Chancellor Berdahl, fellow speakers, honorees, members of the class of 2000, university officials, family members, protestors and friends, good afternoon. I especially want to thank the graduating class for inviting me. It is truly a time to celebrate. For parents, it's cause to marvel that the interval between diapers and diplomas is so short. For graduates, it's one of the five great milestones of life, the others being birth, death, marriage, and the day you finally pay off your student loan.
Graduation is the reward for all the late nights in the library and the long hours studying.
You will find slipping from your mind the carefully memorized names of old composers, dead kings, and the body parts of dissected frogs. But even as hopes fade for striking it rich with Regis, you will find the deeper aspects of your education here will endure. For Berkeley is one of the foremost academic institutions in our land. And you will be thankful all your lives for the opportunity to attend and graduate. Of course, as long as you are in school, grades and test results measure accomplishment.