Schumer to speak at commencement
Junior senator from New York to address graduates at UB's 154th commencement

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer will deliver the address at UB's 154th general commencement ceremony, to be held at 10 a.m. May 14 in Alumni Arena.

Schumer, 48, is in his first term representing New York State in the Senate after defeating Alfonse D'Amato in 1998-one of only two Democrats elected to the Senate that year. He serves as a member of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the Rules Committee.

Prior to his election to the Senate, Schumer served nine terms in the House of Representatives, representing the Ninth Congressional District in Brooklyn and Queens.

A native of New York City, he graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He was elected to the New York State Assembly at age 23-one of the youngest members since Theodore Roosevelt.

As a member of Congress, Schumer sponsored and helped pass the Brady Bill, which required a five-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun. The following year, he helped pass the Assault Weapons Ban, which outlawed 19 automatic weapons.

That same year, he sponsored and helped pass the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1994, which put 100,000 new police officers on the street, enforced "three-strikes-and-you're-out" sentencing and created after-school programs for troubled teens.

Strongly pro-choice, Schumer authored and helped pass legislation making it a federal crime to infringe on a women's right to choose by blockading family-planning clinics. He also authored and helped pass the Violence Against Women Act, the first federal legislation protecting women from domestic abuse.

He was the sponsor of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, which organized data on crimes of bigotry, as well as the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would allow federal authorities to prosecute these offenses.