Vonnegut speaks out at Ualbany graduation

American society had plenty of art but “a gruesomely short supply” of social justice, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. told 2,300 graduates at the University at Albany packed into the campus gymnasium because rain canceled plans for an outdoor ceremony. More than 1,600 graduate students received their degrees later in the afternoon in a second ceremony in the gymnasium. The author of “Slaughterhouse-five” and “Cat’s Cradle” drew laughter and applause several times during his speech, particularly when he aimed barbs at what he charged was a pseudo interest in the arts. He said it was time the country stopped spending money on defense and started spending it “on hospitals and housing and schools and Ferris wheels instead.” Lashing out at Thomas Jefferson, “the author of the Declaration of Independence, who owned human slaves,” and the last three presidents for their “blather about national honor and their love of war,” he asked the new generation to organize and urged love and care for one another.