Rutgers Faculty Upset at Condoleezza Rice Invitation to Graduation —Will They Oppose Barack Obama's Too?
In defense of speaking to 21 year olds
The faculty council at Rutgers University in New Jersey is upset the school invited former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to deliver the commencement address in May, and to receive an honorary doctorate, passing a resolution calling on the university administration to rescind it. The Star-Ledger reports:
[T]he faculty council cited her war record and her misleading of the public about the Iraq war as reasons for their opposition.
"Condoleezza Rice … played a prominent role in (the Bush) administration's effort to mislead the American people about the presence of weapons of mass destruction," according to the resolution. And she "at the very least condoned the Bush administration's policy of 'enhanced interrogation techniques' such as waterboarding," it said.
"A Commencement speaker… should embody moral authority and exemplary citizenship," it continued, and "an honorary Doctor of Laws degree should not honor someone who participated in a political effort to circumvent the law."
The measure was introduced by a chemistry professor who said students were also concerned.
Misleading the American people? Participating in a political effort to circumvent the law? Condoleezza Rice has a long career in academia and policy making, and her life stories can certainly provide some kind of inspiration and even direction for graduating seniors, the role of a commencement speaker. Iraq was a major policy blunder, one that cost the U.S., and Iraq, too much blood and treasure. And the Bush White House, for whom Rice served, is certainly guilty of a gross expansion of the powers of the executive branch, including waterboarding and other potential war crimes. Whether that precludes Rice from speaking to twenty-one year olds being sent out to the real world after spending four to six on a piece of paper isn't necessarily obvious.
Being a hopeless pessimist, what does seem obvious to me is that the faculty council is being driven not by any moral compass but by partisan concerns. They can prove me wrong. New Jersey's congressional delegation is lobbying for Barack Obama to accept Rutgers' invitation to speak at the 2016 commencement. Will the faculty condemn this invitation too? Obama, like Rice, and more so as the head of the executive branch, is also responsible for Bush school war and terror policies, misleading the American people, and attempting to circumvent the law. Arguments that would support Obama speaking to graduating seniors but not Rice are highly unlikely to be intellectually rigorous or anything more than partisan apologetics.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
A Commencement speaker… should embody moral authority and exemplary citizenship,” it continued, and “an honorary Doctor of Laws degree should not honor someone who participated in a political effort to circumvent the law.
They’re talking about Obama, right? Right?
Its Nixons all the way down…
As Senator Boxer (Retard, CA) put it after the State of the Union: the president can take action because he has the people on his side and is doing the will of the majority.
Bush stole that election anyway, so Condi is practically an usurper by proxy.
Boxer’s a D – Dumb-arse, CA
I wish I could “like” these posts, like on facebook.
EPI sucking TEAM RED cock again!@
8 8 8 8 8
Hey, asshole, that’s EIGHT PERCENT!
Not 10, not 9, not 8-1/2, asshole, EIGHT!
Like you gotta ask more than 12 people to find one that likes it!
They didn’t seem to have a problem with their basketball coach being an asshole until he got caught on tape. I can’t believe these douchbags were invited to be in the Big Ten. They have more baggage than the chicks I meet in bars.
Glad to see I’m not the only person who goes to the airport to do some boozin’.
Serious question. Is there anything about New Jersey that that doesn’t suck ass?
Serious question: is collectivism and REGION WAR the road you want to go down?
Never been there, but isn’t it the most densely populated state in the country?
Does it show?
I have no idea. What the fuck does that have to do with supposed individualists deciding to engage in collectivism? If you think I’m “defending Jersey cuz it’s so awesome”, you really, really don’t get the fucking point.
Stop sucking TEAM RED cock then, Episiarch. Your lipstick is fading!
8 8 8 8 8
EIGHT PERCENT, shitpile. 8!
What the fuck does that have to do with supposed individualists deciding to engage in collectivism?
Good thing you never do this with those who vote for one of the TEAMS.
Lighten up, Francis.
Voting for TEAMs is a voluntary association that one chooses to join, Marshall. Living somewhere is, while technically voluntary, a hell of a lot more complicated than that. Are you telling me that you can’t see the difference in saying “Klan members are racist scum” and “People who live in Indiana, traditionally a stronghold of the Klan, are all racist scum”? You really can’t discern that difference? Really?
Then why do you do it?
Palin’s Buttplug|3.3.14 @ 7:14PM|#
“Then why do you do it?”
EIGHT percent, shitpile.
Come on, Francis, there is a big difference between some lighthearted ribbing of…anything, and what you are describing. New Jersey is a fine target, my own home of Oklahoma as well. Hipsters in Seattle? Gingers?
Detroit? Surely one can ask if it is the entrance to Hell without being a collectivist, can’t one? And, he didn’t say the people of NJ, just the State. Can’t you hate a place for being to far North without being accused of being collectivist?
Well, I admit it was easier to call him out than to list good things about Jersey. Call me lazy and leave it at that.
Why, surely it would be a short list, easily memorizable.
Calm down, dude. I have nothing against New Jersey or the people therein.
I mean it sounds like they have retarded politics, but I can’t really talk since I’m here in California.
My point was that New Jersey is highly urbanized and densely populated. Having that many people crammed together without some space and natural beauty doesn’t appeal to me as a good place to live. Just my impression, again, having never been there.
Yes, go to Atlantic City from the South and you will see quite a bit of rural areas in New Jersey. It is a stereotype that it is a big urban sprawl.
I’ve spent time in Kerala, India. 100,000,000 people in a state that is about 75 miles wide by 400 miles long (just a guess, didn’t check this). Almost entirely green and seemingly uninhabited. California has the same population as Canada, and pretty much uninhabited.
NOWHERE is really too crowded. We humans are sparsely spread around the globe despite what the Malthusians pretend. Even Hong Kong is mainly green and park like.
“is collectivism and REGION WAR the road you want to go down?”
Hey, I’m only on the Highway to Hell for the hookers and the blow.
Don’t you mean the Garden State Parkway?
Wherever that highway leads.
Coming back from the vacation one year, we were leaving a rest stop on the Garden State. We just got up to speed with the rest of the traffic, doing about 70, when suddenly all had to come to complete stop.
There was a gaggle of Canada geese walking across the road. Walking. The miracle is that nobody rear-ended anyone.
Even the tourists in Jersey are morons.
Back in the 70s, when I was under age in Delaware, the drinking age was only 18 and they hardly looked at ID when I was 16.
Since then, I can’t think of a thing about NJ that doesn’t suck.
You don’t have to pump your own gas.
But you have to wait for some dingus to pump your gas for you. So it kinda evens out.
It’s got some natural beauty if you stay away from the areas near NY and right across the Delaware.
Good Italian food, probably.
Uh…can’t think of anything else.
Lambertville is kinda nice.
If you really need to hire someone to bump someone off that you know, Jersey is your State.
You don’t have to buy expensive hollow point ammunition (in fact you can’t and they’ll put you in jail just for possessing the stuff.
Is there anything about New Jersey that that doesn’t suck ass?
Cape May and parts of the Jersey Shore.
Wildwood and its boardwalk are a new experience in white trash. Trashier than even Ocean City, MD.
At least it used to be about 20 years ago.
The Northwest corner of the New Jersey is quite nice. Mountains, farms, parks, shooting ranges…
We even have a somewhat libertarianish Congressman in Scott Garrett.
But yeah, most of NJ does suck.
I married the only good thing to come out of Jersey.
On the plus side, my oldest son lives there. On the negative side, my first ex-wife lives there. I gotta get that kid outta there.
The Sopranos? Boardwalk Empire?
It’s the Garden State!
Yeah. This has nothing to do with standards and ethics and everything to do with Booooosh. Of course, it’s not like I would expect anything different.
Boosh sucked more than any POTUS in history. That is a fact.
BooshShriek sucked more than any POTUStroll in history. That is a fact.
FIFY.
Wait, it’s a troll again? I thought it was a sockpuppet.
Troll.
I was saying o3 is a troll, not you.
It’s Tulpa.
My alma mater UC Irvine wants Obama to speak at this year’s commencement in honor of the school’s 50th anniversary. It’ll be a $2 million dollar affair at Angel Stadium.
UCI students are not happy for other reasons
The Orange County campus has asked Obama to deliver the school’s commencement address on June 14 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The university is scheduled to send about 10,000 invitations from students, alumni and staff to the White House this week.
But to accommodate the event -? which is also a 50th anniversary celebration for the campus — the university has canceled the smaller ceremonies traditionally held by individual schools, angering students and families who have sent invitations, booked travel and wished to walk across the stage.
As of Tuesday afternoon, an online petition requesting the school hold the smaller ceremonies had garnered more than 2,000 signatures.
For some, the prospect of hearing a speech by the leader of the free world does little to assuage the anger of losing a personal celebration of years of study.
Glad I don’t have to deal with this bullshit.
These peasants who are upset are losing out on a rare opportunity to bask in the aura and power of President Killy-McDrone-Strike. Who cares about their petty graduation parties. Are they graduating from Harvard Law after having been elected President of the Harvard Law Review? No. So fuck’em.
Dear Leader is greater than sum of the peasants he guides to the Promised Land.
“Dear Leader is greater than sum of the peasants he guides to the Promised Land.”
At least according to suck-asses like shreek and Tony!
Ah, the peasant who hate science also happen to racistly hate the Glorious Leader of Hope. Big surprise.
=^,^= THey probably hate cats do, as all teathuglicans do. Tsk.
…what does seem obvious to me is that the faculty council is being driven not by any moral compass but by partisan concerns.
I think you have it pegged correctly.
I have the non-partisan solution (yet again)!
Put Condi Rice and Susan Rice in a vat of virgin olive oil and have them naked wrestle for the title of ‘Ho with the Most’.
and you’re a RACIST, too!! You are poor excuse for human being.
“You are poor excuse for human being.”
You’re too kind.
The thing is, the faculty majority would be indignant at the suggestion that they apply their principles to Obama.
“Why are you changing the subject to Obama? We’re talking about the moral wickedness of the Bush administration! Ah, those were the days – writing indignant letters and passing indignant resolutions about the creeping fascism of the Bush/Cheney usurpers. Putting ‘somewhere in Texas a village is missing an idiot’ bumper stickers on our cars. Waxing nostalgic as students waved ‘No Blood for Oil’ placards. Where was I? Oh, yes, Obama. What kind of foolishness were you saying about our President?”
Dumbya sucked ass carbuncles. Why deny it?
As the Team Red sycophant you are I urge you to defend the future and not excuse the past!
Palin’s Buttplug|3.3.14 @ 6:56PM|#
“Dumbya sucked ass carbuncles. Why deny it?”
‘BOOOOOOOOOOOSH!’
From the boot licker.
Look, PB, I don’t want to curse at you, so I’ll just say: it would be nice if you adapted your comments to your audience. Eg, not calling them Bush supporters.
PB: We don’t excuse the past. We criticize the present.
Because of the cost of Obamacare, shreek can only afford to take 8% of his meds.
If you look at 8% as an emoticon, it looks like shreek kissing Obama’s dick.
You don’t seem to realize that the bulk of people on this board are NOT Republicans, didn’t support the war in Iraq, and don’t like Bush. Your constant bringing it back to Bush is ridiculous.
If by “principles” you mean “preferences”, then no, they wouldn’t be indignant.
If you actually mean “principles,” it’s irrelevant because they don’t have any.
Hey! Ever wonder what the Wu-Tang Clan would have sounded like if Alex Jones wrote their lyrics?
You’re welcome.
Did not realize Adrien Brody was rapper…. too much Alex Jones for me to enjoy.
Rather listen to this
Tech continues to be one of the most underrated rappers.
Still bump Jellysickle regularly.
Smoke a fatty
Heck with the Illuminati
Eat some Hamburgers
While we curse the Bilderburgers
Brilliant!
Wait, he *didn’t*?
I thought he was one of the obscure ones, like Killah Priest or U-God.
Jesus, man there is nothing more headache inducing than “politically ”conscious”” rappers.
By ‘conscious’ you are meant to understand that the universe is controlled by the lizard people, the jewminati, and secret ancient scientifical* Egyptian mathematics.
(*apologies to the #7s, you guys at least had a sense of humor.)
Actually, Killah Priest has his hands in that group (The Lost Children of Babylon) through the Nuwabian connection.
Wait. I think you’re on to something.
Still better than Jurassic 5’s weak-sauce democratic socialism anyday.
FUCK YEAH!! Dumbya! Hell yes! A fucking dumb fuck retard fake cowboy!
FUCK YEAHQQ!!!!!!
Take your lithium, shrieky. You’re having a worse episode than usual.
Yeah, Bush could handle someone like Putin, unlike Chocolate Nixon.
Why bother with Putin? That’s none of our business what’s happening over there. America first.
This isn’t Daily Kos where that would be a diary.
shrike is 16% of the posts on this thread. Responding to him is really working out for you guys.
Well, Tulpa has been itching to post a lot since this morning. He needs to get it out.
Shut up, you collectivist monster! RED TEAM! HISS!
He’s so mad that you figured him out.
Why do you think he’s going so crazy?
Because he’s never been fisted like that night Marianna fisted him in Berlin?
I hope Reason moves this from 24/7 to H&R.
Supreme Court refuses to hear the case of the Romeike homeschooling family from Germany. It’s deportation for them unless Congress acts.
https://reason.com/24-7/2014/03…..id-for-ger
Perhaps they could avail themselves of their freedom of movement under European Union law and go to a free country like France?
Eddie, are you generally for allowing more immigration to the US (I am btw), or is it just in cases of political or religious persecution?
As a general rule, I support putting gigantic walls on the U.S. and Canadian borders, with the walls extending deep underground so nobody can dig tunnels, plus screeners at all airports and other points of entry who will ask people questions like “are you a conservative Christian? Will you vote the straight Republican ticket?” in order to establish their bona fides as immigrants.
Thank you for asking!
Also, mine the Bering Strait so that no Siberian illegals can swim or boat across.
And no turbans.
Eddie, you seem awfully threatened by it, but it is an honest question. Lots of people have a different view about asylum and immigration in general (in fact, our law does). I do not remember you arguing with me against the paleos here for more open borders, perhaps I am mistaken or perhaps you have such a view I just described.
And perhaps I don’t want to get into a 50+ comment open borders debate with you at this time. That’s the “threat” I’m guarding against.
Well, proceed with pushing the tribal, selective Christian cause of the week (or is it day?) then.
Next up, pro-life van counselors or abortion center regulations?
Don’t you hate it when people keep posting links on the same basic theme?
It is not the persistence, but the seemingly unprincipled tribalism that I find interesting.
“It is not the persistence, but the seemingly unprincipled tribalism that I find interesting.”
You’re not serious, are you?
OK, guys, show us the Independents thread.
good lord. Is there anything more pathetic than academics braying into the wind because their political thong gets into a knot?
I have criticized Obama’s murderous use of drones and civil liberties violations a lot, and I do not think the Rutgers faculty is acting out of anything like principle, but I can see how someone could find playing a hand in starting a major war and occupation to be across the line while some of the former not being as far.
I just toured Princeton University with my very smart 17-year-old. They named their government school after a lying, war-mongering, racist, segregationalist, total failure of a President. I muttered and bit my tongue through the tour.
I realize you are talking about Wilson, but a lot of our Founders could be so described.
Bo Cara Esq.|3.3.14 @ 8:22PM|#
“I realize you are talking about Wilson, but a lot of our Founders could be so described.”
As could Obama, and yet you find some distinction without a difference.
Wasn’t Obama in total support of the Afgan War?
I want to put both Obama and Rice in a wood chipper so I can sample the sounds and make an industrial song. I’d use analog synths and shave the sides of my head and run a razor blade over my bangs. 80s style.
“should not honor someone who participated in a political effort to circumvent the law.
Glad to see I’m not the only one who’s against this ridiculous play-off system.
“unlikely to be intellectually rigorous or anything more than partisan apologetics.”
Congratulations on describing over 40% of the programs in academia and 75% of the attitude on campus. There is better place than a university campus to witness the tyranny of the left.
University professors don’t like a right winger, and Ed Krayewski is outraged!
A little more balance in academia would be good for libertarians. A lot of young people have libertarian sensibilities but get brainwashed into thinking progressives are liberal because they never hear a critical narrative that says otherwise.
People who get a real education hear all sorts of conflicting narratives and usually end up liberals. If libertarianism hasn’t quite made it into Serious Political Philosophies 101, it could be a conspiracy. Just go on thinking that if it makes you feel better.
God dammit. Just… fuck all of you. You couldn’t wait for a Democrat to come around and engage in a tiny amount of foreign policy so you could absolve the Bush admin. for the biggest bloodiest fuckup since Vietnam. If you don’t see a difference between the two administrations’ foreign policies then you are a partisan for team red, period, whether you think you are or not. Just fuck off. Idiots.
Tony…do you actually like Obama? Do you actually think he is doing a good job?
Ask yourself this:
Do you know what he really believes? In any area? Can you name an inviolable principle he stands for? Can you name any instance in which he stood for something, made a plan, informed the people of his plan, led them into it, and then followed through? Can you say he has demonstrated in any of his actions that he has any sort of moral compass?
Can you say without question he is totally into being a celebrity and hanging with Beyonce and Jay Z? Can you say without question he is a wanna be jock who is surprisingly inarticulate when caught off-guard?
Does it not mean anything to you the first paragraph, if you are being honest, can only be answered with ‘no’, in every case? After five years no one knows who this guy is, or what he believes in, or stands for, other than the guy looooves the sound of his own voice, and looooves hanging out with black celebrities.
Yea, and Hitler hugged a puppy once.
People on the right, generally those opposed to BO, have a tendency to let people speak their minds. It is those on the left who fear free speech. So, no….it won’t happen.
Personally the last thing I would want would be for any politician (right or left) spouting off political rhetoric to a bunch ill-informed and naive left-wing radicals. And I suppose the students probably should avoid the political rhetoric as well.