ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 6, 1996 TAG: 9605060078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEB RIECHMANN ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON
NOTE: Below
KERMIT THE FROG will be one of myriad speakers imparting wisdom to the class of '96.
In a puppet-size cap and gown, Kermit the Frog joins the commencement circuit this year to offer advice to the class of 1996 along with heavy hitters like President Clinton and retired Gen. Colin Powell.
Clinton got more than 100 invitations. Powell, who has ascended to near folk hero status in America, received calls and letters from about 30 colleges and universities. He will speak at Northern Virginia Community College and Bowie State University in Maryland. And Bill Cosby, who has been lighting up graduation marquees for 15 years, got five.
Besides politicians and other Washington personalities, this year's commencement podiums will be graced by business people, scientists, judges, musicians, actors and sports and news personalities, according to an informal check at more than 100 institutions.
``A big-time speaker isn't everything. It's a highly charged emotional day. It's the kids and the parents,'' says Roselyn Hiebert, spokeswoman for the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. ``It's a wonderful day, even if the speech is boring.''
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Pennsylvania State University and Princeton University landed the biggest name of all - Clinton.He plans to talk about economic policy, morals, values and securing America's leadership role in the world, spokesman Mike McCurry says.
Some universities, though, were looking for a lighter touch.
Fred McFeely ``Mister'' Rogers will be in the Raleigh, N.C., neighborhood this month to speak at North Carolina State University.
Kermit the Frog, one of the late Jim Henson's Muppet personalities, has appeared at Harvard and Oxford universities before, but his speech (through puppeteer Steve Whitmire) at Long Island University's Southampton College will be his first commencement address. He is to receive an honorary Doctorate of Amphibious Letters from the college, which has a strong program on marine and environmental science.
``We think it's a match,'' says college spokeswoman Jane Finalborgo. ``His song - `It's Not Easy Bein' Green' - has become a rallying cry for the environmental movement.''Sports and news personalities and authors are appearing nationwide.
Phoenix Suns' Chief Executive Officer Jerry Colangelo is addressing graduates at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire; former Yankee catcher Yogi Berra is at Montclair State University in New Jersey; and National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern is at Columbia Law School in New York.
Time Magazine's Hugh Sidey will be at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; Steve Kroft of ``60 Minutes'' will go to Syracuse University; Charles Osgood will speak at Colby College in Maine; and Andy Rooney will talk to graduates at Colgate University in New York.
Author David Halberstam is going to Dartmouth College and Colorado State University; William F. Buckley will be at St. John's College in Annapolis; columnist Ellen Goodman at Central Connecticut State University; and Tom Clancy at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.
Washingtonians, however, dominate commencement programs.
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton accepted invitations from the University of Arkansas and the University of Maryland.
``We were lucky,'' says Reid Crawford, vice president at the University of Maryland. ``It was a case of being at the right place at the right time.''
Former President George Bush is speaking at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and at Williams College in Massachusetts. And Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole is speaking at Gallaudet University in Washington. Speech writers are busy writing commencement addresses for the Cabinet too.
Defense Secretary William Perry, not surprisingly, is going to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman will go to Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences.
Education Secretary Richard Riley is booked at Midlands Technical College in South Carolina, Southeast Missouri State University and Governors State University in Illinois. And Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala is going to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and Skidmore College in New York. Reno accepted commencement engagements at the University of South Carolina; the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law; Ohio State University Law School; University of California-Davis; Hilbert College in New York; and Rutgers University at Camden, N.J. Business executives from Eli Lilly & Co., Phillips Petroleum, AT&T Corp., The Walt Disney Co., Bloomberg Financial Services, Xerox and CBS all were invited to share advice with graduates.
Representatives from Toshiba Inc., Mack Trucks, Estee Lauder Companies Inc. and former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, now vice chairman of CS First Boston Corp., all are speaking at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., a more serious lineup after Cosby last year.
This year, the comedian-actor-philanthropist is going to the University of Connecticut, Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, Temple University in Philadelphia and Boston College, where he plans to break with tradition.
``When they asked him for his hat size, he responded by saying he wanted to wear the school's baseball hat with a tassel on it,'' said David Brokaw, a spokesman for Cosby. ``He's doing it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 97 linesby CNB