• White House has yet to confirm that President will address Class of 2001
By CHRISTINE KRALY
Senior Staff Writer
The University is awaiting an official White House announcement that President George W. Bush will deliver the keynote address at this year's May 20 Commencement, said Dennis Brown, associate director of Notre Dame Public Relations and Information.
Several unconfirmed reports suggest that the president has accepted the invitation to speak.
Though Brown said a speaker has been scheduled, the University has made no announcement and official confirmation of Bush's spring commencement speech schedule is expected to come directly from the White House.
"All that we can say is that we've made an invitation and that we'll follow in the White House's lead from here," said Brown. "Typically they do all of their commencement announcements at the same time. Past practice has been a gang announcement."
The White House will deliver a list of five or six of the president's scheduled speeches, although there is no telling how the new administration with handle the announcement.
According to Chris Mehl, press secretary for Indiana Third District Congressman Tim Roemer's office, there is no confirmation yet that Bush will speak. On Dec. 22 Roemer traveled to Austin to meet with Bush, armed with a letter urging him to accept the invitation to speak at Notre Dame.
Five Notre Dame alumni congressmen, including Roemer, sent a letter to Bush Feb. 21 encouraging the president to make a trip to South Bend.
"We urge you to give this invitation your favorable consideration," the congressmen said in their letter to the president.
Roemer also paid a visit to the White House this past Thursday and reportedly pulled Bush aside to lobby again for the commencement speech.
Bush would be the fifth president to accept an invitation to speak at Commencement; his father, George Bush Sr., was the most recent in 1992.
Bush would also receive an honorary degree from the University, as did Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bush Senior, who have all spoken at Notre Dame. Franklin Roosevelt and Gerald Ford received honorary degrees at times other than Commencement.
All News Stories for Wednesday, March 21, 2001
