I attended commencement today, which held a number of surprises.

First, Chris Matthews, our commencement speaker, gave one of the best commencement addresses I have heard. He was inspirational and had clearly done some research to prepare his remarks. I had not seen his program on TV, but had seen the impersonation of him by Darrell Hammond on Saturday Night Live. The real thing lived up to the imitation.

Another surprise was the reception given to Quincy Jones on receiving his honorary PhD. There was a very well deserved standing ovation given to him by students and faculty. In light of all the publicity about Phyllis Schlafly, I was glad to see that people appreciated Jones's outstanding work.

And the other surprise was the decorum observed when Phyllis Schlafly received her honorary PhD. From the stage, all I could see were backs turned, because those who
objected to this event stood up and turned their backs on the presentation. But there was no booing or hissing, and people really did rise to the occasion.

It is hopeful that the Schlafly affair will cause the university to reaffirm its stance on advocating and realizing gender equality in the institution. Our Chancellor made such a remark, and there have been many conversations about the issue -- conversations that might have taken place sans Schlafly but took place definitely because of her honorary PhD.