Clinton Addresses Information Age at MIT

A day after the First Lady addressed the graduates of the Harvard Medical School, President Bill Clinton spoke of "the opportunities of the information age" to a crowd of about 12,000 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on June 5.

Clad in his Yale Law School robes, Clinton told the MIT Class of 1998 his plans to bring computer access and education to every school in America, as well as to increase investments in science research to fuel economic growth.

Clinton reflected on the current financial success of the nation and said "such a period of renewal comes along so rarely in life--it gives us both the opportunity and the profound responsibility to address the larger, longer-term challenges to your future."

One challenge, Clinton indicated, is the "digital divide" between children with access to computers and those without.

Outlining his intentions for increasing funding for technological discoveries--including support for the "e-rate" which would provide discounted Internet hookups for America's poorest schools--Clinton said "we cannot point and click our way to a better future" and called for a coalition between the government and the private sector.

"In this sunlit moment of prosperity, we can't leave anyone in the dark," Clinton said. "Every child in America deserves the chance to take part in the information revolution."

MIT's other Commencement speaker, Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and 1996 Time Magazine Man of the Year, also spoke to the crowds gathered in Killian Court about the importance of technology in American life.

Ho encouraged the graduates to "cast a giant shadow on our planet" through their work in the laboratory.

"I am disturbed by the public's increasing indifference to what we do as scientists and engineers," Ho said. "We must change this by learning to present our work in both interesting and understandable ways. Indeed, it is our responsibility to bring back the spark, that sense of wonder about nature that lies within every citizen."

At the beginning of his address, Clinton expressed his appreciation to share the podium with Ho, noting that MIT had selected two types of speakers for the Friday morning commencement: "the scientists and the scientifically-challenged."

MIT President Charles M. Vest also cracked at least one joke during the otherwise-staid ceremony. Having been told by Clinton that he was a "model president," Vest said he looked up the word "model" in the dictionary and found a startling definition: "a small replica of the real thing."

Clinton blushed at the quip.

After speaking in Cambridge, Clinton traveled to Walden Woods, Mass. to attend the grand opening of Thoreau Institute with the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. The institute, founded by singer Don Henley, is an educational facility promoting land preservation and dedicated to American author, philosopher and conservationist Henry David Thoreau, class of 1837.