Northeastern grads get fashion, life advice

As commencement speaker, Cole also encouraged the soon-to-be-graduates at TD Banknorth Garden to make helping others a priority, not an afterthought. The chief executive of the footwear-and-fashion company that bears his name has been active since the 1980s in the campaign against AIDS.

"This is an extraordinary time in our history. If you believe your role in this planet is to make a difference not just in your own but in other people's lives, there may never be a better chance than now," Cole said. "Never before has there been as much broken that needs to be fixed."

Northeastern's 107th graduation ceremony bore most of the hallmarks of a typical commencement - air horn blasts and balloon clusters, proud parents and cheering graduates - but not official handshakes.

Citing swine flu concerns, the university sent all graduating students an e-mail Thursday asking them to stay home if they were exhibiting flu-like symptoms, explaining that diplomas would be given out without the customary handshake from officials, and encouraging care in all interpersonal contact.

As students from the undergraduate schools made their way single-file toward the Garden's temporary stage, a bottle of hand sanitizer could be seen peeking from a garland of greenery lining the riser. And when each student posed for a postdiploma snapshot with his or her respective college dean, the deans touched the backs of gowns but avoided skin-to-skin contact.

Cole's 25-minute address touched on weighty themes but was sprinkled with humor, mostly about his line of work. "If you can't be the solution, be an accessory," he said.

Speculating about his selection, he noted the sea of "shapeless gowns right out of Harry Potter" that require individuals to express themselves through their footwear. "That must be why I was chosen," he said.

Explaining the Hollywood-sounding name of his company, Kenneth Cole Productions, Cole said that when he was starting out as a designer, he couldn't afford space at the annual footwear trade show in New York City. So, he pretended he was filming a movie and secured permission from the city to park a trailer across from the trade show. Within three days, he had met scores of buyers and secured orders for thousands of shoes.

"The best solutions are not usually the most expensive," he said. "They're almost always the most creative."

As a leader for two decades with amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, Cole told of how he launched his first ad campaign about HIV and AIDS at a time when the president, Ronald Reagan, avoided speaking about them.

"What you stand for, believe it or not, is more important than what you stand in," Cole said.

Student speaker Brandon Taylor thanked Cole ("It's an honor to share the stage with the man who designed so many of my shoes") and his classmates. Taylor said they were prepared for the future by Northeastern's cooperative education program, which combines classwork and internships. "Today the real world scares me less because we've already been there," said Taylor, who will draw from his co-op experience as an orthopedic technician on an upcoming medical mission to Africa.

Despite the looming specter of swine flu, many eschewed the university's warnings when it came time to celebrate their achievements. Amid hugs and the pop of flashbulbs near the arena entrance, Daniela DeSantis, a new doctor of pharmacy, said she forgot the warning. "I wasn't thinking about it," said DeSantis, 24, of Winthrop, holding a quartet of "congrats grad" balloons.