Bush to Skip Graduations

President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush will skip their twin daughters’ college graduations this month to avoid creating a distraction at the respective schools, the White House said Thursday.

“There are no plans at this time to attend these ceremonies,” said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for Laura Bush. “The Bushes felt the focus should be on the students, and not how long the lines are to go through the metal detectors.”

Jenna Bush is scheduled to graduate May 22 from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in English. Barbara Bush graduates May 24 with a bachelor’s in humanities from Yale University.

Mrs. Bush told CNN in February that her 22-year-old daughters may help with their father’s reelection campaign. “We’ll see when they graduate,” she said. “You know, this will be really their first campaign that their dad has run that they are really old enough to be involved.”

The sisters were freshmen when their father was seeking the presidency in 2000. They have stayed out of the media spotlight for the most part, except for an underage drinking incident at an Austin bar when they were 19.