Kinda hard to get speaking gigs these days when you're a war criminal.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has backed out of delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University following protests by some faculty and students over her role in the Iraq War.
Rice said in a statement Saturday that she informed Rutgers President Robert Barchi that she was declining the invitation to speak at the graduation.
"Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families," Rice said. "Rutgers' invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time."
The school's board of governors had voted to pay $35,000 to the former secretary of state under President George W. Bush and national security adviser for her appearance at the May 18 ceremony. Rutgers was also planning to bestow Rice with an honorary doctorate.
But some students and faculty at New Jersey's flagship university had protested, staging sit-ins and saying Rice bore some responsibility for the Iraq War as a member of the Bush administration. Barchi and other school leaders had resisted the calls to disinvite Rice, saying the university welcomes open discourse on controversial topics.
It's not "open discourse" over someone's place in history when you pay somebody $35,000 to speak at your commencement and plan to give them an honorary doctorate, it's complete acceptance of them as a hero and holding that person up as a living example of someone you want your students to be.
The students of Rutgers disagreed with that assessment of Condi Rice, as apparently unlike the school's board of governors, they still have a functioning moral center. Frankly, the faculty and administration should be proud that the students told Condi to go screw herself. It means that the students are smart kids who will more likely than not become better people that the board of governors.
And yes, Condi should be rotting in a cell along with Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Dubya.
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1 comment:
Zandar, I'm sorry to have to say this, but this is one stupid that may be too much for you.
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