It's a Friday night and you just hooked up with someone in your room. She runs back to her friends after the sex-capade to dish the dirty about you and brag about what you two just did. Sound scandalous? Of course not. It happens on campuses across the country every night.
Now change the scenario a little: you are a married president of the United States of America and an over-zealous intern is the girl you're fooling around with. Now change the friends to a "friend" who just happens to be taping your entire conversation to play for the media at a later date. Sound familiar now?
Unless you were living under a rock in the Himalayas, you should recognize the story of former President William Jefferson Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky. According to some students, the scandal will follow Clinton in all of his future endeavors, including his upcoming speech at Tufts. But despite memories of cigars and blue GAP dresses, these students are, for the most part, eagerly anticipating hearing from someone whom they consider to have been an exceptional president. The scandal remains, but it seems to have become irrelevant.
"I feel as though there are so many other presidents that have done awful things and haven't had their lives ruined by them," junior Aditi Gupta said. "Why should [Clinton] have?"
Junior Austin Tracy is excited to hear the Clinton lecture, and views him as a celebrity as much for his intellect as for his eventful presidency.
"Though I might not be fond of his politics or behavior, [Clinton] has legitimate claims on being able to discuss globalization and will be able to foster a nice discussion," she said.
The University announced last Thursday that the former President would be speaking at Tufts as a part of the Issam M. Fares lecture series. The lecture, which will focus on globalization in the coming century, has traditionally focused on issues related to the Middle East. The lecture series was established by Issam M. Fares, a former Tufts trustee and deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon.
As the news spread across campus, many students wondered how to react to the news of Clinton's planned trip. The reverberations of his connection with Ms. Lewinsky and his perjury under oath have left many students with ambiguous feelings towards the former president.
"I still think that he was a good president," junior Leela Nayak said. "I also am of the opinion that what he does in his personal life is nobody's business." Sophomore Rehka Gavini said that the scandal was over-rated and should not have mattered as much as it did.
"What he did was completely wrong, but I hated the way that the media had a field day with it," Gupta agreed.
Sophomore Nicole Bourgoin commented that Clinton's White House scandals were no more heinous than the scandals of his predecessors. Bourgoin hopes that despite the media frenzy surrounding the Lewinsky affair, students will give Clinton the respect that he deserves as a former president.
"Clinton's scandal had nothing to do with him as a president," Bourgoin said. "JFK and Marilyn Monroe had an affair. The public knew, but respected the office of president. I feel that the media was very irresponsible in hounding him and that he did a good job as president regardless."
Junior Lucretia Hoffman says that her opinion of Clinton has not changed since he left the White House.
"I think he could have handled some things differently and some of the US foreign policies that were implemented during his presidency were terrible," Hoffman said. "But overall, he was a pretty good president - charismatic, intelligent, down to earth and human - the characteristics that that tend to make good presidents."
Saying that the former president ignored ethical and moral practices, junior Daniel Rosenberg quoted comic Chris Rock when he said that "many people underestimate the pressure of the Oval Office, and hence condemn a man for doing what they all wish they could do."
Junior Bridget Fay acknowledged that her feelings towards Clinton are slightly biased because she is a republican, but said that his behavior in the White House suggested a dignity below that which should be expected of a Tufts speaker.
"People here have more integrity than Clinton showed when he put himself above morality in the proceedings," Fay said. "I don't think it's appropriate that he speak here."
Still, Tracy added that he believes Clinton is the poster child for "the political animal," and the sex scandal is not the only occasion in which Clinton used questionable tactics.
"I think everything he's done for a good part of his life was to garner some votes or percentage in the polls," Tracy said. "...Not out of a moral conviction or to do what is right for this country or the world."
Many students who complained that tickets for last week's Gore event were unfairly distributed are now concerned about how Clinton tickets will be handled.
"I want to see him when he comes," Nayak said. She added that she hopes the rush for tickets does not get in her way.
