Hillary Clinton welcomed 'home' to Wellesley College

One handmade sign said it all: "Welcome Home, Madam President."

When Hillary Clinton returned to Wellesley College this morning, the atmosphere was more like that of a homecoming than anything else. Hundreds of students, many of whom had skipped class and gotten up early to wait in line for hours, packed Alumnae Hall to welcome Clinton back to her alma mater for the first time as a presidential candidate.

Introducing Clinton was sophomore Maya Dolgin, president of Wellesley Students for Hillary. "Although the college cannot endorse you as a political candidate, Hillary," she said, "I want you to know how proud we the students are, how inspired we are, how awed we are at all that you have accomplished."

Clinton's affection for the college was apparent, as she told stories of her time on campus - when boys were allowed in their rooms, but only on Sunday afternoons, and when students still had weekend curfews - and of how her time at Wellesley changed her.

"In so many ways, this all women's college prepared me to compete in the all boys' club of presidential politics," said Clinton, who was Wellesley's first-ever student commencement speaker at her graduation in 1969.

In a speech that lasted just over half an hour, she spoke extensively about women's rights and equality, and about how much has changed, even just in her lifetime. During a visit to Harvard Law School during her senior year, she told the crowd, a male friend of hers who was a student there introduced her to a professor, telling him that she was trying to decide between Harvard and "our nearest competitor." The professor, Clinton said, looked down disdainfully, and after clarifying that Harvard did not have a nearest competitor, added, "and we don't need any more women here either."

"Needless to say," Clinton said, to much applause, "I chose Yale."

Though her speech touched on a wide range of policy issues - from the genocide in Darfur global warming, and education, to international relations, the AIDS epidemic and healthcare - the war in Iraq was front and center. Clinton spoke strongly against the war, promising that, "if George Bush does not end the war in Iraq while he is still president, when I am president, I will." She called the war "a conflict with no military

solution," and pledged to end the days of "cowboy diplomacy," and work to repair U.S. relations abroad.

"Now I realize this is ambitious agenda," she said. "Would you expect anything less from a Wellesley woman?"

Clinton's appearance at Wellesley was intended, in large part, to serve as the launch of "Hillblazers," her campaign's national effort to engage student activists. One hundred and twenty student groups across the country, including Wellesley Students for Hillary, launched officially today, as part of the effort.

She urged students in the packed hall to get involved in the campaign, "get the vote out, and get your friends registered so they can vote." In the last election, she said, "while the voter turnout rate for 18-34 year olds was higher than in 2000, more than 25 million still never cast their votes, enough to possibly change the course of history. For so long, young people have been ignored and silenced by others. Today, too many young people silence themselves. It's up to all of you to change that."

- Wellesley (Mass.) Townsman