Obama speaks at Rutgers: 'Ignorance is not a virtue'

Obama made history speaking at Rutgers' 250th anniversary commencement before more than 50,000 people. Watch video

PISCATAWAY -- President Barack Obama used his speech at Rutgers University's commencement Sunday to praise the 250-year-old school, while slamming the "anti-intellectualism" in American politics.

"If you were listening to today's political debate, you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from . . . In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue," Obama said.

Without directly referencing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Obama dismissed the candidate's calls to build a wall across the Mexican border and ban Muslims from entering the country.

In a thinly-veiled rebuke of Trump, Obama said isolationist policies run counter to the nation's history as a melting pot.

"That's how we became America. Why would we want to stop it now?" Obama said.     

Obama also blasted climate-change deniers and those who want to close American borders to trade. He urged the graduates to vote and get more involved in civic life. Cynicism is useless because cynics do not get much done, he said.

"They spend their lives waiting for a moment that just don't come," Obama said, referring to a line from Bruce Springsteen's 1978 classic "Badlands."

Obama is the first sitting president to speak at Rutgers, the nation's eighth oldest university. His appearance was a coup for Rutgers, which worked for years with New Jersey lawmakers to try to secure the president to speak in honor of the school's 250^th anniversary.

"Today, he chose you," Greg Brown, head of the Rutgers Board of Governors, told the cheering graduates. "He chose Rutgers."

The biggest applause lines from Obama

Many universities try to invite the president to their commencement ceremonies. But, Rutgers was persistent, Obama said.

"I came here because you asked," Obama said. "You are the first to launch a three-year campaign . . . I even got three notes from the grandmother of your student body president. And I have to say, that really sealed the deal."

Obama also praised the mix of races and cultures at Rutgers, which has one of the most racially diverse student bodies in the nation.

"America converges here," Obama said. 

The president spoke before more than 50,000 people in High Point Solutions Stadium on Rutgers' Busch Campus in Piscataway. Dressed in scarlet red Rutgers robes, Obama grinned as he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree.

He delighted the graduates by referencing the fat sandwiches sold at Rutgers' grease trucks, the crowded campus buses and the debate over whether to call New Jersey's favorite breakfast sandwiches Taylor Ham or pork roll.

But, Obama's presence also complicated the commencement ceremony. Unlike previous years, Rutgers students were limited to one ticket for themselves and three guest tickets. Nearly 130 members of media covered the ceremony.

Extensive security meant many of the 10,500 graduates seated on the field and 40,000 guests in the stands began lining up five hours or more before the ceremony to get through metal detectors and gates manned by Secret Service guards armed with automatic weapons.

How Rutgers landed a presidential speech

Others guests and graduates missed the start of the ceremony because they were delayed in extensive traffic jams or overcrowded shuttle buses trying to get to the stadium. Some graduates got out of their cars on Route 18 and walked to the campus in their caps and gowns to make it the ceremony on time.

For many, the inconvenience was worth it to be part of a historic occasion.

"It's amazing that, of all people, the president of the United States is speaking on this monumental day," said Salah Shaikh, a graduate from Hillsborough. "It's huge for the university and it really changes our reputation." 

Graduates from Rutgers' New Bruswick campus spent hours sitting on the field under cloudy skies and in blustery winds awaiting the president. Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden graduates, who have ceremonies on their campuses later in the week, were given tickets to sit in the stands.

The ceremony ended just before heavy rain fell on the stadium.

"I'm just excited to be here," said Michael Ganoot, 30, a Rutgers Law School graduate who campus officials said is the only graduate this year from Obama's native Hawaii. "I'm just thrilled to see him speak."

Thomas Frusciano, Rutgers' university archivist, said the commencement was both the largest ceremony in the school's history and a historic acknowledgment of Rutgers' role in the nation's history.

"It's a recognition of the 250 years that Rutgers has been in existence," Frusciano said. "It's an acknowledgment by the chief executive."

Frusciano spent the ceremony collecting programs, newspapers and other mementos to document the event for the Rutgers library archives.

"These become important historical documents," Frusciano said.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Adam Clark contributed to this report.