In a press release issued on Monday, Roger Williams University announced that Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to the president of the United States, will deliver the keynote speech and receive an honorary degree at the Roger Williams University Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 20.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Fauci join our distinguished group of honorary degree recipients and address our graduates and their families,” said RWU President Ioannis N. Miaoulis in the release. “We cannot imagine a more ideal leader to share insights on tackling monumental challenges and to inspire our graduates on how best to thrive in today’s global society.”

“The ability to synthesize vast amounts of information and to make decisions that consider health, science, cultural, legal and political implications, is the type of education we strive to offer our students,” Miaoulis continued. “Dr. Fauci’s experience throughout his career, but especially over the last two years, has modeled how to do this exceptionally well and provides a real-world example to our students as they enter a complex world.”

According to Jill Rodrigues, Director of Communications and Media Relations for Roger Williams University, the connection between the university and Dr. Fauci was made by Senator Jack Reed, who linked his office with the college. Rodrigues said the university staff was “over the moon” when they received word he had accepted their invitation to speak at graduation.

“He really personifies those leadership skills that we value at the university,” she said.

Rodrigues mentioned that Fauci had been impressed with Roger Williams and the leadership it has displayed among higher education institutions throughout the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We started with aggressive testing and continue to do surveillance testing. We were one of the first universities in the country to require vaccinations,” she said. “We started the 2021 academic year with a very high vaccination rate…and we’re going on two years now of in-person education due to how we’ve approached and followed the science. Dr. Fauci is one of the people whose guidance we have listened to and utilized, in concert with the CDC and the Rhode Island Department of Health.”

Public reacts online
The announcement is already generating buzz online in places like Bristol’s community Facebook page, where a vast amount of polarizing comments in response to the news can be seen.

“My child is graduating from RWU this year. Her response: ‘He ruined our college experience,’” wrote one member of the community group who we won’t identify out of respect for the group’s stated rules of privacy. “These kids were masked up, tested endlessly, made to stay in their rooms-out of the classroom, punished if found socializing; and now the person who implemented all this is coming to speak?”

“It’s amazing that before the Trump administration, Fauci was considered the preeminent expert on infectious diseases,” wrote another Facebook group member. “Somehow his decades of experience and expertise went out the window in 2017, just like anyone else who dared to contradict Trump. And to the man’s credit, unlike countless others, he stood his ground even in the continued face of adversity.”

Rodrigues said that the vast majority of feedback the university had heard regarding Dr. Fauci, as of Tuesday afternoon, was positive. She said that the polarizing nature of such comments seen on the Facebook page were indicative of the polarizing nature of the pandemic and the government’s response to it throughout the years.

“There is the section of the public that has made him appear politicized and polarized, but his position itself is not one of a politician,” she said, adding that he has been utilized for his expertise by seven different presidents, both Republicans and Democrats. “He is an advisor, and a trusted advisor to the nation’s leader. He is not a politician, he is not up for re-election, so viewing him in that way is not an accurate depiction of what he does in his role.”

About Fauci and RWU ceremony
The release states the following about Dr. Fauci and the commencement ceremony at Roger Williams University on Friday, May 20.

“Dr. Fauci has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health since 1984. As the long-time chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, he has made many seminal contributions in basic and clinical research and is one of the world’s most-cited biomedical scientists. He has advised seven presidents on HIV/AIDS and many other domestic and global health issues. He was one of the principal architects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that has saved millions of lives throughout the developing world.

Dr. Fauci has delivered lectures all over the world and received numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest honor given to a civilian by the president of the United States) and the National Medal of Science.

On Friday, May 20, Roger Williams University will convene a university-wide Commencement celebration of the undergraduate, graduate and law students graduating in the Class of 2022 with a specially designed in-person ceremony. This is the first time RWU’s Commencement will honor all graduates in a single ceremony, with a main ceremony in the morning followed by individual School ceremonies. The university ceremony will take place on the main athletic field. The processional steps off at 8:45 a.m. with the ceremony beginning at 9:30 a.m.

For additional Commencement details, please visit: https://www.rwu.edu/academics/commencement.