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Bush clinton celebrate tulane university graduates { May 13 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3861399.htmlhttp://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3861399.html
May 13, 2006, 2:15PM
Ex-presidents Bush, Clinton celebrate Tulane's 'miracle'
By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Two former presidents helped Tulane University celebrate its "miracle" commencement today, nine months after Hurricane Katrina put two-thirds of campus under water, caused $300 million in property damage and scattered students to more than 600 schools nationwide.
"This commencement will no doubt go down as one of the most memorable and cherished events in the history of our great university," Tulane president Scott S. Cowen said.
Degrees were awarded to nearly 2,200 graduates and honorary degrees were presented to former presidents George H.W. Bush and William J. Clinton, along with musician Gilberto Gil, and medical researcher Kenneth Olden.
Bush and Clinton, who have raised nearly $130 million in relief money for victims of the Aug. 29 storm, received several standing ovations from the graduates and others at the event.
The former presidents in turn saluted the courage of the school, faculty and the 88 percent of the students who returned for the spring semester and to help the city rebuild.
"The flood waters may have breached the levees that surround this city and may have destroyed home after home, block after block, but today we also know they couldn't break the spirit of the people who call this remarkable, improbable city home," Bush said.
Tulane students pitched in to help both before and after the hurricane Bush said, helping with medical operations, search and rescue efforts, and delivered drugs and medical supplies to the New Orleans Convention Center, where thousands of refugees huddled.
"It's been said that adversity doesn't test your character, it reveals it," Bush said. "If so, in the aftermath of Katrina, the world is seeing the essence of American spirit — courage, compassion, resourcefulness, determination."
Hurricane Katrina, and the enormous response it provoked should teach the graduates at least one thing, Clinton said.
"It is a positive manifestation of the most important fact of your lives — the interdependence of human beings on this planet," Clinton said. "And if you look at the negative aspects of Katrina, the lives lost, the property washed away, dreams broken, it is also evidence of our interdependence."
Tulane used the commencement to celebrate the culture of New Orleans, where they school has operated for 172 years, handing out Mardi Gras beads with ceramic medallions embossed with the fleur de lis, the symbol of the city, and second-line handkerchiefs with the words, "Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?" on them.
Graduates and faculty members walked to their seats to the strains of Dixie Land music. In place of an invocation, jazz historian Michael White played "Just a Closer Walk With Thee." The song was played in the tradition of a jazz funeral, slow and mournful at first, fast an upbeat to represent rebirth at the end.
"Life's like that," Clinton said. "It's always about new beginnings. I wish you many."
The ceremony closed with a surprise visit by comedian Ellen DeGeneres, who came out wearing a bathrobe.
"I heard everyone was going to be wearing robes," she said, then offered her own advice to the graduating class. "Remember to exfoliate, moisturize, exercise and floss."
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