"If you uoluntarily quit in tke face of aduersity,you'll wonder about it for the rest of your W."

Former President Bill CIinton, speaking Friday at DePauw University in Greencastle

Former President Bill Clinton lauded DePauw's student body Friday for its commitment to volunteerwork before giving his keynote speech at the 25th anniversary of the Ubben lecture Series.

ROBERT SCHEER / THE STAR

Thousands brave coldto,hearBitl ClintonBy Shari HeldStar corresoondent

It's not every day a formerpresident comes to town, espe-cially to a Midwestern townwith a population hoveringaround 10,000.

But about 5,000 residents ofGreencastle and the surround-ing area converged on DePauwUniversity on Friday to see for-mer President Bill Clinton givethe keynote speech at the 25thanniversary of the Ubben Lec-ture Series.

Well before noon, hundreds

IndyStar.comGo online to see video ofClinton in Indiana.

of DePauw students were linedup in front of Lilly Center -some sitting on lawn chairs,others standing in a line thatsnaked to the sidewalk and be-yond. Dressed in hoodies, knit-ted caps and scarves, theybraved wind so strong it couldwhip the moisture right offtheir eyeballs. A similar linefor the public formed nearby.

The weather wasn't the only

bond they shared. They wereall there to hear Clinton deliverhis speech "Embracing OurCommon Humanity."

The Wielands, from NewCastle, were no exception.Lucy Wieland said it was excit-ing to be able to see a formerpresident. Her husband, Bill,noted that this crowd had "highexpectations" and seemed"very excited. "

Stephen Kaminski, a juniorat DePauw, wanted to see the

> See CLINTON, Page 84

A capacity crowd filled Neal Fieldhouse in the Lilly Center at DePauw University for former PresidentBill clinton's speech Friday. students and residents lined up in the cold to snag a seat.

ROBERT SCHEER / THE STAR

Clinton greets his former adviser Vernon Jordan, whograduated from DePauw University.

ClintonContinued from B1

most high-profile speakerthat DePauw has ever had.

"No matter what side ofthe political spectrum youare on, President Clintondoes a lot of good with hisfoundation," Kaminski said."He's a great speaker whoaddresses important issues."

DePauw alum VernonJordan, who served as aclose adviser to Clinton, in-troduced him to a crowdthat packed Neal Field-house in the Lilly Center.Jordan joked that when hewent to DePauw, there weremore than 600 Republicansand only seven Democrats

- "q1 g good day."You couldn't have told

that from the crowd's en-thusiastic response to Clin-ton, the nation's 42nd presi-dent. He began bycommending the studentbody on its commitment tovolunteer work, thenlaunched into his speech.

The overall theme waspositive. "Despite all thecrises, the 2Lst-centuryworld is full of enormouspromise," Clinton said.

His delivery was humor-ous, even when talkingabout difficult issues - aworld that is too unequal,too unstable and too unsus-tainable, Clinton said.

"Denial about thesethree things is not an op-tion," he said. Instead, hechallenged students towork to change the systemsand move America backinto the future.

Throughout his speech,there was applause, andboth townspeople and stu-dents were nodding theirheads in approval.

Clinton earnered the bie-

gest round of applausewhen declaring we all haveto work together and wehave to listen to everyone'spoint of view. It appearedto be a message everyonewanted to hear and agreedupon.

Clinton also talked aboutmaking a difference -add-ing that you didn't have tobe elected to public officeto do so. That one hit anerve with students, as didhis point on never giving upon something youVestarted. "If you voluntarilyquit in the face of adver-sity, you'll wonder about itfor the rest of your life," hesaid to loud applause.

Clinton, 65, struck achord with his youngerlisteners when he said he'dlove to be 21 again with an-other 60 years or so aheadof him.

"It's an exciting time tobe alive," he said. "Thetrick is to build the positiveand reduce the negative."

Samantha Weichert. ajunior at Butler University,made the trip to Green-castle along with severalfellow students especiallyto see the former president.

"Ever since I developedan independent politicalmind-set of my own, I'vebeen a big fan of the Clin-tons," she said. "He has thesame political ideology as Ido on international relationsand environmental issues."

After hearing Clinton,Weichert says she felt edu-cated and inspired. "I hadn'tanticipated that he wouldhave such a high level of op-timism," she said.

"I had heard how charis-matic he was, but I wasn'tprepared for how humor-ous he was," said juniorBridgette Shamleffer.