Albright’s Miami U. zingers include green beer and Big Ben

Before former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke on world affairs to the several hundred people at Miami University’s Millett Hall on Monday evening, she entertained the audience mixed with business professionals, students and citizens.

Albright, who served from 1997 to 2001 as the secretary of state for former President Bill Clinton, was the featured speaker at the Anderson Distinguished Lecture Series presented by the Farmers School of Business.

Weaved in between the punchlines, Albright said the core vision of the school has remained unchanged over the decades and “Miami remains a university where thousands matter, service is honored, truth is sought and academic excellence is a standard.”

Here are a few of her lines that drew big laughs:

  • Albright sang the praises of the campus' beauty, and said the school's traditions and superstitions "are unparalleled." But she was also impressed with Miami's alumni, saying "distinguished graduates include one president (Benjamin Harrison), the current Speaker of the House (Paul Ryan) and most importantly, Big Ben Roethlisberger."
  • The former U.S. Secretary of State recognized that Miami over the decades has "developed into one of our nation's top-ranked public universities with a leading business school and an entire day set aside for the consumption of green beer."
  • Albright also said she was "truly impressed" with some of the students she met, calling them "incredibly bright." And as they questioned her — and she said the questions "were far from easy" — she compared it to doing a cable news show with one difference: "the students didn't interrupt after the first few words, and they actually let me finish my answers."

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