Even on a campus that claims to be as liberal as Penn, Patch Adams' long ponytail, clashing outfit and extreme notions of a cure-all love couldn't help but stand out.
The 58-year-old professional medic and clown spoke to a sold-out Irvine Auditorium last night as part of the University Honor Council's fourth annual Integrity Week.
Perhaps best known from the movie named after him, Adams said that "when you've had a superficial film made of your life by someone who is significantly shorter than you, you know you might have some corrections to take care of."
Adams said that as a result of severe frustrations with the injustice in his youth, he was committed three times into mental asylums.
"I didn't want to live in a world of violence and injustice," Adams said. "I was beaten up regularly because I never let anything pass."
Adams continues to believe that "if you are silent, you are nothing." But after his third visit to an asylum, he made two promises to himself -- to become a doctor and a clown.
Adams graduated from the Medical College of Virginia in 1971, and although he said that he excelled in classes, he was almost denied a diploma for what a teacher disdained as "excessive happiness."
But Adams said that what he most derived from medical school was a desire to provide alternative health care provisions -- which dealt with no payment, no insurance and no corporations.
In the 12 years following graduation, Adams founded the revolutionary free health care Gesundheit Institute in Virginia, that was then housed in a six-bedroom home.
"We're silly to live with and silly to die with," Adams said, describing the institute's environment. "If you only have one week to live, I'm your man."
And Adams has not profited as a physician. In fact, Adams said that "for 33 years now, I've paid to be a doctor."
But after his movie's release and organizing worldwide clown conventions to brighten the smiles of the sick and less fortunate, his project gained the momentum needed to expand.
A new Gesundheit Institute facility is being built on several acres of land in West Virginia and will have over 100 beds, up-to-date technology, a school for social change and a center devoted to cultural arts.
Adams said he greatly values personal integrity, noting he could not be at peace with himself unless he preserved it.
The racial segregation he first saw in school was a big concern.
"I knew I had to speak up, because I wanted to preserve my humanity," he said. "If no one said anything, then all is forgotten by people who are not black."
This inability to stay quiet forced him to protest the demeaning and sexist manner of professors in medical school. Adams said that he could not "let rude, racist, sexual comments pass by."
Adams added that valuing friends and family allowed him to empathize with those worse off.
"It is an issue of integrity that I had... a great support group," he said. "I had really gotten a good deck."
Adams left his first wife six years ago after a six-year relationship with another woman, a decision he called "the hardest thing I've ever done."
"Over 26 years, I saw something die within me," he said. "I had integrity as a husband until I realized I also had integrity as a person."
And finally, he said he was obliged to tell everyone the danger the planet is in.
"If we don't change over from a world that worships money and power to a world that worships compassion and generosity, we will be extinct by mid-century."
He railed against globalization, saying it caused poverty, starvation and death, and also attacked Bush's politics.
"It is an integrity to tell you that this administration is the most dangerous we've had in our history," he said.
As an example of the horror Adams believes the administration has wrought, he showed a film of the trip he and fellow clowns took to Afghanistan in March 2002 -- which included a scene of a young girl being treated for severe burns. While the clowns tried to soothe her, the child writhed in pain.
"Some of you will find this hard to watch," Adams warned. "We saw things that were five times worse."
Student reaction to the speech was quite positive.
"Very inspiring," College senior Kathy Samuels said. "I liked his ideas about spreading love... and loving people genuinely."
Adams' willingness to talk of deeply personal matters impressed students.
"He was very honest about everything, and clearly selfless," College junior Zarina Dohadwala said. "He makes you feel like one person can make a difference."
University Honor Council Co-Chairwoman Caitlin O'Neil was impressed with the conviction that Adams expressed in his speech.
"A lot of times it's hard to cut against the grain," O'Neil said. "Patch is the epitome of cutting against the grain."
The Social Planning and Events Committee's Connaissance branch and the Provost's Spotlight Lecture Series helped to sponsor the two-hour event.
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