2014 Commencement Ceremony

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>> Please everybody be seated. I'm Susan Collins, the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. It was such a pleasure to meet so many of you yesterday at our graduation open house and tonight it is truly an honor to welcome you here to Rackham Auditorium for our Centennial Commencement Ceremony. Welcome, it is fabulous to have all of you here with us.

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Well, I'd like to begin by introducing to you our platform party. To my right and your left is Professor John Chachere who will be reading the names of our graduates as they cross the stage a little later this evening. And then Senator Carl Levin our commencement speaker who has served the State of Michigan--

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He has served the State of Michigan in the United States Senate for 35 years and will retire in 2015. And I will have the honor of introducing him more fully to you a little bit later. Senator Levin, we're honored to have you here with us today.

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Next on the platform are some of my distinguished colleagues each of whom has served at least one stint as either dean or director of our school over the past three decades. We have Professors Don Chamberlain, Paul Currant and Edi Goldenberg.

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Next to Edi is Yazir [phonetic] Henry who has been elected by our graduating students to deliver the faculty address and finally elected by their respective classmates to provide the student commencement addresses we have soon to be Ford school MPP graduate Louis Contreras.

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And BA graduate Brittney Jones.

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Well, graduation day is always special but this one is a century in the making. We were named for Michigan's favorite son President Gerry Ford in 1999. But our program dates all the way back to 1914. And so, let's start with a round of applause for your Alma mater's birthday and for our centennial graduates.

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And I know that many of you like me were able to enjoy a piece of the school's birthday cake yesterday at our graduation open house. And I really enjoyed seeing so many of our students and their families there. To mark the occasion for the first time we are actually live streaming today's graduation ceremony. And so, I'd also like to greet all of the family members and friends who are watching online. And graduates you might be particularly interested to know that we have some faculty who are tuning remotely. In fact, I've been informed that Justin Wolfers is indeed watching [laughter] and live tweeting today's ceremony. Justin, please use the hashtag policy talks. Well, let me start by telling you a little about the history of our program and I will admit in advance for our students that this might feel just a little bit like a course lecture just when you thought your classes were all done. But we get exactly one chance to celebrate our cent--our 100. And a little history might also give the parents and grandparents who are here with us a prospective on that age old question of just what is a policy school anyway. Well, the decades that preceded the schools founding brought so many remarkable achievements in science, technology and industry. There was the telephone, the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb. All of those were invented in the last 1800's and early 1900's so were hearing aids, electric fans, skyscrapers, dish washers, escalators. There was the gasoline powered automobile, the submarine, air conditioning, the airplane. Right here in Detroit in 1908 the model T and the world's first assembly line. Fenway Park and Tiger Stadium opened in 1912. And the New York City Grand Central Terminal was constructed in 1913. But while there were such exciting new horizons regularly opening in science, engineering and industry the social challenges were continuing to vex us. Citizens wanted safer work conditions, shorter work days, wages they could live on, protection against monopolistic business practices. And they looked to their elected officials for help. But too many of those officials were either poorly trained or corrupt or perhaps both. And calls for reform in government intervention were growing. And it was in that climate that in 1913 Jesse Reeves who was Chair of the University of Michigan's Political Science Department proposed to develop America's first graduate degree in public administration. He believed that the same kind of educational systems and scientific methods that had driven so much technological advancement could also strengthen public administration and lead to smarter policies. He wrote that the University Of Michigan and I quote had a distinct opportunity not only to office public service to the states citizens but also to lead the way in training and professionalizing public administrators. Jesse Reeves was simply a visionary. The university recognized that vision and in 1914 our program was launched. Many other colleges and universities adopted similar methods and models in the years that followed. Its interesting that Reeves own research interest were primarily an international law and the program second director Robert Crane had served in the Foreign Service as consul in Argentina and Guadeloupe. And so, from the very beginning our program had global ties and a kind of global reach. And of course those global threads continue throughout the decades and are very present in the school today. From a start our faculty and our alumni were truly impressive. Lent Upson, one of the first lecturers here would serve as Founding Director of the Detroit Bureau of Government Research. And he said the right to criticize government is also an obligation to know what you're talking about. Thomas Reed who directed our program for more than a decade would lecture all across the country. Democracy can achieve nothing good he would say unless a keen sense of civic responsibility is part of the moral equipment of its people. Charlotte Mary Conover Jones class of 1927 was our first female graduate. She would coordinate citizenship schools for women in the wake of women suffrage. Rodolfo Hidalgo graduating that same year was the son of a rice farmer and he would go on to represent his province in the Philippine legislature. Harold Smith would oversee the US budget from the end of the great depression to the launch of the United Nations and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development which is part of today's World Bank. I could go on but ours was a small school then. We graduated just three students on average during our--per year on average during our first 25 years. However, those graduates have you heard went on to do great things just as you our centennial class will go on to do great things. In fact, you have something that those early graduates did not have some very important skills. In 1968 Michigan Professor John Patrick Crecine pioneered a new approach for training public servants, the Public Policy Degree Program determining that many of the practical skills that had formerly been taught in public administration could actually be learned as effectively on the job. And he and his colleagues reshaped the curriculum to take advantage of advances in social sciences. John, Paul and Edi were among those pioneering colleagues having joined the faculty respectively in 1970, '73 and '74. And the new Social Science focus that they built emphasized economic and statistical analysis the political environment for policy making and the importance of organizations to successful implementation. It employed computing technologies to more quickly and accurately evaluate data and assembled all sorts of data, very important both quantitative and qualitative types of information to more fully understand complex problems and to pinpoint solutions. And it inspired a new movement amongst schools that train student for public service. The University of Michigan curriculum again became the gold standard for that approach around the nation. The shift from administration to policy was a shift from focusing on single problems as they arose to focusing on systemic complex solutions. How can we reduce unemployment and grow our economy in struggling rustbelt cities like Detroit and in developing economies all around the world? How can we ensure human rights while preventing threats to National Security? The complexity of these and many, many other challenges requires really talented, bright and energetic doers who are prepared to move forward to find creative and viable solutions. The complexity of these and other challenges requires you, our soon to be alumni to employ every skill you've developed, every ounce of will, connection, including especially your Ford School connections. We believe we have helped prepare you to take on those challenges, to take up the call to serve, to contribute, to think, to speak and to act. We've prepared you in part by our--with our outstanding faculty. And this year five of them including Yazir were nominated by students for the university's most distinguish Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. Our faculty also conduct game changing research and public service around critically important policy challenges. And let me just give a few examples from those who are with me on the platform. John Chachere is Senior Legal Adviser to the Documentation Center of Cambodia helping bring to justice perpetrators of atrocities committed by members of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. Paul Currant is the impetus behind the happy trust, the world's largest digital library which contains more than 10 million volumes accessible anytime, anywhere there's an internet connection free of charge. John Chamberlain behind me over there is our longest serving faculty member. And he has introduced countless number of policy students to both statistics and ethics reminding them to weigh society's never ending quest for efficiency against humanities deepest held values. And Edi Goldenberg is the Founding Director of the Michigan in Washington Program which provides opportunities for dozens of University Of Michigan undergraduates to spend a semester learning and serving in our nation's capital. You've been prepared too by the work of our terrific professional staff as you know a team that keep the education, research, public service and engagement missions of our school all moving forward. And I'd like to ask now that all of the staff and faculty who are here with us today would please rise and I hope you'll join me in thanking them for all that they do. Please rise.

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There's another very important set of thank you's. Our graduates did not arrive at their accomplishments alone. We're also joined by perhaps more than 700 family members and friends tonight. And it's wonderful to see our auditorium so full. I know that all of our graduates value the love and the support that so many of you have provided over the years. And graduates whether your supporters are here with us in person or only with us in spirit please take this chance to join in thanking all of them for everything that they have done.

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And now I'd like to tell our audience a little bit about you our graduates about what you've accomplished and all that you've given back during your time at the Ford School. Let me start with our newest PhD candidates Joshua Hyman and Caroline Theoharides who earned joint Doctorate Degrees in Economics and Public Policy and Jane Rochmes who earned a Doctorate in Public Policy and Sociology. Each of them has had a very successful job search. Joshua will be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut. Caroline will take a post as Assistant Professor of Economics at Amherst College. And Jane has won a post doctoral fellowship at the center for education policy analysis at Stanford University. Congratulations to each of you.

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We have 82 students receiving a Masters Degree tonight. These students are wonderfully diverse. They speak 21 different languages and they hail from 11 countries. Earlier this week I heard a member of our staff asked to characterize this year's Masters Class. What was her immediate three word answer? "I love them." These students are engaged with each other, with the school and with the boarder community. Many of them have already finalized their immediate employment plans despite what is a very challenging Federal hiring climate. To the parents in the room please accept my personal reassurance that we will continue to work with and offer support to our graduates and all of them will find work in city, state or federal governments, in the private sector, in think tanks, in NGO's whether in the US or elsewhere abroad. The 62 students who are graduating today with a Bachelors Degree in Public Policy have received much, much more than your typical undergraduate. As one faculty member wrote these young women and men do not conform to any simplistic notion of what undergraduate students are like. They're serious students, hard working and very curious. Our BAs boasts seven, five Beta Kappa's and they are the ones wearing the gold chords tonight.

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We also have 13 Angel Scholars and a number who have been recognized in many other ways. These students are truly the leaders and best across a wide variety of campus activities. In some, the classes of 2014 are close knit, they're engaged and they're leaders. Engaged? In January--on January 2nd MPP student Hirokozu Yamazaki and his wife Aya welcomed a new baby boy in their family, a boy whose middle name is Gerald which a wonderful tribute to our namesake President.

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And when the mother of a University of Michigan student died unexpectedly our BA students held a book drive and ran a bake sale to help with expenses. Student leadership? How about public policy connects, the US-Canada conference, the NPM social impact challenge, two diversity summits and so, so much more. Our students organized a charity auction featuring community contributions like curling lessons, salsa lessons, a pie every month for a year, faculty wine tasting and even a calendar featuring 12 mostly tasteful photos of the men of the Ford School. Many of them are seated with us this evening a little bit more fully attired. [Laughter] That sense of fun coupled with a commitment to making the community a better place brings me back to the history, back to the people who built the Ford School and the community that we all inherited. John, Paul, Edi and their colleagues built a community that we all can be proud of. They built it with their can do glass half full attitude with their enthusiasm for debate and discussion. They built it with their ability to see past what's wrong and who's to blame to what can be done to fix it. They built it with their immense work ethic. They built it with their sense of purpose and vision and their willingness to spread the credit and take the blame. And they built it with a tremendous sense of humor and perspective. Please join me in thanking John, Paul and Edi for their decades of service to an investment in the Ford School Community.

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And now, to our centennial graduates I say on behalf of the Ford School thank you for all that you have contributed to this shared community. It has truly been a pleasure to work with you and to get to know so many of you. I know that most of you may have very mixed feelings about what today represents. You'll miss the many joys of life in Ann Arbor and at the Ford School. I suspect you won't miss all of the snow that has been a relentless presence this winter. But you will miss your classmates and your friends. You'll miss holiday skits, the mason jars and sticky floors of Dominic's, the naps in Towsley Reading Room and we'll all miss the life and times of Justin Thomas. But despite all you'll miss today also is a day that is truly full of promise, the promise of new work, new cities, new friends and new challenges. Nelson Mandela who dies this year at the age of 95 once said that "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." I believe that. Use yours to be great and to do great things for our world. And I truly know that each of you will. And whenever your in town walk through those doors on Staton Hill and share with us your lives and your accomplishments and know that you will always have a home here at the Ford School. We're so proud of all that you are and all that you will do. Congratulations and best wishes to the classes of 2014 and of course Go Blue.

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And now, it is my honor to introduce our centennial commencement speaker Senator Carl Levin, a native--a native of Detroit. Senator Levin served as Assistant Attorney General and General Counsel of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in 1964. He was elected to the Detroit City Counsel in 1969 and elected to the US Senate in 1978 and of course many times since. He is Chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee and one of our nations most respected leaders on National Security. He is also a powerful voice for a quality and justice and a strong advocate for economic fairness. Time Magazine has named him one of America's 10 Best Senators and a Democrat who "gained respect from both parties for his attention to detail and deep knowledge of policy especially in his role as a vigilant monitor of businesses and Federal Agencies." We are honored and proud to welcome him back to the Ford School to deliver our Centennial Commencement Address. Please join me in welcoming Senator Carl Levin to the podium.

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>> Thank you.

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Dean, thank you so much for your introduction, your invitation to join with you today. Thank you most importantly for the great leadership that you've shown in this school. I'm honored to be here with you and the graduates, their families, their friends and the faculty and the staff of a school that has for a century now work to improve the lives of our people through education and through the study of public policy. It is also great to be here with my wife Barbara, a true Blue Wolverine. As a matter of fact of the class of--oh, I better not go there. [Laughter] Many factors have brought you graduates to this moment. First among them is your hard work and I know that you're not going to forget the people who have helped you achieve this moment. And for those families who have helped finance your education. They and the graduates who leave here carrying the burden of student loans would have learned the hard way but adds a special twist to the term higher education, the higher cost of education. And for your sakes and for the future well being of our country I hope that yet this year the United States Senate will adopt a bill to make college and university more affordable and to reduce the interest rate on existing loans. As a matter of fact is that something we are trying to do. You're not just graduates of a great university, you are graduates of a school of public policy which implies that you and your ideas and your passions, your hard work and your drive and your grit can help shape the policies that government adopts. Whether an elected office or other forms of government service at a nonprofit or in the private sector seeking to influence public policy is an awesome responsibility. It is not easy work because of the diversity of our great democracy. But you put in the time and the effort the rewards you great outside of being a husband and a father and a grandfather nothing has brought me greater satisfaction than the chance to contribute to solving the challenges that our nation faces. As you grapple with policy issues, I hope that you will keep in your minds and in your hearts the spirit of the man whose name graces the school. Gerald Ford was admirable for many reasons but perhaps none is more important than the difficult step that he took in pardoning president Nixon in 1975 in doing so he give us one of histories most poignant examples of a politician doing what he felt was right in the face of public opposition. Pardoning Nixon may very well have caused Gerald Ford his office but it was an essential step in healing the wounds of Watergate. History proved General Ford correct and this nation will always be in his debt for that decision. Now, I speak to you today is a policy maker nearing the end of his career, many of you soon will begin public policy careers of your own. And just as much has change over my career so you will see many changes during yours. But if issues change principles do not. There are ways of examining issues that apply regardless of the specific challenges that we face. And so, I want to share with you an approach that I believe has served me well. A little more than a week ago, I was in Kabul, Afghanistan, I been to have Afghanistan a dozen times. My first trip was with Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, one of best friends in the senate. It was in the fall of 2001, not long after our troops entered Afghanistan. John Warner is a tall, silver haired and impeccably tailored man was sort of an odd couple actually since I've been describe as plump balding into shoveled. [Laughter] Anyway, the society the Afghan society that Senator Warner and I glimpsed to the very heavy security has been transformed in the last dozen years. In 2001, roughly one million Afghan children were in schools. Now, there are more than eight million, before we and our allies came the Taliban allowed essentially no Afghan girls to attend school. Now, there are 2.6 million girls in classrooms. In 2001, average life expectancy in Afghanistan was 45 years. Now, it is 62 years. Under the Taliban 18 percent of rural Afghans had access to clean drinking water, by 2012 that had risen to 56 percent and rising. Gross domestic product has risen nearly 10 fold since 2001. The first time that I flew over Kabul at night it reminded me of those night time photos that you see of the Korean peninsula with the North totally dark and the South ablaze with light. In 2001, Kabul was like North Korea, it was dark. Today, Kabul is dark no longer. Once deserted streets are now bustling, shattered store fronts are now open. None of this has been cheaper easy. But the Afghan people with out resistance had made significant progress. Tough challenges lie ahead for them government corruption is still prevalent and security though much improved remains a major issue particularly in certain rural areas. But our efforts have been a difference for our nation's security and for Afghanistan. Now, maybe you listen to this litany of progress and said to yourself, "Wait a minute, I thought Afghanistan was a failure." These days if Americans think of Afghanistan at all it is with a shutter. In a poll last December two-thirds of Americans set our involvement in Afghanistan wasn't worth the effort. In February, the Gallup Poll found that for the first time a plurality of the American people believe that we made a mistake sending our troops there to root out the terrorist who attacked us in 2001. But while Paul show that most of Americans want to end our involvement in Afghanistan most Africans and every candidate for the Afghan presidency want us to stay and to continue to help. Now, why this disconnect? Few Americans have had the opportunity to visit Afghanistan or to study each changes most only read a few snippets or see brave reports in television. And those reports are almost unremittingly negative head to the New York Times website and you'll find a recent story of the grim trend of attacks on American civilians, a trend that consisted of one attack. I believe that the stream of negative coverage has combined with Americans understandable war wariness to shift public opinion decisively against our involvement in Afghanistan. The result is that the American people and the men and women who have serve our nation in Afghanistan and their families have been robbed of the sense of accomplishment that they have earned through great sacrifice. Now, it's not my goal to convince you that I'm right about Afghanistan though if I do I'll take it. But the African questioned aluminates some questions about the role of those involved in public policy and how to way issues and evidence and about how we elected officials, balance our roles has representatives of our constituents with the duty to exercise our own judgment. My opinions on Afghanistan have been formed in large part by the fact that I've been there in ground truth matters. Our Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates said something memorable about Afghanistan a couple years ago. "The closure you get to this fight" he said "the better it looks." He added "that that is not usually the case in war. Usually it's much easier to convince yourself that a conflict is going well if you don't have to see the ugliness of war up close." Now, from that fist visit onward I've learn things visiting and studying about Afghanistan that have led me to a different conclusion from that reach by most of my constituents. The details matter, when someone tells you that you're getting too far into the weeds that's often a sign to go deeper to get down to the roots. Information is a shield against once own biases and the biases of those around you, if you're an elected office the pursuit of the details may lead you to an uncomfortable place, a position that odds with public opinion. But you must be prepared to follow the evidence and your conscience where they lead even if and perhaps especially if they lead somewhere politically uncomfortable. If you are in government service you will come under great pressure to do it as popular. And democratic governance ultimately does need majority support. But our system also requires independent judgment. Public opinion is not fixed and the policy maker who surrenders his or her judgment to the polls will have a lot of flip flapping to explain. To accept the responsibility of influencing public policy is to accept the responsibility to advocate for what maybe unpopular at the moment. England's philosopher politician Edmund Burke once told his constituents "Your representative owes you not his industry only but his judgment and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices that judgment to your opinion." Now, Burke is rightly celebrated for that statement. What is less often mentioned is that he lost the next election. And that is a price policy makers must be willing to pay. It's the price that Henry Bellmon paid. Bellmon was a republican senator who cast a crucial vote in 1978 for President Carter's plan to return control of the Panama Canal to Panama. This was enormously unpopular in his state at the time. And Bellmon under great pressure for his vote decided not even to seek reelection but Bellmon was convinced it was the thing to do and it fear that our keeping the Panama Canal would create such resentment in Central America, that it might spark violence that could embroil American troops and as a World War II veteran he knew that price of war. Bellmon knew he might pay a heavy price for his vote but he told an interviewer that after he had wait the facts casting his vote "really wasn't a hard decision." Six years later by the way Oklahoma voters rewarded his integrity when they elected him governor. Democratic Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies pay the price in 1994 after she cast the key vote for President Clinton's unpopular deficit reduction plan. She knew, she knew at the time that it was a vote which could cause her a reelection. And just incase she was unaware, republicans on the house floor as she was voting jeered "bye-bye Marjorie." Her vote gave that bill the majority that it need for passage and sure enough she lost the next election. But years later when fellow democrats faced similar pressures to vote against heath care reform in 2009 here's what she wrote to those wavering democrats quote, "I voted my conscience and it caused me, I am your worst case scenario and I do it all over again." She landed on her feet by the way, she currently is campaigning to return to congress and has a good chance to do so and to show how history plays strong and strange tricks. Her son, much later, married Bill and Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea. Now, advocating for unpopular position it means acknowledging the real challenges we face whether it's Afghanistan or heath care reform or the budget hitting worth doing risks the possibility of failure in the near certainty. The progress will be slow and incomplete. But as you way your approach to issues do remember something President Ford said quote, "Some tend to feel that if we do not succeed in everything, everywhere then we have succeeded in nothing anywhere." And he added, "I reject categorically such polarized thinking." That's why his advise whether you're an elected officer in a corporate office, whether you're in government service or working for a nonprofit, there's too much at stake for us to surrender to superficial media narratives, her vital opinion polls. To do so in Afghanistan would be to leave million of Afghan girls without an education or hope for the future. Surrendering to the media-frenzy of the moment would have let us to repeal the newly one heath insurance coverage for more than 8 million Americans. The fact that the war in Afghanistan or the fight for universal health care have not always gone as we had hoped is no reason to abandon those important causes. And the same goes through the causes that you will be fighting in the years ahead. These are immensely important challenges whether it's combating climate change, preserving privacy and cyber security in the internet age, whether it's closing the wide and the growing income gap that threatens the link between hard work and prosperity that is so fundamental to our national identity. To meet those challenges in others, your generation of policy makers will need to martial the facts, to bring the barrier great education, your good judgment and your conscience and to persevere in the face of criticism and doubt. I wish this graduating class nothing but success. I congratulate you on the achievement that you celebrate today and on the greater achievements that lie ahead. Thank you and Go Blue.

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>> Thank you very much Senator. I am now delighted to welcome the members of Amazing Blue to the stage. Amazing Blue is the University of Michigan's oldest coed a cappella ensemble and they will perform two classics from the Michigan song book.

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Every year the four schools graduating students are asked to elect people to play key roles at commencement and one faculty member is chosen to speak to the class. Both sets of graduating classes also chose a representatives student speaker. As the faculty speaker this year, the centennial class has selected Yazir Henry. Yazir was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. He first came to the Ford School in 2007 as our Tousley [phonetic] Foundation Policy Maker in Residence. Yazir's intellectual work focuses on the relationship of political structure and violence to civic indigenous and human rights. Since 2008 he is taught courses at the Ford school unprofessional and political ethics on social movements and democratic processes in the global south and on transitional justice following political conflict. As a young man in South Africa Yazir worked in the political underground movement that spearheaded the downfall of apartheid government. And after the fall of apartheid he founded and developed several programs in Cape Town, that's not to continue that difficult work of piece building inspired by his experience with the South African truth and reconciliation commission. He has written and lectured on issues related to peace making, trauma and post conflict reintegration. And it's a tribute to Yazir that he's standing among the students led him to select them to deliver this address. And so, I'm delighted to welcome him to the podium.

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>> Good afternoon all graduates, baccalaureates--15 minutes I practiced that. [Laughter] MPPs, Doctors, [inaudible] family, and love ones, when I was informed of this honor my initial thoughts were to decline.

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I told myself several stories justifying why I should not accept this responsibility and privilege. I justify to myself why I did not have to stand here and face you all. For the first time this winter I hope May 3rd would become a snow day. [Laughter] Now, I'm not usually very funny, that was meant as a joke. Truth be told, I do not wish to see another snow flake for at least eight more months not even on a post card or thank you note. I caught myself rambling and I realize that I was really lying to myself, I told myself I done this before, I don't really have anything new to say. And what does my opinion really matter. There are many others more important than I to stand here before you and address you. But I was lying to myself because it's pretty scary to stand up here. I was also scared at the time it would take me to write these words, I would have to be working when you were celebrating with your family. So, a cruel affirmation this was.

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Thank you for this.

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But as I sat thinking of you at the classes I've taught and the human beings I've meet over the past two years, the feeling of--feeling sorry for myself passed what initially felt is burden now I felt true as honor as responsibility and as challenged. And I become more and more determined to stand here smiling.

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In appreciation of you and your achievements what you have given me and so many of my colleagues when I was sharing in your celebration and your humanity would be affirming my own humanity through yours right now. I smiled and I thought of life as beautiful, very complex and never dull. I thought you've given me--I thought that I would be a policy professional as I stand here a leader, strong, clear headed, resolute, gracious in the face of the challenge that faces me. I hope this for you too. I said, "How can I offer so much advice when I myself am afraid to live with it fully." So, I emailed Lindsay and accepted my fear.

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I printed all my class rosters and I remembered you.

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So, on behalf of the fourth school faculty and staff, I thank you for this honor and I accept the fact that we live every moment with you here everyday at this university as a privilege, a privilege I celebrate with you today, I recognize that we are all privileged people here regardless of our class, our gender, our color, our religion, our sexual orientation, our age and our ability accept and live this privilege as honor not as burden. Know the word privilege as I use it here sounds the same but will have changed in every context as I have shifted. Baccalaureates, OK and that's suppose to be funny. Thank you for laughing. Masters, doctors--as policy maker's experts and thinkers every moment to live is a part of the conditions which ensure that life and humanity has the state to prosper and to thrive as policy professionals this is our responsibility. Attending commencement from me is always the most amazing moment of the year, it is one the few times of the year when we stand as an institution when we stand as one, when we are not fighting over ideas of grades over who knows more or who knows less, over who is right and who is wrong. Today, we are as one community gathering here to celebrate the intellectual resources of our society in the world, you, graduates, well done. You are now qualified as leaders and thinkers as intellectuals and no amount of lying to yourselves will change that. It is fact and I repeat no amount because I usually got lost this time, no amount of lying to yourselves will change this. All I need to do is pay the bills. I could buy three to three homes of my student loans. I have no power to afflict anything, the world is a horrible place and other is not a reality. I am not a leader. So, take a moment as I conclude to celebrate with your family and your loved ones for in the coming days and for the rest of your lives you are going to have to face yourselves. You are in this sense responsible for being what you want to see in the world. You are and will be expected to lead accept it well and accept it with grace.

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We are that coming people. We are being called upon to be the difference to make and to keep the peace. Yeah, I don't mean to be simplistically you are not police officers nor are you walking around releasing doubts in to the air with big smiles upon your faces. You are being called upon to immediate to manage and to imagine how such a peace may look, such a peace maybe realized loved as normality everywhere and sustained over many generations. Social peace, political peace, economic peace, legal peace, administrative peace, spiritual and in a peace, those of you have not taken a class with me, this is an inside joke. [Laughter] As intellectuals and leaders, you will be called upon to think about yourself beyond yourselves to practically and constantly imagine the world you would like to live in and to slowly and consistently go about creating that world. I have worked a long beside you, I have seen your power and your ability accept this power and walk creatively with humility. Congratulations. Thank you and be as beautiful as you are.

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>> Thank you Yazir. And now we will hear from the student elected to speak from the bachelors, the baccalaureate, centennial class, Britney Jones.

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At the University of Michigan, Britney serves as a diversity peer-educator. She is also worked as a housing discrimination investigator for the Ann Arbor Fair Housing Center. And last summer, she interned with the Detroit Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency. She received the University of Michigan's MLK Spirit Award for students who best exemplified the leadership and extraordinary vision of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by pursuing equal rights through nonviolent means and encouraging people of diverse cultures to live together in a spirit of love and acceptance. And now I invite Britney to the podium.

[ Applause ]

>> Thank you Dean Collins for the introduction. To the greater Ford school community and to my fellow BA classmates, thank you for granting me the honor to speak on behalf of you all and to represent what is it meant to be a fordie [phonetic] over this past two years. And to Senator Levin and to all of our family and friends who have gathered here to celebrate this momentous occasion with us, good evening. So, let's think back specifically to the day, March 21st, 2012, when we all received our acceptance to the Ford school of public policy. From that day forward, we officially embrace our new titles and become fordies. With every memo and policy simulation ranging from the one drugs to drowns, to frocking and even the local politics in the Ann Arbor and Detroit, we were challenged that the analyze our resources and to consider the positions of all stakeholders regardless of our own personal biases. As we take in this time, this moment right now that we are graduating from one of the greatest institutions in the world at a time when we're celebrating the Ford Centennial we cannot forget that our personal backgrounds impact what we interpret as problems, common knowledge and what we perceive to be effective policy. And this past year, the University of Michigan Campus has been rocked by students demanding policy change at all levels of this is institution with the hash tag BBUM, the launch of Mike in the Michigan daily, Michigan in color, the protest for divestment, and the recent supreme court rulings on affirmative action, we cannot continue to deny the identity is core to the creation and evaluation of effective policy. Policy has the potential to limit or enhance an individuals or an entire population's quality of life. It would be--oh, I'm sorry. Whether you find yourself in the fields of education, finance, law, or non-profit work, it would be a profound to service to ourselves and to the future communities that we seek to represent and serve, to dismiss and write off these occurrences as simple rants or waves of emotion. In the midst of all of these events and all that is happening beyond the bubble that is Ann Arbor and the scope of United States, we have enjoyed the distinct privilege of attending a school that specifically promotes teaching and analyzing institutional change, correlation building, political processes, and of course, how to condense all of our research and recommendations down into succinct set of talking points. Today, we are graduating with the skills necessary to manage and influence meaningful policy change. While the greater University of Michigan Campus may find us self suffering from it's brand burn of diversity, we must not forget that we attended a school that equipped us with the necessary critical thinking skills about how we can modify policy to be more inclusive and thus more humane. With our attendance, we have inherited the duty to transition beyond the status quo of solely considering the opinions of the loudest and most expensive voices as the only valid realities and needs. As we pursue our respective niches and explore passions in the real world, we must remain committed to recalibrating what and who we consider worthy of affirmative and effective policy. Meeting this duty requires introspection. We must not fear the responsibility to continually check our assumptions and intentions. Though exhausting and arduous at times, this passes is not without aim. And as we hold ourselves accountable, we will eventually yield the inclusive and necessary outcomes for which so many in this world desire. We are graduating on the privilege platform that is higher education. And thus, we'll continue to possess the prerogative of the Michigan difference. We must use this wisely and ethically. This past two years have been some of the most challenging and yet, insightful times in my life. We have come together, time and again to the Ford school holiday parties to awkwardly attend events dominated by master students, and to occupy the best study spaces in the Ford school. My fellow BA classmates, we didn't just make it, we excelled and we leave behind us a legacy of ambition and grit and wittiness to respond to the challenges and journeys that await us. Thank you and forever Go Blue.

[ Applause ]

>> Thank you very much Britney. The MPP, MPA Sentential Class has elected Louis Contreras to speak on their behalf. Louis earned an associate degree in business from Cabrillo College in 2007 and a bachelors degree in International Relations from the University of California, Irvine in 2010. He spent last summer interning as a policy specialist at Silicon Valley extension of the University of California Santa Cruz and he is also served as a research intern with the Institute for National Strategic Studies of the National Defense University. As I understand it, Louis ran a viral video campaign to clench his votes as graduation speaker [laughter] possibly honing political skills for opportunities well beyond the Ford school. And so, I'm delighted to invite Louis to the podium.

[ Applause ]

>> Thank you Dean Collins for the introduction. Senator, faculty and staff, friends and families, fellow graduations, thank you all for being here in this very special day. Moms, dads, brothers, sisters and everybody else that believe in us thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support through all this incredible journey. And congratulations to you all for today we celebrate our hard work our passion or dedication for public policy. Today, we rise as masters for tomorrow we will lead the world. [Laughter] And as this adventure comes to a close, I can help but to reflect back--back on it and the reason why we chose the Ford school of public policy among other institutions. Rankings, research and faculty all matter even the Wolverines beating Ohio matter. But this incisive patrol was you, my fellow graduates. Meeting most of you during spring preview weekend, allow me to realize that I was no simply talking to perspective students about future leaders, people that deeply care about change in community impact, people that cared about the development in the poorest countries in the world and the poorest neighborhoods in America. I was speaking to people that were willing to advance their education to raise their voice on behalf of those who have no voice, people willing to be empower to the powerless. I was speaking to people who were happy with the world that we were given and who aspired to a better one. After that first day of spring preview, my choice was clear. I wanted to study among the best and among the finest. And so, I chose you, and I chose to be a Michigan Wolverine.

[ Applause ]

Two years have passed since we started this program and we have accomplished so many things, statistics, economics, calculus, and many more classes have all we encounter. We have worked all over the world, from New York to Paris, from contrast in South America, Asia, in the Middle East, some of us want to alleviate poverty, some of us want to in conflicts around the world. Some of us, even dreaming of being president one day, and I have no doubt that we will accomplish such endeavor for in every student here today, I see outstanding leaders, a strong, and will to strive, to seek, to find, and willing to retreat in the moment of truth, friends and families, be proud for what these students have done together in what they must accomplish in the coming year is as big. Fellow graduate students, we have been giving an opportunity to study one of the finest institutions in the world, honor that opportunity by bringing about positive change to our society. Use the tools you learn to possibly impact the life of people across America and beyond. And never give up fighting for what is right and just. President Gerald Ford once said, "In all my public and private acts as president, I expect to follow my instinct of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end." Follow these words with your time comes to lead. Always speak the truth. Never stop serving and leading. Never stop dreaming and doing. Never forget your fore school family. And never forget that you're always and forever a Michigan Wolverine, a victor, a Fordie, and whatever you go, go big and Go Blue. Thank you.

[ Applause ]

>> Thank you Louis. And now, the moment that our family, and families and friends have all been looking forward to, our graduates are ready to come to the stage and receive official congratulations on a job so well done. This year, the names will be read by John Chachere. John is the assistant professor of Public Policy. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Politics, Political Institutions, and Post-conflict Law and Transition. John has undergraduate in Law degrees from Harvard capped by a Master's degree in PhD in international relations from the University of Oxford, and I'm very pleased to be introducing John Chachere who will call the names of our graduating students, John.

[ Applause ]

>> Good evening. Shall we--shall we welcome the party?

[ Noise ]

[ Applause ]

To begin, I'll call our graduates earning Doctoral degrees. I'd like to welcome Susan Dynarski and Mary Corcoran to the stage. They will be hooding our PD--PhD graduates. Susan is a professor of Public Policy Education and Economics. Mary is a professor of Public Policy, Political Science, Social Work and Women Studies. And now, for our PhD graduates. Joshua Hyman, Doctorate in Public Policy in Economics hooded by Susan Dynarski. Joshua's dissertation title is Three Essays on the Economics of Education.

[ Applause ]

[ Laughter ]

[ Applause ]

Jane Rochmes, Doctorate in Public Policy and Sociology, and hooded by Mary Corcoran. Jane's dissertation is entitled Teacher's Beliefs about Students Social Disadvantage, Exploring High School Context and Teachers Influence on the Achievement Gap.

[ Applause ]

[ Noise ]

[ Applause ]

Caroline Barkley Theoharides, Doctorate in Public Policy in Economics, hooded by Susan Dynarski. The title of Caroline's dissertation is Three Essays on the Economics of International Migration.

[ Applause ]

[ Noise ]

Now, we'll welcome our graduates receiving a Master's Degree in Public Policy or Public Administration. Andrea Acevedo [assumed spelling].

[ Applause ]

Louis Alvarez [assumed spelling].

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Marie Arakaky [assumed spelling].

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Dwayne Bell [assumed spelling].

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Daniel Benzarack [assumed spelling].

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Franklin Berman [assumed spelling].

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Jeren Bowman [assumed spelling].

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Cinan Paskush [assumed spelling].

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Kasara Brown [assumed spelling].

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Collin Campbell [assumed spelling].

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Caitlyn Carmadell [assumed spelling].

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Rebecca Cassidy [assumed spelling].

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Anna Jin Chan [assumed spelling].

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Stephanie Cheng [assumed spelling].

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Elizabeth Cochran [assumed spelling].

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Jessica Francis Compton [assumed spelling].

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Louis Contreras [assumed spelling].

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Shane Cooper [assumed spelling].

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Andrew Delou [assumed spelling].

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Michael Dubias [assumed spelling].

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Emma Enoefiong [assumed spelling].

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Chris Falcon [assumed spelling].

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Carly Fervor [assumed spelling].

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Bryan Gilocheck [assumed spelling].

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Katy Guttered [assumed spelling].

[ Applause ]

>> Congratulations.

>> Hillary Hampton [assumed spelling].

[ Applause ]

Ronisia Harvey [assumed spelling].

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Claire Hutchinson [assumed spelling].

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Jacob Ignotosky [assumed spelling].

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Young Jao [assumed spelling].

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Aimee Jones [assumed spelling].

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Samuel Khan [assumed spelling].

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Jillian Kitchen [assumed spelling].

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Sophia Kittler [assumed spelling].

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Shigayki Cobayashi [assumed spelling].

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Mark--Mark Koski [assumed spelling].

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Mazayoshi Kurisu [assumed spelling].

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Megan Levandyski [assumed spelling].

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Nicole Love [assumed spelling].

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Ben Lusher [assumed spelling].

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Shirley Mah [assumed spelling].

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KD Malcon [assumed spelling].

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Esperanza Martinez [assumed spelling].

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Kenneth Jay McFarland [assumed spelling].

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Viba Myta [assumed spelling].

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Christopher Montgomery [assumed spelling].

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Elisa Muton [assumed spelling].

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Ram Narayonen [assumed spelling].

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Hidinouri Nonaka [assumed spelling].

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Hirayuki Ono [assumed spelling].

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Ryan Peterson [assumed spelling].

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Jordy Paratuka [assumed spelling].

[ Applause & Laughter ]

Kumar Raj [assumed spelling].

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KD Reeves [assumed spelling].

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Betsy Riley [assumed spelling].

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Piang Siokso [assumed spelling].

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Matthew Shrub [assumed spelling].

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Nursha Mut [assumed spelling].

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Lauren Sheram [assumed spelling].

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Dyna Sherry [assumed spelling].

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Samuel Stern [assumed spelling].

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Alison Stroud [assumed spelling].

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Aaron Sullivan [assumed spelling].

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Benjamin Shuvicksweny [assumed spelling].

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Oskon Teknichi [assumed spelling].

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Jessica Teng [assumed spelling].

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Tian Tian [assumed spelling].

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Zackary Turk [assumed spelling].

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Gerardo Velasco Dela Anghel [assumed spelling].

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Pablo Velasquez [assumed spelling].

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Alexander Viart [assumed spelling].

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Christine Wagner [assumed spelling].

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Katherine Wynne [assumed spelling].

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Hisako Jaboque [assumed spelling].

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Hirokazu Yamazaki [assumed spelling].

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Liu Kang Jin Deng [assumed spelling].

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And now, we welcome to the stage students receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy.

[ Applause ]

Sahara Dora [assumed spelling].

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Travis Albright [assumed spelling].

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Zahir Agriwati [assumed spelling].

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Sasha Michelle Altshuler [assumed spelling].

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Matthew Andonian [assumed spelling].

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Caroline Andritch [assumed spelling].

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Jeremy Bat [assumed spelling].

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Kimberly Beck [assumed spelling].

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Chelsea Ballenger [assumed spelling].

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Sidney Berger [assumed spelling].

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Daniel Hope Bernstein [assumed spelling].

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Chelsea Burn [assumed spelling].

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Alex Coburn [assumed spelling].

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Fernando Coelho [assumed spelling].

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Maria Danbriones [assumed spelling].

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Adam Fisher [assumed spelling].

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Aaron Connor Freemen [assumed spelling].

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Evelyn Galvan [assumed spelling].

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Ben Gloger [assumed spelling].

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Tyler Goldberg [assumed spelling].

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Noah Helpern [assumed spelling].

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Joey Herman [assumed spelling].

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Haley Hirschman [assumed spelling].

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Noah Hoffman [assumed spelling].

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Caroline Holden [assumed spelling].

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Leslie Hurwitz [assumed spelling].

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Britney Renee Jones [assumed spelling].

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Brandon Kats [assumed spelling].

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Caitlyn Nor [assumed spelling].

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Loren Kubrick [assumed spelling].

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Sarah Cane [assumed spelling].

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Thalia Cola [assumed spelling].

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Alexander Lane [assumed spelling].

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Mitchell Lapuf [assumed spelling].

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Alex Leader [assumed spelling].

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Patrick Cornelius Millet [assumed spelling].

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Emily Juraski Menisto [assumed spelling].

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Madeline Macuhon [assumed spelling].

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Donavon McKinley [assumed spelling].

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McKenzie Miller [assumed spelling].

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Hannah Moizie [assumed spelling].

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Salma Mosa [assumed spelling].

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Harcian Hata [assumed spelling].

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Sarah Pizer [assumed spelling].

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Erica Rich [assumed spelling].

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Chelsea Roads [assumed spelling].

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Amy Roggernburg [assumed spelling].

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Phoebe Rosenfeld [assumed spelling].

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Steven Resepa [assumed spelling].

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William Stanford [assumed spelling].

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David Sidemen [assumed spelling].

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Brandon Shapiro [assumed spelling].

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Solumshi Kalil [assumed spelling].

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Matthew Diskiba [assumed spelling].

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Gregory Terrene [assumed spelling].

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Olivia Thompson [assumed spelling].

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Emma Tinsley [assumed spelling].

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Kayla Kumari Yupaja [assumed spelling].

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Emily VanDuzen [assumed spelling].

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Adam Watkins [assumed spelling].

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Andrew Wynner [assumed spelling].

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Samantha Yasin [assumed spelling].

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[ Noise ]

>> It is now my pleasure to invite all of our graduates to stand and please face your guests in the audience.

[ Applause ]

And our RBA graduates.

[ Applause ]

At this time, RBA graduates please move your tassel on your mortar board from the right to the left.

[ Applause ]

I present to you the Gerald R. Ford classes of 2014. Congratulations to all of you.

[ Applause ]

It's been so wonderful to have all of you with us here today. I'll ask you to take your seats and remain seated while the platform party and our graduates then exit, but I hope that you will stay and join us for some light refreshments in the area just outside of the doors or if the weather permitting on the front steps. Again, thank you so much for joining us and to our centennial class of 2014, we're so proud of you and Go Blue.

[ Applause ]

[ Music & Inaudible Discussions ]