This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Logan • Pursue your passion. And reconsider Twitter.
That was the message from former Utah governor and 2012 presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. to Utah State University graduates on Saturday as he asked them to reflect on the effects of social media and cable television on today's politics.
Each wave of graduates in U.S. history, Huntsman said, has faced "circumstances that make it seem like the wheels are coming off a bus," — including, he added, those who matriculated during the Vietnam War and civil-rights movement, when he came of age.
"But can you imagine if all that generational drama had been magnified through Twitter, Facebook, Drudge Report and screaming cable networks, if the outcome would've been different?" Huntsman said at the university's commencement ceremony honoring 5,100 graduates.
In spite of the turmoil of the times, he said he still is optimistic about the future of the country.
"The reality is, we have wars, we have recessions, and social revolutions. And sometimes even our own political parties implode," Huntsman said, alluding to rifts in his own Republican Party regarding its presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, whom Huntsman publicly supports.
"But in each case," Huntsman said, "we recover, we learn our lessons, and we become even more resilient."
The former U.S. ambassador to China also shared personal advice, urging graduates to craft a creed and adhere to it; spring back from failure; and find love.
"Quit comparing yourself to others. Jealousy can rob you of self-respect," he told the audience of about 6,000 graduates, faculty, family members and others gathered at USU's Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on the Logan campus.
Saturday's graduation was the final one for retiring university President Stan Albrecht. As trustees wrapped up the event, they strayed from their script to honor the outgoing leader. The audience joined in, delivering a 30-second round of applause.
"I want you all to know that I deeply love this university," Albrecht said.
Valedictorian Alyssa Michelle Quinn echoed Huntsman's sentiment, urging classmates to chart out their own paths — even if the route includes "turns, hills, alleyways, sometimes cliffs, lots of speed bumps and potholes."
Huntsman joked that his father, the industrialist-philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr., was "upset with my career choices" in politics— keeping up a tradition began by Sr.'s father, an educator who attended USU, who disapproved of his son's business ventures.
Huntsman Sr. was not able to attend Saturday's event, held only a few hundred paces from the new $50 million Jon M. Huntsman Hall business building that bears his name.
Tamara Gasparyan Bullock, an international business graduate from Armenia, said the day was special because her father, a Mormon stake president in Armenia, once received a visit from Huntsman Sr.
After the ceremony, she asked an administrator to take a photo of her and Huntsman Jr. together.
His advice to "find meaning," Bullock said, "was really encouraging."
"Change the world," Huntsman Jr. told Bullock and others as they filed out of the stadium.
University administrators awarded honorary doctorates Saturday to Huntsman Jr; attorney and lobbyist Douglas Foxley, a former chairman of the Board of Regents; Joseph Andrew Hays, a former vice president with the Tribune Company; Ligia Amada Melo de Cardona, an education minister for the Dominican Republic and Jed Pitcher, the retired president and COO of the Regence Group, who also is a former Regents chairman.
Twitter: @anniebknox