Graduating seniors should become "the new American revolutionaries" aiming for the stars even if they find themselves sometimes lying in the gutter, said musician and social activist Bob Geldof, who gave the Senior Day address Thursday to Vanderbilt graduates.
"Be unreasonable," said Geldof, who urged graduates to be engaged with the problems of the world’s poorest citizens. "Demand stuff of the world and if they don’t do it, then change the world to suit the demands."
Geldof, who has raised millions of dollars for famine relief in Africa through Live Aid and other events and now campaigns for debt relief for Third World countries, received the Nichols-Chancellor Medal and accompanying $100,000 prize for his humanitarian efforts.
"Bob Geldof, through his energy, his force of personality and persuasion … simply changed the cultural expectations of popular music," said Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. "He showed that music can educate, it can inspire and it can promote the very best in people to become activists a world away."
Geldof, onetime lead singer for the rock band Boomtown Rats and star of the film of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, recalled how rock ‘n’ roll music inspired him as a poor youth in Ireland.
"Over crackly radio came seductive whispering of other worlds, things that could happen in your life," Geldof said. "Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and the others. They were singing about change."
Senior Day is part of three days of activity at Vanderbilt honoring graduates, their families and friends. The Commodores performed a concert on Wednesday evening, and Senior Day events continued with the GlobalVU Luncheon, a bazaar with arts and crafts and educational seminars on topics including the upcoming presidential election, public school issues, Parkinson’s disease, AIDS in Africa and the penal system in the United States.
The Commencement ceremony is set for 9 a.m. Friday on Alumni Lawn. Zeppos will speak.
Vanderbilt is granting 3,215 degrees this year, 1,541 to undergraduates and 1,693 to graduate and professional students. Nineteen students will claim dual degrees. About 2,578 graduates are expected to attend the ceremony.
Audio and video of the addresses by Geldof and Zeppos are or will be posted at on this website.
The Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal was created and endowed by Vanderbilt Law School graduate Ed Nichols and his wife, Janice, in honor of Edward Carmack and Lucile Hamby Nichols. It is presented by Vanderbilt each Senior Day.
Further information about Commencement activities is available at www.vanderbilt.edu/commencement.
Media Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu