NAMES IN THE NEWS : Barbara Bush Wins Support

President Bush said today that he and his wife are not bothered that some students at Wellesley College object to her planned commencement appearance. “I think they’ll learn a lot from her,” he said. A group of students at Wellesley passed around a petition opposing Mrs. Bush’s commencement address June 1. She said in an interview Wednesday that the students’ protest does not bother her.

“To honor Barbara Bush as commencement speaker is to honor a woman who has gained recognition through the achievements of her husband, which contradicts what we have been taught over our years at Wellesley,” the petition declared.

“She herself said, ‘Look, I know why I’m privileged to be able to serve in this visible fashion.’ She’s not trying to be something she’s not. The American people love her because she’s something she is and stands for something,” Bush told reporters.

“Mrs. Bush herself has put it that her ability to serve as, I think, a terribly effective ‘point of light’ stems from the fact that she’s married to the President of the United States.

“But I think these young women can have a lot to learn from Barbara Bush and from her unselfishness and from her advocacy of literacy and being a good mother and a lot of other things.”