2015 grads displeased with commencement speech

Commencement speaker Paul Farmer' address was met with a wave of criticism on social media Sunday.
Commencement speaker Paul Farmer' address was met with a wave of criticism on social media Sunday.

Some members of the Class of 2015 were worried about the threat of inclement weather and a new venue disrupting Sunday's commencement ceremony, but many ended up least pleased about the commencement address.

During the approximately 40-minute address given by Paul Farmer, Trinity '82 and co-founder of international nonprofit Partners in Health to bring health care to the poorest countries in the world, many students and members of the media in attendance criticized Farmer's speech on social media.

"I was definitely disappointed. Such a brilliant man who has done so much good for the world and he didn't actually get any points across," Ryan Bartoszek, Trinity '15, said. "He spent the speech getting cheap cheers by calling out people and majors rather than teaching us something or inspiring us in some way."

The speech featured several jokes and shout-outs, in addition to urging students to develop empathy and maintain as broad of a perspective as possible.







Although many in the audience were critical of Farmer's remarks, some focused more on the significance of Sunday's event at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park as the end of their time at Duke.

“Mostly I’m just happy to be done,” Jasmine Thompson, Trinity '15, said.

Others discussed the appreciation for the people they spent the last four years with rather than providing thoughts on the speech as their primary takeaway.

“I'm not going to shed many tears because the people I'll have for life,” Henrique Rusca, Engineering '15, said.

A full recap of Sunday's commencement ceremony, including Farmer's comments and the remarks of student speaker Andrew Kragie, can be found here.


Adam Beyer | Digital Content Director

Adam Beyer is a senior public policy major and is The Chronicle's Digital Strategy Team director.

Discussion

Share and discuss “2015 grads displeased with commencement speech” on social media.