Clinton speaks to students

The Year of the Humanities and Arts, a series of programs and projects that promoted and encouraged the exploration of the humanities and arts, came to a close last Tuesday with a public address by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Held in a packed Hill Auditorium, the event opened with an introduction by University President Lee Bollinger and followed with the First Lady's public address, which included everything from the story of her first date with President Bill Clinton to a call for the inclusion of arts education in all schools.

"We created arts so that we could advance as human beings, so that our imagination would have outlets," Clinton said. "It is one of our earliest ways of defining ourselves and humans."

YoHA director Julie Ellison said the First Lady's visit was an appropriate way to end the year-long efforts to promote arts and humanities at the University and in the Ann Arbor community.

SARA STILLMAN/Daily First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to students and community members to conclude the Year of the Humanities and the Arts at Hill Auditorium last Tuesday. Clinton addressed the importance of arts in education.

"What I hope the community left with is a lot of energy to do things together and an eagerness to work with the public to become interested in the arts and humanities," Ellison said.

The First Lady's speech focused primarily on the Arts of Citizenship, a group of programs within YoHA that emphasizes the importance and necessity of arts and humanities in "sustaining a vibrant public culture." The Arts of Citizenship's "Students on Site" program links University faculty with teachers from select Ann Arbor high schools to engage in discussions of literature, history and the arts.

"It is essential that we continue to celebrate the arts and humanities, and you are showing us, here at this university, how to do it," Clinton said. "It is through history and philosophy, literature and paintings, music, culture, poetry, arts, dance and architecture and design, all of them, that we can reclaim our popular imagination, that we can rekindle our spirit of citizenship and exercise the power of our ideas, experiences and feelings."

David Scobey, director of the Arts of Citizenship program, said he hopes the community left the speech with the knowledge "that the arts and humanities are not window dressing, but central to creating a democratic society - and conversely, that it is important for scholars, teachers, and artists to speak and listen to the larger public as well as the University community."

In addition to the arts and humanities, Clinton discussed an editorial in the Washington Post written by Bollinger and Provost Nancy Cantor titled "The Educational Importance of Race." Clinton tied together themes of arts and humanities with those discussed in the opinion piece.

"At a time when our nation is so dogged by racial insensitivities and unfounded stereotypes, what better way to come to terms with our multiethnic and multiracial way of life than to share in each others' ideas, emotions ... and attitudes," Clinton said.

Public support for the arts was repeatedly mentioned in the speech. Public arts programs have suffered from large funding decreases in recent years, Clinton said.

"I find it disheartening when members of Congress, or local school boards, or state governments decree that public support for the arts and humanities is a luxury that we cannot afford," Clinton said. "I believe that it is a necessity that we must afford."

Of the 4,500 available seats, 2,200 were allocated to University students, many of whom said they enjoyed the speech and were honored to attend.

LSA senior David Schneiderman said he thought the First Lady's speech was "fantastic."

"She really emphasized that the arts and humanities are an important part of life," Schneiderman said. "Sometimes they don't really get the attention they deserve."

- Daily Staff Reporter Mike Spahn contributed to this report.

05-05-98