COLLEGE SHORT Clinton addresses students at Brown University

Author: Dina Magaril

While hockey season has long been over, Brown University's hockey auditorium was nevertheless full of screaming fans this past Friday. Thousands of students from all across America came to Providence to hear former President Bill Clinton deliver a speech entitled "Embracing our Common Humanity: Security and Prosperity in the Twenty-first Century". Clinton's address coincided with the Young Democrats convention at Brown attended by 42 different schools from 11 states and hosted by Seth Magaziner, a Brown student and president of the Young Democrats. Among the attendees were actors Billy Zane and Chris Tucker. Tucker is a close friend of Clinton and worked with him on his AIDS campaign in Africa.

Clinton stressed the importance of providing help to those with HIV and AIDS and talked about his campaign in Brazil and Africa to bring treatment to those suffering from the disease. He commended Bush's decision to allocate $2 billion towards AIDS funding, saying this was Bush's step in recognizing his responsibilities to more impoverished countries that desperately need help.

Clinton spoke about interdependence in America and the importance of focusing on positive interdependence. He also discussed his campaign to help Tsunami victims, a joint effort with former President Bush Sr. The goal should be to build an integrated community with shared responsibility, shared benefits, and shared values, according to Clinton.

"I always ask myself, will this proposal give us a world with shared benefits, a world where everyone counts, has a role?" he said.

Clinton also criticized Bush's energy bill, saying it was selfish of the United States to not deal with the problem of global warming as well as "dumb economics". He believed that clean energy conservation is a step in the right direction. Clinton further condemned some of Bush's earlier decisions.

"We cannot ignore our adversaries," warned Clinton, "and we can't kill them all, imprison them all or even occupy them all." He told the crowd that the United States. needed to focus on making partners as well as building institutions of cooperation. He also urged those who opposed the war to now focus on bringing stability to Iraq. "You should want it to work now," remarked Clinton, referring to the new government recently established in Iraq.

After Clinton's address at Brown University the former president gave another lecture to the Young Democrats. He spoke about the importance of gaining the red states' support, especially among the evangelical Christians. Three Middlebury students were among the attendees.

Lizzie Quinn '08 attended the Brown University lecture as well as the smaller lecture Clinton gave to members of the Young Democrats. "Clinton is an amazing speaker," she said.

"What made him better than somebody who might have just been inspirational was that he connected to his audiences and was aware of his own weaknesses and wasn't afraid to admit what he had done wrong. The speech was really inspiring and I'm glad I drove through the night just to hear him speak," she added.