CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- "Opportunities in the Information Age" will be the theme of President William J. Clinton's address to more than 2,400 graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 10,000 of their families.
White House Communications Director Ann Lewis said, "In planning the President's commencement schedule, we tried to match the topic of the speech to the right setting. MIT has been at the very forefront of the two most important transformations in American society, the industrial age and the information age. So MIT was the right place to talk about opportunities in the information age."
The procession of trustees, faculty and alumni/ae is scheduled to enter Killian Court at 10am, followed by the graduating students. Dr. Ho is scheduled to speak at about 10:50. President Charles Vest will introduce President Clinton at about 11:15, and President Clinton is scheduled to begin speaking at about 11:18.
News outlets who have notified MIT they are planning to carry the President's speech live include Ch. 5 (WCVB), New England Cable News, C-SPAN, and Media One's Cambridge Cable System (Channel 3). The Campus radio station, WMBR 88.1 FM, will be broadcasting the Commencement Exercises live from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.
The ceremony can also be seen over the web from 10:30am-2pm. Information on how to download free software ahead of time is available at: http://web.mit.edu/commencement/1998/video.html.
An audio feed made available for video and Internet broadcasts of Commencement will feature live commentary by Professor Samuel Jay Keyser, the official professor of humor at MIT, and by Warren Seamans, the founding Director of the MIT Museum.
MEMORIAL DRIVE, MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE CLOSED AT MIT
Memorial Drive (both directions) will be closed from 1 am to 3 pm Friday between Massachusetts Avenue and Ames Street, with the outbound closing extending from Wadsworth to Ames Street from 1 am to 3 pm, MDC Lower Basin station reports.
Massachusetts Avenue will be closed from 8:50 am until 10:30 am from the Charles River Bridge to Albany Street. Vassar Street also will be subject to closing during the hours of the ceremony.
