- COMMENCEMENT 2009
- COMMENCEMENT PROGRAM
- SPEAKER REMARKS
- CITATIONS FOR MEDALISTS
- CITATION FOR MEDALIST AND SPEAKER
- IMAGES FOR MEDIA
FOR COMMENCEMENT INQUIRIES
Lillian Appel, Commencement Coordinator
212.854.2024
lappel@barnard.edu
ABOUT COMMENCEMENT
» Past Recipients of the Barnard Medal of Distinction
commencement 2009
Citations for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Medalist and Speaker
The full citation for Medalist and Commencement Speaker Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is read at the Commencement ceremony. It is available for you to read here.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton. Tireless public servant. Woman of influence in politics and in life. 67th Secretary of State of these, the United States of America. In your many roles, you have time and again raised the mark and surpassed the mark with grace, intellect, wit, and an extraordinary strength of purpose.
Born of a middle class family from the Midwestern city of Chicago, you have never settled for the middle. You earned every possible badge that a Brownie and Girl Scout could claim. High school class president and then on to our sister, Wellesley. When, as college government president, you spoke at your 1969 graduation, Wellesley’s President Adams introduced you as “good-humored, good company, and a friend to all of us.” Defying what now seems like faint praise, in a no-less-than prophetic speech you declared: “The challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.” You received a standing ovation.
At Yale Law School, you served on the Board of Editors of the Law Review and Social Action and, amid the tomes of Yale library, met Bill Clinton. You graduated in ‘73, advised the Children’s Defense Fund, followed your heart to Arkansas, and married Bill in ’75. Daughter Chelsea was born five years later.
Like most women at the time, you were first known for being the “wife of” – as your husband became Governor and then President. But as first lady of Arkansas, and later of our country, you never sat idly by. Instead, in the Razorback State, you furthered your advocacy for children and families, your commitment to education and to healthcare. You taught criminal law and ran a legal aid clinic. And then, in 1992 when Bill took the White House, you continued to work from your own office in the west wing to reform healthcare, reduce teen pregnancy, and improve adoption and foster-care. You wrote a weekly column, gave a multitude of speeches, and authored your acclaimed book, It Takes a Village.
In 2000, you became the first-ever First Lady elected to the United States Senate and the first woman elected statewide in New York, twice-elected, in fact. As senator you bridged party lines, helped rebuild our post-9/11 city, championed the nation’s veterans, and remained steadfast in your focus on children and families.
You have always loved history and now, many times over, you have made it. When, in 2007, you launched your campaign for president, no one could have predicted what your efforts would bear. You won enough votes – and enough hearts – to shatter expectations along with that glass ceiling. More primaries and delegates than any other woman candidate in American history. What your run for the highest office has taught us about possibility is immeasurable.
Devoted mother, formidable litigator, brilliant politician, and in your newest role, our nation’s foremost diplomat. In your first 117 days, you have already traveled over 60,000 miles to Indonesia, Egypt, Mexico, the Netherlands, China and Korea, Iraq. You bring a commitment to open dialogue, along with formidable intelligence and insight, to some of the most complex challenges of our time.
Closer to home, this past September we welcomed you to Barnard for a press conference on pay equity. You cautioned against complacency, emphatic that the concerns of gendered pay inequality and workplace discrimination still remain relevant. "We have work to do,” you urged, “This is not your mother's problem."
Secretary Clinton, today we embrace your advice and your example. Thrilled by your presence, it is our distinct honor and sincere pleasure to celebrate your life and works. You have our deepest respect, our endless gratitude, and, on behalf of the Barnard graduates here before you, a permanent membership in our sisterhood of remarkable women.
WEBCAST
Watch a video of the ceremonies
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