Students stood and applauded in adoration at the end of Aaron Sorkin’s address on Sunday. The frenzy of cheers during his speech came to a climax at Sorkin’s last line: ‘And my friends, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.’

It was the exact same line he ended his speech with when he spoke at a convocation at Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts in 1997, according to a transcript of the 1997 speech obtained by The Daily Orange.

Sorkin’s speech to the Class of 2012 of Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry on Sunday contained multiple parallels and several exact quotes to the Sorkin convocation speech he gave at the VPA ceremony in 1997, according to the transcript. Though parts of the speech were taken out of order, many are featured in both versions at one point or another. The same anecdotes were told, word for word. Still, Sorkin captivated the graduates and audience in the Carrier Dome on Sunday at the 2012 commencement with his powerful delivery.

The 1997 speech began with a story of a couple that had been married for 50 years. At the end of their marriage, the wife confronted her husband about why he had not told her he loved her since their wedding, to which the husband replied, ‘If I change my mind, I’ll let you know.’

Sorkin then related this anecdote to his own feelings about SU and the fact that his mind and his love of the university had in no way changed.

The commencement speech, delivered to the Class of 2012 began with this same story. The only difference between the two was that the couple in the story had been married for 40 years as opposed to the 50 years mentioned in the 1997 speech.

Sorkin then said, ‘I can remember looking up at my teachers with great admiration, with fondness, with gratitude and with love. Some of the teachers who were there that day are here this day and I wanted to let them know that I haven’t changed my mind.’

He repeated the same quote in his 1997 speech, according to the transcript, only changing a word in the last part, stating ‘I wanted to let them know this: I haven’t changed my mind.’

Joy Fehily, Sorkin’s press representative, could not be reached for comment.

In both speeches, Sorkin spoke of a New York City girl he had flirted with in his youth, though they had differing philosophies on college.

In 1997, Sorkin said he had laughed at her philosophy ‘because I thought it was funny and also because I wanted to ask her out. But I also think she was wrong,’ according to the transcript.

This quote was repeated word for word in the 2012 commencement address.

In 1997, Sorkin described the casting process for ‘A Few Good Men,’ and how the first actor that was offered the role of an ‘endearingly dimwitted Marine corporal’ backed out of the position in order to take a lead role in a new Milos Forman film, according to the transcript. The Forman film was scrapped two weeks later, and the second choice for the role, Noah Wyle, went on to become a star on the television show ‘ER.’

‘I don’t know what the first actor is doing, and I can’t remember his name,’ Sorkin said in 1997. ‘Sometimes, just when you think you’ve finally got the ball safely in the end zone, you’re back to delivering pizzas for Domino’s. Welcome to the NFL.’

Sorkin repeated the same words, nearly word-for-word, in Sunday’s commencement speech.

While so much of Sorkin’s speech was similar or the same to the one he gave at SU 15 years ago, his words were a hit that resonated well with those at the 2012 commencement. Kevin Quinn, vice president for public affairs at SU, said student reaction was very positive and he felt that the university was lucky to have had the opportunity to hear from Sorkin.

‘We know that when our alumni think about their time at Syracuse they always have a set of stories etched in their memories that they want to share when they come back,’ Quinn said in an email.

Sorkin did touch upon different personal experiences and gave some different messages to the graduates. He revealed to the audience that he recently celebrated 11 years since his last use of cocaine. He also called the graduated ‘a group of incredibly well-educated dumb people.’

In both speeches, Sorkin told the story of one of his college roommates, Chris, a fellow theater student who later died from AIDS. ‘He was born out of his time and would have felt most at home playing Mickey Rooney’s sidekick in ‘Babes on Broadway,” Sorkin said both in 1997 and in 2012 to describe his friend.

‘I lost touch with Chris after I graduated and so I’m not quite certain when he died, but I remember that about a year after the last time I saw him I read an article in Newsweek about a virus that was burning its way across the country,’ Sorkin said in 1997, according to the transcript. ‘The Centers for Disease Control was calling it Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and they were asking the White House for $35 million for research, care and cure.

‘Am I saying that Chris would be alive today if only he’d read Newsweek? Of course not,’ Sorkin went on to say as he wrapped up the anecdote. ‘But it seems to me that more and more we’ve come to expect less and less of each other, and that’s gotta change.’

The same exact wording, with a couple minor changes – ‘a year after the last time I saw him’ to ‘a year and a half,’ the addition of the abbreviation for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, ‘AIDS for short’ – was told by Sorkin in his speech Sunday.

On Sunday, Sorkin told the story of meeting Arthur Miller at a Dramatists Guild function eight years ago, later being asked by Miller to fill in for him as a guest lecturer.

Fifteen years ago, Sorkin told the same story, describing it as having come four years before that, according to the transcript.

While the 2012 speech took much of its content directly from the 1997 version, Lynn Greenky, a professor in the communications and rhetorical studies department in VPA, does not find an issue with its ethics.

‘Unethical? Economical, maybe,’ Greenky said of the speech. ‘But not unethical.’

Greenky explained that Sorkin’s speech fell under the category of epideictic, or ceremonial, rhetoric. She compared it to political speech, pointing out that plenty of politicians make the same speeches over and over again, changing very little in each.

Said Greenky, in an email: ‘Speeches, stories, anecdotes and parts thereof are reconfigured and recycled all the time, as long as they are relevant and meaningful, I see no reason to avoid reusing them.’

cedebais@syr.edu 

Published on May 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chelsea: cedebais@syr.edu | @CDeBaise124