In his first televised Oval Office address on Tuesday night, Donald Trump exhorted Americans to support his demand for taxpayer funds to build a wall on the Mexican border to deter migration, which sparked the partial government shutdown that has lasted almost three weeks.

But it’s not the first time Trump has offered advice on concrete walls in stark terms. In a 15-year-old commencement speech unearthed by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Trump advised graduates of Wagner College in Staten Island to overcome all barriers.

“I’ll tell you, to me, the second-most important thing after love, what you do is never, ever give up,” Trump told the crowd. “Don’t give up. Don’t allow it to happen. If there’s a concrete wall in front of you, go through it. Go over it. Go around it. But get to the other side of that wall.”

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Trump attended Wagner College’s commencement ceremony in May 2004 to receive an honorary doctorate of letters. The “New York original”, said a faculty member in his introduction, was awarded the degree “not just his love affair with the tallest, the largest, the best, the most luxurious, the rich and famous”, but also “his disdain for sloppiness, indecision, incompetence and plain stupidity”.

Trump delivered an eight-minute commencement speech in which he advised students to “give 100% of what you’ve got”, review yourself each day and stay disciplined.

While Trump’s focus on concrete barriers has only intensified – the government shutdown over his demand for $5.7bn in border wall funding has left 800,000 federal workers without pay – Wagner’s affection for Trump has dimmed. According to Forbes, 33 Wagner professors and more than 700 alumni requested the administration rescind Trump’s degree, while a petition on Change.org has 1,920 signatures.