President Obama stepped to the prodium on a covered stage set in the middle of Columbia University, ready to give the commencement speech to graduates of Barnard College, the all-female liberal arts school affliliated with Columbia, to a jubilant cheer and standing ovation.
After a lengthy list of presidential accomplishments listed by Barnard President Deoborah Spar, including a special focus on women, he accepted the college’s Medal of Distinction.
“I will begin by telling a hard truth,” he began. “I’m a Columbia graduate,” making a playful references at the rivalary between the two schools. And then he got serious, reflecting on his own time of graduation.
“It was a time of passionate political debates,” he said of his graduation year of 1983. “You can relate you this … As young women, you’ll grapple with some unique challenges,” listing equal pay and fairness in the workplace more generally.
“The question is not whether thing will get better — they always do,” he said. “The question is whether together we can muster the will.”
