SIMON TALKS TO UNIVERSITY GRADS

Southeast Missouri State University graduates shouldn't let their diplomas be "intellectual death sentences," former senator Paul Simon of Illinois said Saturday.

Simon spoke at the university's spring commencement Saturday afternoon at the Show Me Center. Degrees were conferred on 900 undergraduates and nearly 100 graduate students.

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 8,000 people, including the graduating class, filled the Show Me Center.

Simon urged the graduating students to grow intellectually all their lives. Their degrees shouldn't be viewed as an end to learning, he said.

It was a particularly special day for Lori Bowers of Kansas City. She graduated and accepted a marriage proposal all in one afternoon.

Michael Aulbert, a December 1997 graduate of Southeast, proposed to the 23-year-old Bowers at a pre-commencement luncheon in the Show Me Center meeting room.

Aulbert, a 23-year-old Chesterfield police officer, said he got down on his knees to propose to her.

Aulbert wanted to propose at commencement, but university officials told him they didn't want to set a precedent and they weren't sure if she would accept the marriage proposal.

Bowers didn't know in advance that her boyfriend would propose Saturday. "I was hoping," she said.

Simon, who teaches classes in journalism and political science at Southern Illinois University, called on the graduates to reach out across racial, sexual, cultural and national barriers.

Their college education, he said, should be used as a tool to help humanity.

"What gives you satisfaction in life is not what you receive, but what you give to others," he said.

He said Americans must do more to address poverty in their nation and around the world.

In Abraham Lincoln's days, England was the great economic and military power in the world. Still, it had the worst slums.

Today, the United States is the mightiest nation. But of all the industrialized nations, it has the highest percentage of children living in poverty, Simon said.

"You're the people who have to change that," he said.

Simon told the graduates to hold onto their dreams and set high goals.

He suggested the graduates should travel abroad. "It will do far more good than a new car."

Less than 1 percent of the federal budget currently goes to help the poor in other nations.

"Our inattention to international affairs is illustrated by what is happening in Kosovo and Serbia today," Simon said.

The current conflict in Kosovo has left the U.S. with three choices: Abandon the Kosovo people, send in ground troops or accept a political compromise.

None of the alternatives is good, but a political compromise is better than the other two choices, Simon said.

America's schools need to stress foreign language studies, he said. In other nations, foreign languages are taught in the grade schools.

He said Americans' disinterest in studying foreign languages has contributed to the nation's inattention to international affairs.

Simon said he hopes Southeast will develop a revolving loan fund to help more students study abroad.

Following his speech, the university awarded Simon an honorary "doctor of law" degree. It marked Simon's 50th honorary degree.