--- title: Barack Obama at Rutgers: Commencement Address Transcript description: Here's what President Barack Obama told the Rutgers University graduating class during his commencement address on May 15 canonical: https://time.com/4340310/barack-obama-commencement-address-transcript-rutgers/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T18:37:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:38:34.090Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Barack Obama's Commencement Address at Rutgers og:description: "In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue" og:url: https://time.com/4340310/barack-obama-commencement-address-transcript-rutgers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7bf5759f9644952/698893bb3c1639b05a45d4ff/barack-obama-rutgers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Obama Delivers Commencement Address At Rutgers University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Barack Obama's Commencement Address at Rutgers twitter:description: "In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7bf5759f9644952/698893bb3c1639b05a45d4ff/barack-obama-rutgers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Rutgers University  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 2, 2016 6:37 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks after receiving an honorary doctorate of laws during the 250th anniversary commencement ceremony at Rutgers University on May 15, 2016 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. President Barack Obama speaks after receiving an honorary doctorate of laws during the 250th anniversary commencement ceremony at Rutgers University on May 15, 2016 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 2, 2016 6:37 PM UTC President Barack Obama [delivered the commencement address](http://time.com/4336522/barack-obama-donald-trump-rutgers-university-speech/) at Rutgers University on May 15, indirectly criticizing Donald Trump by mentioning some of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s policies, including his plans to [build a Mexican border wall](http://time.com/4281926/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-explanation/) and [ban Muslims](http://time.com/4324029/donald-trump-sadiq-khan-muslim-ban-london/) from entering the country. “In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue,” Obama said. “It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.” Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/15/remarks-president-commencement-address-rutgers-state-university-new) from Obama’s speech on the Rutgers campus in Brunswick, New Jersey. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4340310/barack-obama-commencement-address-transcript-rutgers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4340310/barack-obama-commencement-address-transcript-rutgers/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Rutgers University","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:37:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:38:34.090Z","description":"\"In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue\"","url":"https://time.com/4340310/barack-obama-commencement-address-transcript-rutgers/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7bf5759f9644952/698893bb3c1639b05a45d4ff/barack-obama-rutgers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7bf5759f9644952/698893bb3c1639b05a45d4ff/barack-obama-rutgers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama Delivers Commencement Address At Rutgers University","caption":"Obama Delivers Commencement Address At Rutgers University","creditText":"Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4340310/barack-obama-commencement-address-transcript-rutgers/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Rutgers University"}}]}] ```