Princeton University Graduation 2018: Booker, Bhatia Speak

PRINCETON, NJ — With Graduation Day on the horizon, Princeton University students were told, “Silence is not an option.” Eduardo Bhatia, minority leader and former president of the Senate of Puerto Rico, delivered that message to members of Princeton University’s Class of 2018 at the University’s Baccalaureate service on Sunday, June 3.

“So, Class of 2018, denounce what needs to be denounced; fix what is broken; right what is wrong and do not allow anyone, regardless of their agenda, to use false data and pretenses to confuse citizens and weaken democracy,” said, who graduated from the university in 1986. “Be the vital voices to restore democratic principles. Don’t look elsewhere. It is you: the great Class of 2018! ¡Hablen, seniors, hablen! Speak up, seniors, speak up!”

Bhatia told the students he realized many years ago that public service was his vehicle to right the wrongs in both America and Puerto Rico. He said his parents were among the thousands in attendance when Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech on the Washington Mall in 1963.

“A simple, yet compelling principle: what matters is the content of our character; not the color of our skin,” Bhatia said to describe the speech. “It frightens me that more than 50 years later, the opposite notion seems to be resurging in today’s United States.”

He spoke about the current political climate, in which “distrust seems to be brewing right here in the United States.”

“It is a very simple concept: you cannot have a democratic form of government if citizens distrust each other and if dishonesty is a form of life,” he said. “Believe me, what is happening is not good. Political discourse is losing contact with reality. When we let public speech be dominated by discrimination, factionalism, fanaticism, authoritarianism, demonizing the other, cult of personality, religious intolerance … the consequences are nefarious. As my father learned firsthand in India; as so many of our ancestors painfully learned, whether in Weimar’s Germany, Mao’s China or even in Chile.

“I don’t know about you, but I am starting to hear too much of the same poisonous rhetoric that lead in the past to heinous consequences. This public discourse based on so much information that is simply not true, makes me question whether government of the people, by the people and for the people may actually perish if we don’t do something about it.”

He said it is time to “wake up and confront the culture of lies. There is no time to waste. The voices of reason; of honor, integrity and honesty need to be heard.”

“Verify the sources of information, ask the hard questions, and educate others to do so,” he said. “You have had the best education in the world, and your generation has more access to technology and social media than any other before you. That comes with a responsibility to spread the truth.”

He also made it a point to note that it is important to act quickly.

“As Woodrow Wilson once said, ‘Life does not consist in thinking; it consists in acting,’” he said. To read his full speech, visit princeton.edu.

On Monday, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) delivered the keynote address during the Class Day ceremony.

"It's so important to let gratitude be your gravity," Booker said. A video of the full speech can be found below.

Princeton University Commencement 2018 is set for 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 5. Nassau Street will have heavy traffic volume (vehicles and pedestrians) from 9 a.m. until about 2 p.m., the Princeton Police Department advised.

Drivers should seek alternate routes of travel, including Route 1, or Hamilton Avenue/Wiggins Street. Any suspicious activity should be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency:

Princeton Police: 609-921-2100 dial “0"; Emergencies dial 9-1-1

Princeton University Department of Public Safety: 609-258-1000; Emergencies (cell phone) 609-258-3333.

Patch file photo