United States Sen. Charles E. Schumer will present the Convocation Address during Cornell University's Commencement weekend May 27-28.

Convocation will be held Saturday, May 27, in Barton Hall at noon for graduating seniors, their families and guests.

Kevin-William Hughes, chair of the Convocation 2000 student committee, said, "In selecting the speaker, we thought of things that were important to the Class of 2000, things that embody our Cornell experiences. Those were commitment to the community and a sense of involvement and dedication. Senator Schumer's name came up over and over again. He was someone who we saw genuinely able to give a message that transcended different divisions and could be taken by us as important."

Hughes added that the students also considered Cornell's important role in education not only in New York state but in the greater educational community. Schumer's commitment to education in general, and to Cornell, weighed in their decision as well, he said.

Schumer, 49, is in his first term representing New York in the Senate after defeating Alfonse D'Amato in 1998, one of only two Democrats to defeat a Senate incumbent that year. He currently serves as a member of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, the Judiciary Committee and the Rules Committee. Prior to his current term, he was a nine-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the Ninth Congressional District in Brooklyn and Queens. He was elected to the New York State Assembly at age 23 - one of the youngest members since Theodore Roosevelt - and to Congress at 29.

After attending Brooklyn public schools, Schumer graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Schumer sponsored and helped pass one of the nation's most far-reaching crime-control laws, the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1994. In 1993, he authored and helped passed the Brady Bill, which requires a five-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun. The following year, he supported the Assault Weapons Ban, which outlawed 19 automatic weapons whose sole purpose was to kill.

Strongly pro-choice, Schumer authored legislation that makes infringing on a woman's right to choose by blockading family planning clinics a federal crime. He also authored 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 insidious offenses.

Previous convocation speakers have included National Security Adviser Samuel Berger in 1999, Robert Kennedy Jr. in 1996, civil rights activist Morris Dees in 1995, former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro in 1992, former U.S. Ambassador Sol Linowitz in 1989, Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1987 and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1986.