, shop in a global marketplace and travel further and more often than any prior generation. to succeed you will require the kind of knowledge that extends beyond mere fact you knowledge itself. i know from my own experience that such wisdom can be hard to obtain. i arrived at wellesley college about halfway between the invention of the apple watch and the discovery of fire. i had one basic goal -- to be accepted. as an immigrant, i didn't want to stand out. i wanted to fit in. fortunately in the 1950's, conformity was encouraged though we were also in a time of transition. women were finding our voices

but we were also expected to be young ladies, except perhaps chewing that occasional outing to boston. in college, i learned about renaissance composers and shakespearean plays and the periodic table. i also learned a lot about myself. i wanted to use the education i had received for something besides meaningful table conversation. i wanted to accept, not just have the limits of the downgrades, but give something back to this country that had given so much to me. i suspect the same is true of yours and your experience here. you have arrived here already living 21st century lives. some came from mike -- some came from nearby towns in new england, others from los angeles, some from the neighborhoods of chicago.

others from iraqi refugee camps in syria. some lost loved ones in 9/11 and all of you lived through the trauma of the boston marathon bombing and its aftermath. regardless of where you came from, at tufts, you have learned much about what is outside you and much about what is inside you as well. you learned how to put your opinions and assumptions to a test. this is important because from this day forward, you will have to rely not on guidance from professors to tell you how you are doing and where you stand you will have to rely on an inner compass, whether that compass is true will determine whether you become a drifter who is blown about or a doer, and active citizens determined to chart your own course, question your assumptions and when necessary, sale on afraid against strong winds.

i look around this morning at the class of 2015 and all i see are doers, which is good. in the years to come, there will be much to do here at home and overseas. i am keenly aware that commencement speakers have a habit of taking through the worlds problems and then challenging graduate fix them. and yes, that is what i plan to do. but when i tell you the world needs you, i really, really do mean it. for we are living in a time that is more unsettled, more complicated, and more in need of a new generation of meter -- of leaders than any i can recall. at home, america plus great challenge is to retain a sense of community and common purpose. as today's graduates reflect, we are a diverse people.

we are all proud of the distinctions that gave us our separate identity and loyal to the groups to which we belong. this kind of solidarity is a means of honoring ancestors and a way to inspire the young. it makes us feel less alone and helps us find a unique place in the crowd. but there is also a danger because when pride in us dissenters into fear or hatred of them, the american tapestry unravels and the social fabric is torn. the result may be a young african american gun down in florida or the shooting at a jewish community center or a gay couple brutally attacked at a new york restaurant. yes, we are proud of our group identity but it is what comes after them and your that- american, latino american or any of the hundreds of other varieties of americans that counts most.

no matter our race creed gender or sexual orientation we are all equal shareholders in the american dream, and that means -- [applause] and that means we do not fear our differences, we embrace them. living up to that principle had value in the contribution of each other is what tufts council on campus diversity was all about and it is a great test our nation must pass in the 21st century. around the world, we will face other tests the outcome of which is equally uncertain. today, the irrational landscape is is contradictory and combustible as i have ever seen. technology and globalization helped bring about unprecedented prosperity and progress for

millions of people. but they have also cast new shadows upon the world. we see this in the resurgence of nationalism in europe and asia alongside rising sectarianism and extremism in the middle east. we see it in the widening gap between the rich and the poor and growing dangers to the environmental health of our planet. we see how technology has given new district of tools to group who use religion as a license to murder, as if god's commitment -- god's commandment were thou shalt kill. and we see the assumptions of my generation and your parents generation about the 21st century has been proven wrong. to put it another way, the world is a mess. that's a diplomatic term of art. i'm sorry but it's true. for all the anxiety and turmoil that surrounds us, i remain an optimist.

an optimist who worries a lot. around the world america remains the brightest beacon of human liberty. we are diverse, entrepreneurial, and we are resilient. no other country is in a better position to succeed in this new era than we are. we must be unafraid to exercise our leadership in support of peace, in defense of liberty and to further justice. we must also realize that for all our power, we can rarely succeed by simply going alone. if we want the world to heed our views and follow our lead, we must listen to the concern of others. we must listen to rising powers like china who want to have a greater say in global governance as we push them to abide by the same rules that we ourselves uphold. we must listen to scientists who say global warming is real and a grave threat to our future.

[applause] scientists who believe conservation is a national security imperative, not a four letter word. and meet -- and we must listen to those who argue globalization should not lead to marginalization of the world's poor. i have traveled almost everywhere and i have found there are essentially three categories of countries in the world today. in the first, people work all day and still don't have enough to eat. in the second, families are able to scrape together just enough food to meet their basic needs. in the third category of countries, diet books are bestsellers. the same distinctions also apply to the neighborhoods of boston and baltimore and the mountains of appalachia and the american west. confronted with this hard truth some people simply shrug their

shoulders and say that such inequality is too bad. but there's not anything anyone can do about it. i say such unfairness is intolerable and we each have a responsibility to change it. [applause] as the light on the hill, the tufts community has always taken these responsibilities seriously and today's graduates are no exception. through protest and marches, you have made your voices heard on behalf of the voiceless. you have stood up on behalf of workers and stood up against the scourges of sexual assault and you have made it clear that black lights matter and you have pressed for assistance on climate change. you have shown yourself to be active citizens and i am proud his commitment to public service was recognized when the truman

scholarship foundation which i chair, named tufts and honor institution last year. there is an awful lot to congratulate you on today. but as i said earlier, i want to challenge you to do far, far more after you leave this wonderful place. for a while, there was a time you could say you didn't know enough. today, armed with this extraordinary education, there can be no doubt that you can help produce enough food, build enough shelter, deliver enough medicine, and share enough knowledge to allow people everywhere to live better and more productive lives. i don't intend to put the weight of the world on your shoulders because that is always going to be your parents'job. i do hope, i actually insist that after bidding your goodbye

to jumbo, that you do more than be a consumer to liberty. i insist you be a defender and and richer of it. employing your talents to heal and teach both here and abroad. i insist that you be doers, i insist you put your opinions to the test when required and you dare as the tufts motto suggest, to be voices crying for peace and light because your choices will make all the difference to you and to all of us. the future depends not on the stars were some mysterious forces of history, but rather on the decisions you make and i truly, truly mean that. you are the leaders of tomorrow and it will be your job to pick up the baton so often mishandled by the leaders of yesterday and today. it is the job you must approach

with modesty for some of what is thought to be knowledge today will be considered mistaken assumptions tomorrow. but humility and critical thinking when combined with courage and determination are indispensable qualities of leadership. it is said that all work that is worth doing is done in faith. today, in the ceremony of shared resolve, let's embrace the faith that every challenge surmounted by our energy, every problem solved by our wisdom, every soul awake and by our passion and every barrier to justice brought down by our determination will and noble our lives, inspire others, and ask load outward the boundaries of what is achievable on this earth. to the class of 2015 i say again, congratulations and thank you so much for making me a part of your remarkable class. thank you. [applause]

>> recently, senator elizabeth wharton was the speaker at the berkshire community college in massachusetts. she served as assistant to the president and special advisor for the consumer financial protection bureau under president obama. the event was held at tanglewood in london, massachusetts, also the summer home of the boston symphony orchestra. senator warren: thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you.

thank you, president kennedy, thank you trustees, thank you faculty and administrators. thank you family and thank you class of for having me here. it is good to be here. i am really tickled. it is a great honor to join you at tanglewood. i am deeply grateful to stand on this stage and share this very special day with you. as i stand here, i can just hear the echoes of the boston symphony orchestra playing some of the world's greatest music. i can hear james taylor singing about friendship and love in the berkshires. i can see the future and in a few weeks, lady gaga will walk across the stage just like i did. [laughter] ok, she will use more explosives and she will have a cooler outfit than i do but you know

what i mean. today, we celebrate the 56th commencement of the commonwealth's oldest, first community college. this is it. [applause] >> congratulations. i want to offer my congratulations. not just to this graduating class but also to your parents.