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Mississippi College Prepares for Clinton Visit (To Deliver Commencement Address May 18)
Tuscaloosa News ^ | May 13, 2003 | Barbara Powell, AP

Posted on 05/13/2003 5:59:17 AM PDT by mountaineer

Tucked behind a Target store on 500 acres of shaded grounds, little Tougaloo College has survived for 134 years in a relatively obscure corner of academia.

While beloved by its 800-member student body and a hardcore group of dedicated alumni, Tougaloo has struggled with declining enrollment and a chronic funding shortage.

But Tougaloo President Beverly Hogan and other backers of the school are hoping a commencement address from former President Bill Clinton on Sunday and a Democratic presidential debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus will bring the troubled campus some positive attention.

Clinton, one of the world's most sought-after speakers and arguably the highest paid, isn't charging Tougaloo a fee. While Hogan is grateful and honored by the gesture, she said she wants more.

"I'm hoping that Tougaloo College becomes part of the things he thinks about," said Hogan, who met Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas and she directed Mississippi's Office of Federal State Programs. "I won't let him forget Tougaloo."

Though it produces doctors, lawyers and teachers, Tougaloo never attracted the enrollment, money or prestige afforded such other black institutions as Howard University - which has an endowment of more than $300 million and more than 10,000 students.

But Hogan, herself a Tougaloo alumna, and the chairman of Tougaloo's board of trustees, Leroy Walker Jr., believe a visit from a former president confers a seal of approval and a status from which Tougaloo can benefit.

"For a small black college, this will do volumes from the standpoint of public relations," said Walker, who owns 21 franchised McDonald's restaurants. "We are proud that President Clinton hasn't forgotten that these are the kinds of institutions that make a difference to regular people."

C.J. Lawrence, a graduating senior and student government association president who expects to meet the former president on Sunday, said Tougaloo students can relate to Clinton because he was in office in the 1990s.

"I was one election away from being able to vote for him," the 22-year-old said. "He's a president of our lifetime. We got to see him grow just as we grew."

Tougaloo is no stranger to high-profile visitors. Last year's commencement speaker was former Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan, a powerful Washington lawyer who drew a record crowd of 5,000. This year, Tougaloo sent out more than 10,000 graduation invitations.

The school will set out 7,000 chairs on the campus green. But since the ceremony is open to the public as well as alumni, school officials are bracing for thousands more to attend.

Workers have planted shrubs along the route Clinton may take when he arrives Sunday, and they plan to put up large banners welcoming him. Even Hogan's on-campus house has received a landscaping makeover.

"You see how it is right now - it's calm and quiet," Tougaloo spokesman Chip Washington said as he walked across the campus last week. "But picture how it's going to be on May 18. Mass hysteria."

U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, a Tougaloo alumnus who helped bring the Aug. 13 Democratic debate to the campus, said all the attention also could help turn the struggling college around.

"This is Tougaloo's time to shine, no doubt about it," he said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: clinton; college; commencements; liar; mississippi
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Sad.
1 posted on 05/13/2003 5:59:17 AM PDT by mountaineer
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To: mountaineer
We assume the title refers to hiding the coeds, right?

Hi mountaineer!

2 posted on 05/13/2003 6:02:39 AM PDT by Molly Pitcher (Is Reality Optional?)
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To: mountaineer
"I'm hoping that Tougaloo College becomes part of the things he thinks about," said Hogan, who met Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas and she directed Mississippi's Office of Federal State Programs. "I won't let him forget Tougaloo."

What does she think he can do now? He doesn't need the votes, so he has no motive to help anyone but himself... not that he ever had a different motive. You're right. This is sad.

3 posted on 05/13/2003 6:04:07 AM PDT by twigs
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To: Molly Pitcher
That was my first thought, too!
4 posted on 05/13/2003 6:04:16 AM PDT by mountaineer
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To: twigs
Last year's commencement speaker was former Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan

Who will they ask to speak next year, Betty Currie or Monica Lewinsky?

5 posted on 05/13/2003 6:06:06 AM PDT by mountaineer
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To: mountaineer
I have an attractive 18-year-old daughter. I have told her that if at any time in her future, she finds herself in a room with former Pres. Clinton, no matter what the situation, to run. Get out of his sight. She will not be physically safe until she does. The sad thing is that I am 100% serious. Nothing good comes to people, especially attractive young women, who cross his line of vision.
6 posted on 05/13/2003 6:08:33 AM PDT by twigs
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To: mountaineer
Mississippi College Prepares for Clinton Visit

Yeah, they've sold out of thong panties, locked up all the valuables, and tripled their stock of penecillin.

7 posted on 05/13/2003 6:09:23 AM PDT by theDentist (So. This is Virginia.... where are all the virgins?)
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To: mountaineer
Sad, indeed, that any school would want its graduates to be influenced by i42...or to even give him the time of day.
8 posted on 05/13/2003 6:16:00 AM PDT by Ed_in_NJ
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To: Ed_in_NJ
I find it troubling that the folks at this college believe it's a great honor to have this impeached, treasonous, lying, sexual offender "grace" them with his presence and, worse, believe he has anything of value to say to them.
9 posted on 05/13/2003 6:18:35 AM PDT by mountaineer
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: theDentist
They have locked all the doors and insured that all female patrons under the age of 55 and older than 15 have been placed under guard.
11 posted on 05/13/2003 6:22:36 AM PDT by cav68
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To: Miss Marple
Tracking the CLinturd's movements BUMP

Prairie
12 posted on 05/13/2003 6:26:16 AM PDT by prairiebreeze (Tag line space for rent.)
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To: mountaineer
"...We got to see him grow..."

The same way Monica got to see him "grow"?
13 posted on 05/13/2003 6:29:22 AM PDT by NCC-1701 ((Good luck, happy hunting, and God-speed to the US military and our allies in this operation.))
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To: cav68
Tell them not to use the sinks!
14 posted on 05/13/2003 6:31:08 AM PDT by Ed_in_NJ
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To: prairiebreeze
Perhaps Clinton agreed to speak there because no other college asked him, and he wants to keep himself in the spot light.
15 posted on 05/13/2003 6:32:57 AM PDT by Carolinamom (Glad I'm an American)
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To: prairiebreeze
Of course, last Sunday he addressed the graduates at Syracuse University in his wife's home state (LOL):

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Former President Bill Clinton on Sunday told nearly 5,400 graduating Syracuse University students to ignore the headlines and focus on the trend lines while taking an active role in public affairs.

"The trend line is, we are growing more interdependent. We cannot escape each other," Clinton said, as more than 19,600 parents and well-wishers looked on inside the Carrier Dome at the school's 149th commencement. [Well, we don't seem able to escape you, Blubba. You're everywhere.]

"We reap enormous benefits and assume greater risks. Your job, as a citizen the world, is to spread the benefits and reduce the risks. To move from an age of interdependence to a global community where we share values and benefits and responsibilities," Clinton said.

.... He reminded students how their world had changed since they entered Syracuse as freshmen in 1999. Not just in negative ways, such as the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, but also in positive ways, such as the sequencing of the human genome by an international consortium of scientists. The former president told students it was his hope that as they went through life they would use their education to draw the distinction between the trend lines and the headlines.

He used the SARS epidemic as an example, pointing to how headlines have focused on the hundreds killed in China and Hong Kong and the tens of thousands of afflicted around the world. The trend line, Clinton told his audience, was the successful response of the global medical and health communities, which came together through the World Health Organization and in a few short weeks identified the virus and how to fight it. "The trend line is ... it was fought by international cooperation," Clinton said.

Another trend line, he said, is that many other infectious diseases still haunt humankind, as well as other unsolved problems, such as terrorism, poverty and global warming. Clinton finished his speech by asking students to serve in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or in some other charitable relief work.

"Not all the work of the world can be done by governments," he said. [First truthful thing he's ever said]

He also urged students to become involved in politics. "Your generation, to be fair, has gotten a bum rap. You do more community service than any previous generation of young Americans, and you should get credit for it," Clinton said.

"But ... you are less likely to vote and participate in politics than previous generations of young Americans. And that's a big mistake because it does make a difference," he said.

Clinton said he wondered whether students were willing "to make the sacrifice and undertake the burdens of public service and public participation. [Like he and Hillary "sacrificed"?]

"You must increase your involvement in American public affairs if you want the kind of world I have talked about today," he said.

Julie Klassman, of Boston, who graduated from the School of Arts and Sciences, said afterward that she found Clinton's words inspirational. "It was nice to hear something of substance [!!!!!] and not just rah-rah words of advice. He made me think about what he was saying. It's a speech I'll definitely remember," she said.

full story

16 posted on 05/13/2003 6:33:20 AM PDT by mountaineer
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To: mountaineer
Blech!! Wonder if Bubba thinks the islamofascists are ready to move to a "global community where we share values, benefits and responsibilitites"? Or the French maybe??

The trend line really is: Clinturd is a has-been. He just refuses to believe it.

Prairie
17 posted on 05/13/2003 7:34:47 AM PDT by prairiebreeze (Tag line space for rent.)
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To: mountaineer
"This is Tougaloo's time to shine, no doubt about it," (U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson) said.

Yep. They will shine, all right.

Maybe next year they can move a step up and invite Mumia.

18 posted on 05/13/2003 7:35:21 AM PDT by Gritty
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To: mountaineer
I wonder if 'ol Clint will get out his sexophone and play a few riffs at Boogaloo College. I believe Clint saw the movie "St. Elmo's Fire" and saw how Rob Lowe as Billy got all the girls by playing saxophone and he decided he would do the same. Yeah, watching "St. Elmo's Fire" was a life-defining moment for the Clintmeister.
19 posted on 05/13/2003 7:57:03 AM PDT by Contra
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To: Contra
Clinton and his hot, sultry sax (now appearing at a college graduation, wedding or bar mitzvah near you!):

20 posted on 05/13/2003 8:22:39 AM PDT by mountaineer
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