Sen. Dick Durbin delivers address at Knox College Commencement

The Knox College Class of 2016 graduated yesterday on the campus’ south lawn at the school’s 171st Commencement.

Approximately 300 received degrees, about a quarter of which were first generation college graduates according to Knox Communications Director Megan Scott.

Illinois’ senior U.S. Senator Dick Durbin gave the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Durbin joins an impressive list of political leaders who have received an honorary degree from Knox including fellow U.S. Senator from Illinois Paul Simon and Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and the first recipient of an honorary degree from Knox, Abraham Lincoln.

Durbin’s speech touched on the inequity of the war on drugs, the value of compromise, climate change and even the rise of Donald Trump.

The senator closed his address with a question posed by Abraham Lincoln to a pair of Union soldiers at the close of the Civil War, “do we choose the times into which we are born or do we fit the times we were born into?”

“You are fitted to these times with the education you receive, the values you bring to your life and your own moral compass,” Durbin told graduates. “You can make this world better.”

Honorary degrees were also given to Native American historian Brenda Child and founder of non-profit Living Lands and Waters, Chad Pregracke.

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