Ed Kemmick/Last Best News
No, Greg Gianforte was not giving the peace sign during his commencement address at Rocky Mountain College on Saturday. He was enumerating four lessons he wanted to share with graduates.
There wasn’t a whiff of controversy Saturday afternoon during Greg Gianforte’s commencement address at Rocky Mountain College.
Hundreds of people signed petitions asking that Gianforte’s invitation to speak at Montana Tech in Butte be rescinded, and some members of the Billings community objected to his invitation to speak at Rocky, mostly for his active support of right-wing causes.
But there were no protests when the technology entrepreneur from Bozeman spoke at Rocky on Saturday, and his speech strayed nowhere near politics or social issues.
The only hint that there was any opposition to his appearance was a passing reference from RMC President Bob Wilmouth, who introduced Gianforte. In his brief remarks, Wilmouth said “the annual dis-invitation season rolls on across the nation, but not here at Rocky Mountain College.”
And that was it. In his short speech, Gianforte shared with the 2014 graduates four lessons for leading a fulfilling, satisfying life. It was a straightforward, easy-going address, which was interrupted by applause a couple of times and which appeared to be well-received by graduates and audience alike in Rocky’s Fortin Education Center.
Ed Kemmick/Last Best News
Rocky Mountain College President Bob Wilmouth, left, sat next to Greg Gianforte on the podium
Gianforte introduced his wife, Susan, who was sitting behind the graduates. She and her husband are to deliver a joint address during the Montana Tech commencement on May 17.
The online petitions circulated by Montana Tech faculty and students said the Gianfortes were a poor choice because of their support for creationism and the use of public funding for private schools. They were also criticized for their opposition to civil rights protections for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender people.
The Gianfortes have given financial support to the Montana Family Foundation, a Laurel-based group that fought efforts to decriminalize gay sex in state law, and Susan Gianforte advocated civil disobedience if a non-discrimination ordinance were to pass in Bozeman.
After controversy over the Gianfortes erupted, Wilmouth said he knew nothing of their politics or beliefs when he invited Greg Gianforte to Rocky. In early April, after meeting with Rocky’s Faculty Executive Committee, Wilmouth announced that Gianforte would speak as scheduled.
Gianforte launched four other startup businesses before founding RightNow Technologies in Bozeman in 1997. The company made software that was used by more than 2,000 companies to manage customer relations, and eventually it employed 1,100 people. In 2011, Gianforte sold the company to Oracle for $1.5 billion.
Gianforte told the graduates that when he graduated from college and came home from his first day in a new job, his mother said to him, “So, do you think you can do that for the next 40 years?”
That remark, he said, propelled him on a lifelong quest to find a fulfilling career.
His four lessons were to find challenging work “at the very edge of your abilities,” to make use of your best skills and unique talents, to serve others through your work, and to seek the highest purpose in each job you do.
He also told the graduates that “applying your mind to really big, hairy problems” can lead to the same sort of deep, exhausted satisfaction as physical labor.
Every job has “a noble purpose,” he said, adding that “carpenters don’t pound nails. They create houses for people. … And where would we be without baristas getting us going in the morning?”
