I’m back in Greenville now, unpacking and getting ready for a new school year. My trip home was relatively uneventful. I’ll post a few catchup things from Prague before I shut down the blog. I’ve got a bunch of email to work through, so forgive me if I still owe you a response.
Graduation last Friday was held in the Great Hall of the Charles University Carolinum, which according to Encyclopedia Britannica is one of the oldest existing university buildings in the world. The graduation program began with an anthem played on a baroque organ while the Prime Minister of Croatia, Dr. Ivo Sanader, and the other speakers filed out and took their places on stage. Speeches were made by TFAS leadership, two students, the vice rector of Charles University, and the Prime Minister. Roger Ream, the president of TFAS, presented Prime Minister Sanader with the 2006 Vašek and Anna Maria Polák Award for his promotion of democracy and free markets.
In his address Prime Minister Sanader spoke optimistically of Croatia eventually joining the European Union. His comments indicated that he understands the E.U.’s weaknesses and the political obstacles his country will face as it seeks entrance. Yet, he argued that nothing is accomplished by pessimists. Croatia’s economy already meets the monetary requirements for entry to the E.U.
Sanader also spoke in favor of continued U.S. involvement in Europe, although it has become politically unpopular. He used the case of Slobodan Milošević to demonstrate that U.S. and international involvement several years earlier could have saved thousands of lives.
During the question and answer time a student asked about the Iraq war. Sanader paused, took a deep breath, and warned that his opinion would be unpopular with many of the people in the room, then said that he thinks that at the time the U.S.’s involvement in Iraq was just. Again, the case of Milošević seemed to figure largely in Sanader’s thinking.
The Great Hall of the Carolinum
Academic vestments in the cloakroom
The reception after graduation
Prime Minister Sanader
Croatian students with their prime minister