Bill Clinton to Give Commencement Address

Ceremony on Saturday, June 2, 2007

December 19, 2006

GALESBURG -- Knox College will again have one of the hottest tickets in town for its Commencement ceremony in 2007. Knox College President Roger Taylor announced today that former United States President Bill Clinton will deliver the Commencement address at Knox on Saturday, June 2.

"President Clinton's priorities and achievements are consistent with Knox College's commitments to diversity, community service, and access to a life-changing liberal arts education," Taylor said.

2007 will mark the third year in a row that one of the most in-demand commencement speakers has accepted Knox's invitation to deliver the address to graduating seniors. Stephen Colbert, star of The Colbert Report, spoke in 2006; and Barack Obama, United States Senator from Illinois, spoke in 2005.

Since leaving office in 2001, President Clinton has established the William J. Clinton Foundation, which works to address critical issues at home and abroad. The Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative has dramatically reduced the cost of antiretroviral drugs for over 500,000 people and works in 25 countries to provide medical services and treatment to adults and children living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, the Foundation's initiatives focus on international development, climate change, the childhood obesity epidemic in America and economic empowerment. The Clinton Global Initiative, an annual conference held in New York, encourages participants to take a specific action on a number of pressing global challenges.

President Clinton is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, then earned his law degree at Yale University. He served as Attorney General of Arkansas from 1976 to 1978 and as Governor of Arkansas in 1979-81 and 1983-92. He was elected President of the United States in 1992 and reelected in 1996.

Last year, Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush, who have raised more than $100-million for Gulf Coast disaster relief, gave the commencement address and received honorary doctorates at Tulane University in New Orleans. During holiday break this month, 46 Knox students are in New Orleans assisting with the rebuilding from Katrina.

As is tradition, Knox College also will award President Clinton an honorary degree. The only other U.S. President to have been awarded an honorary degree from Knox College is Abraham Lincoln, who was honored in 1860 prior to taking office.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,351 students from 45 states and 44 nations. Two-thirds of Knox's entering class this year receive need-based financial aid and one-quarter are the first generation in their families to attend college. Sixty-seven percent graduated in the top quarter of their high school class, and 32 percent graduated in the top tenth. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

NOTE: As is tradition, Knox will try to hold Commencement outdoors, weather permitting. Knox does not yet know how President Clinton's appearance will affect plans for the ceremony, so please keep an eye on the Knox Web site. We will post a press release from the College when there is definite information.