Major tribute readied for P'ton prof Toni Morrison

Colleges & Universities A-Z Princeton University
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<p>bill clinton, morgan freeman, tavis smiley, bill t. jones, and a host of prominent fellow princeton profs to be among the speakers and performers at "toni morrison: her triumphs, her contributions, our future," may 26th at jazz at lincoln center, new york city.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-1/11472484448340.xml&coll=5%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-1/11472484448340.xml&coll=5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>clinton, as mentioned in an earlier thread, is speaking at princeton's class day on june 5th. his selection came as a bit of a surprise to some, considering that the class day selection panel of three included bill frist's son and george w. bush's niece.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/04/18/news/15263.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/04/18/news/15263.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Clinton also spoke at the graduation ceremony at Cornell a couple of years ago - Toni Morrison's alma mater.</p>

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<p>class day. princeton doesn't do graduation speakers.</p>

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<p>scottie: what is the difference between class day and graduation ceremony?</p>

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<p>"The Class Day ceremony is planned and presented by seniors. Although it varies from year to year, the event traditionally gives seniors an opportunity to acknowledge publicly achievements and contributions of members of the class and University community. The program includes the awarding of various prizes to classmates, dedication of the yearbook, presentation of the class gift to the University and of the “class history,” and remarks by President Shirley M. Tilghman. Class Day ends with the singing of Old Nassau." </p>

<p><a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Evp/commencement/class_day.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princeton.edu/%7Evp/commencement/class_day.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>there's also something called baccalaureate, an interfaith program held in the chapel and featuring its own speaker. this year it's humorist david sedaris.</p>

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<p>Princeton has special language for a lot of things; I'm not sure what it calls its transfer admits, but its drinking clubs are called "eating clubs"!</p>

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<p>At Princeton, we'd call that unpleasantness. Would Harvard have a special language for it?</p>

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<p>For football players as transfer admits? At Harvard this is called building a winning tradition!</p>

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<p>Again, the same unpleasant comments. I'll repeat my question: does Harvard have any special terms for such behavior?</p>

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<p>Drinking? Its not always unpleasant behavior. Try, it ... you might like it!</p>

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<p>i notice that harvard, too, has a class day, that also features a (usually comic) speaker. this year it's family guy's seth macfarlane. certainly a step up from tim russert, last year.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513445%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513445&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>My, my, this can be petty. But, no thanks-- I saw enough drinking while at Harvard. It was one of the reasons I turned it down.</p>

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<p>the new york times book review today named toni morrison's "beloved" the best american work of fiction of the last 25 years.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/books/fiction-25-years.html?_r=1&oref=slogin%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/books/fiction-25-years.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>there's a hilarious video online of Ali G's Harvard class day speech. (i think there's a thread somewhere that has the link)</p>

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<p>from today's washington post, "big names on campus":</p>

<p>Three Princeton University seniors are feeling pretty good about themselves these days. As Class Day chairmen, Harrison Frist, Lauren Bush and Shaun Callaghan had the job of arranging for a top-drawer speaker for the event, part of the school's commencement next month. Frist is the son of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Bush is the niece of President Bush, and they were successful in landing their first choice.</p>

<p>Bill Clinton.</p>

<p>"Very cool! It's awesome," Princeton Class of 2006 President Christopher Lloyd said of the reaction on campus to landing the former president for the first of four addresses he will give this graduation season.</p>

<hr>

<p>In recent years some top colleges have prided themselves on getting headliner comedians. Harvard commencements have featured Will Ferrell, Al Franken and Conan O'Brien, and Princeton got Chevy Chase, Jon Stewart and Jerry Seinfeld.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/12/AR2006051202054.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/12/AR2006051202054.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>review of the tribute:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1148717175105330.xml&coll=5%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1148717175105330.xml&coll=5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>