Lagos, the third president of Chile since the nation returned to democracy 14 years ago, will give the 2005 commencement address at Duke.
When the graduating Class of 2005 sits in Wallace Wade Stadium in May, their commencement speaker will be a man who helped to oust a brutal dictator, was jailed for his political beliefs and became the president of Chile. It might encourage some of the audience to know that Ricardo Lagos started it all with a Duke degree.
Lagos, the third president of Chile since the nation returned to democracy 14 years ago, will give the 2005 commencement address at Duke, where he earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1966. He rose to prominence for his opposition to Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990.
“I’m delighted that it is someone who has a connection to this University rather than someone who goes and gives 100 commencement speeches a year,” President Richard Brodhead said. “[He was] one of the important dissidents of the Pinochet regime and [is] a major international figure in human rights and the democratically elected president of a major country.... I think he’s an excellent choice.”
Lagos’ selection bespeaks Duke’s growing global focus, a theme that has been evident since Brodhead’s inaugural speech, which emphasized Duke as a global institution.
“[Lagos] really reflects the depth of Duke students,” said senior Elizabeth Dixon, a member of the selection committee. “Duke is a place that focuses on international issues, and he reflects that in a very distinguished way.”
James Cox, professor of law and also a member of the selection committee, shared Dixon’s sentiments but but noted that internationalism in commencement speakers was nothing new. Last year, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright gave the commencement speech and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was scheduled to speak before being sidelined by a bout of laryngitis.
“This is a University with a great concern toward making Duke a contributor to solving problems in current affairs,” Cox said. “But Madeline Albright wasn’t just some girl from the country.... She was the Secretary of State in the most powerful country in the world.”
Brodhead stressed Lagos’ strength as an individual as the major criterion for his selection. “He wasn’t chosen to emphasize a theme. He was chosen because he was a good choice,” he said.
Brodhead chose Lagos from a star-studded list of speakers—all of whom, save Lagos, were Americans without strong ties to Duke. The list included Jon Stewart, the popular host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show; Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia; Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code and New York Times columnist William Safire.
The committee has been meeting weekly since the spring, soliciting suggestions and winnowing down the lists of names until it gave its submission to Brodhead. The president then made the final selection.
Lagos came to Duke after graduating from the University of Chile with a degree in law. After leaving Duke, he was offered a position in the government of then-President Salvador Allende. Allende was killed in 1973 during the coup that brought Pinochet to power. Lagos, exiled to the United States, taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and worked for the United Nations.
After Lagos’ return to Chile in the 1980s, he became an opposition leader to Pinochet and was jailed in connection to a failed attempt to assassinate the general in 1986.
Since his election to the presidency, Lagos has worked to repair the damage caused to Chile in the Pinochet years, both in terms of human rights violations and economic hardship. Most recently, he passed more than 50 measures into law to prevent and punish government corruption.
Senior Avery Capone, a member of the selection committee, said the connection of a Duke degree to Lagos’ accomplishments will inspire the graduating class.
“For the graduates in the seats... this is someone who was sitting there, and who has done amazing things,” he said. “This is going to be a very unusual and very exceptional speech.”
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