The winner of the 2012 commencement sweepstakes is in. It's Barnard College, which just announced that President Obama will be the featured speaker at its May 14 graduation ceremonies. The choice benefits both the president and Barnard, a 123-year-old women's college in New York City. Barnard outdoes neighboring Columbia and every other Ivy League college when it comes to commencement prestige. Obama, in turn, gets the perfect setting to talk about women's rights. The Republicans have made a national issue of limiting access to contraception, and Barnard provides the president with a forum to make his views on the subject clear. This comes at a time when the Guttmacher Institute reports that of the 43 million fertile American women who do not want to get pregnant, 89% are practicing birth control.
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Nicolaus Mills: Barnard wins commencement prize with Obama, to Columbia's dismay
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Mills: Women's college Barnard is the perfect stage for Obama to speak on women's rights
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Universities are democratic, he says, so students should have a say in who speaks
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Milles: Gen. Marshall gave the most important commencement address in U.S. history
Barnard students often take classes at @placeholder, which actually confers the Barnard diplomas.