Campus Life

Defense Secretary Gates Gets Homesick At Texas A&M Commencement

“It’s good to be back home in Aggieland. I can’t describe to you what a pleasure it is to be here. I may just have to defect from Washington, D.C.”
By Kelli Levey, Texas A&M Marketing & Communications August 10, 2007

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates got so caught up in the traditions and sentimentality of Friday’s commencement exercises at Texas A&M University, where he was president for four years, he joked he’s tempted to defect while here.

“It’s good to be back home in Aggieland. I can’t describe to you what a pleasure it is to be here. I may just have to defect from Washington, D.C.,” Gates said, laughing, in a speech before he and his wife Becky received honorary doctoral degrees.

Gates also told the 26 members of Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets who were commissioned Friday as officers in the nation’s military that he was proud of them. He later handed out their certificates and shook their hands. “Thank you for volunteering to serve and to protect our country, especially in a time of war,” Gates said, adding that he continually meets Aggie officers all around the world.

He told a story about a wounded Aggie he met earlier this year while visiting Walter Reed Army Medical Center. “He told me I gave him his diploma. He told me about getting wounded in a very matter-of-fact way, and he only choked up when he tried to describe how much Texas A&M meant to him,” Gates said. “He also told me that throughout his surgery, he had had them play the Aggie War Hymn in the operating room.”

Gates said he feels a special affection for the Class of 2007 because most of them arrived on the campus during his first or second year as the university’s 22nd president. He left that job late last year when President Bush asked him to lead the Department of Defense.

“I expect many of you are as reluctant to leave as I was, but the world awaits you, and I know you will change it,” he said during the second commencement ceremony of the day for the 1,905 new Texas A&M graduates.

Gates told the graduates that although they might leave Texas A&M, “I guarantee it will never leave you or your heart.”

Gates’ relationship with Texas A&M started with his first visit as a speaker in 1999, following his 27-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency. He soon returned as interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service. In 2002 he was selected as president of the university, and during his tenure he initiated plans to hire almost 450 new faculty members, launch a $500 million construction project and enhance diversity among the students, faculty members and staff.

In addition to the honorary doctoral degrees given to Robert and Becky Gates, Texas A&M also awarded them to former National Park Service Director Robert G. Stanton and Hispanic novelist R. Rolando Hinojosa-Smith. Until Friday, only 73 honorary doctorates had been awarded since the university opened in 1876.

Friday’s commencement speakers were Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams in the morning ceremony and Elsa Murano, Texas A&M’s vice chancellor and dean of agriculture and life sciences, in the afternoon.

Media contact: tamunews@tamu.edu.

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