Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406090051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OXFORD, ENGLAND LENGTH: Medium
Twenty-five years after he organized anti-war protests, Clinton found himself the target of a student demonstration, but he took the irony in stride.
Oxford was the final stop of his eight-day European tour to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Allied invasion at Normandy. He said his journey to the legendary battlegrounds had ``profoundly deepened my own commitment to the work the people of the United States have entrusted to me.''
A boisterous crowd of about 250 demonstrators changed the route of Clinton's nostalgia trip.
Instead of walking along the street he knew as a Rhodes scholar 25 years ago, he was hurried into his limousine for the short trip to Rhodes House to meet privately with American students.
It was at Oxford that Clinton found his way around the Vietnam War draft, and organized late-1960s protests against that conflict.
``This great university has been very much involved in the action and passion of its time,'' he said after his degree was bestowed, making him Doctor of Civil Law by Degree by Diploma. ``Just listen outside here! Everything from disputes over ... the nature of the Italian government to the character of the word `skinhead' is being debated, even as we are here.''
Clinton wore a red academic robe as he marched to the theater in a 15-minute procession from his old school, University College. He was joined by 120 scholars and administrators.
There were applauding crowds along that part of the route; the demonstrators were near the 17th Century Sheldonian Theater, where Clinton was honored. They shouted for and against a cacophony of causes - including a pending increase in room and board costs.
``It's an absolute disgrace that University College is spending so much money to bring Clinton here but is putting up the rents it charges its own students,'' said Ros Wynne-Jones, 23, vice-president of welfare at Oxford University Union.
Some students waved small American flags. Others held placards. One read, ``No to U.S. pro-abortion imperialism.''
``Inhale next time, Bill,'' said one sign, referring to Clinton's assertion that he experimented with smoking marijuana once while at Oxford - but did not inhale.
The degree Clinton received is granted only to heads of state and royalty. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only other president to receive it while in office, in 1941, but not in person. Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover and Theodore Roosevelt received the degree before or after their White House years.
by CNB