EUGENE–In a fitting message for the times, the University of Oregon’s final graduating class of the millennium will hear a warning from a nationally recognized "privacy watchdog" about the increasingly commercial and manipulative nature of the Internet.

Robert Ellis Smith, a national expert on privacy issues and publisher of the Privacy Journal, will speak on the topic of access, privacy and the Internet in his address to the Class of 1999 on Saturday, June 12, during the UO’s 122nd spring commencement.

Approximately 3,700 spring-term degree candidates and fall- and winter-term UO graduates are eligible to participate in the spring ceremonies, which begin at 12:30 p.m. at Hayward Field,
1580 E. 15th Ave. In the event of rain, the commencement ceremony will be held indoors at McArthur Court, 1601 University St.

Campus parking will be limited so those attending are advised to arrive early. Free parking will be available in lots located at East 15th and Columbia, and at East 14th and Kincaid, as well as at specially marked parking meters in a several-block radius of Hayward Field.

During the ceremony, the UO will announce the awarding of its highest commendation, an honorary doctorate, to Helmuth Rilling, the Oregon Bach Festival’s co-founder and artistic director for the past 30 years. Because Rilling’s international performance schedule prevents him from attending commencement, he will receive the degree at a special ceremony during the Oregon Bach Festival on Sunday, July 11, following an afternoon Hult Center concert. The honorary degree is only the third conferred by the UO in the past 53 years. The other two recipients were former Philippine President Corazon Aquino and Mark Hatfield, former U.S. senator and Oregon governor.

In addition, UO President Dave Frohnmayer will present the university’s 1999 Distinguished Service Awards and Presidential Medals. Recipients of several distinguished teaching awards for faculty members and graduate teaching fellows also will be recognized.

At a pre-commencement brunch, the UO Alumni Association will bestow its 1999 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award on 1984 political science graduate Bruce Carey, co-owner of the award-winning Zefiro and Saucebox restaurants in Portland who subsequently earned an interdisciplinary master’s degree in public planning and the arts from Oregon in 1987. The UO Alumni Association in May presented its 1999 Distinguished Alumnus Award to Seattle philanthropist and founder of PageMaker software Paul Brainerd, a 1970 management graduate with a minor in journalism who was unable to attend commencement.

In his address, "Click on Privacy," Smith will discuss the shift from information to commercialism as well as some of the threats to personal privacy on the Internet.

"Robert Ellis Smith is an impressive journalist and legal mind who understands the complexities of the Internet and can speak with eloquence about the potential and pitfalls it presents to our graduates as they enter a new and changing world," says Frohnmayer. "We are honored to have someone with his insight and foresight as this year’s commencement speaker."

Smith, 58, is a journalist who uses his training as an attorney to report on the individual’s right to privacy. He is the author of "Our Vanishing Privacy;" "The Law of Privacy Explained;" "Privacy: How to Protect What’s Left of it;" "Workrights," a book describing individual rights in the work place; and "The Big Brother Book of Lists."

A 1962 graduate of Harvard College, Smith received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1976.

In addition to the university-wide exercises on June 12, each UO school or college–including individual departments in the College of Arts and Sciences–will hold its own ceremony at various campus locations on Friday and Saturday, June 11—12. During these ceremonies, individual recognition will be given to master’s and bachelor’s degree candidates.

While the Class of 1999 prepares to leave the university, alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago are expected to return to campus June 10—12 for reunion activities, including an Order of Emerald induction. Members of the Class of 1949 and earlier also are invited to participate in the main commencement procession on June 12.

Among spring term’s 2,691 degree candidates are 2,017 completing requirements for bachelor’s degrees, 16 for certificates, 465 for master’s degrees and 55 for doctoral degrees. On May 16, 138 students received law degrees during the UO School of Law’s Commencement.

Others eligible to participate in the spring ceremonies are 573 fall term and 471 winter term graduates. No ceremonies are held during those terms.

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